I should have said: we're moving and a rug is the first thing we're choosing for what will be our family room. So, no wall color yet. We'll paint to go with whatever rug we get. The wood floors are a midrange yellow/blonde color. Couches are a neutral brown and will likely be replaced at some point. For now I intend to just toss some pillows on the couches to coordinate. Basically, we're judging rugs on their own merit at this point!

It's a yes for me, BUT if it were me, I'd do everything else very neutral. In fact, I would probably do everything white and just let that rug stand on it's on with some great artwork on the walls to balance it. May not be what you have in mind tho - especially with small kids.

budge1- I could see that, with the all white. That would look great, acutally. But you're right, with the kids it's probably not a good idea.

Thanks for the opinions! If anyone really hates it, let me know too. I won't be offended.

It's a huge room with 20'+ ceilings, together with the lighter wood floors, it's kind of cold. I really want a rug that will make the room feel more cozy and warm. This rug is 10.8'X14' and is still a little undersized for the space. My fear isn't that it won't work in the room, I'm afraid the room won't matter, that people will think it's tacky or garish in any room!

Okay, since you won't be offended....

Just so you know where I am coming from. Years ago, DH and I ripped up the 1970's lime green wall-to-wall in our first place together. We were still DINKS and went about merrily buying rugs for the whole house. The one thing I can spot more readily than anything else about the nature of a rug is chemical dyes.

Older rugs were made with vegetable dyes and have a soft, organic (the original meaning of the word organic!) llok to them. Good contemporary machine-made rugs attempt to use softer colors that seem like natural dyes, as well as a variation in color called abrash, which I don't know enough about to explain. I just know it when I see it.

So, when I see screaming orange or bright turquoise, it's a red flag for me. I think it is a great looking rug generally speaking and it will be a great family rug if it holds up well over time. Wool rugs clean easily (send it out periodically) and hide a multitude of sins! :-)

If it were me and I had a few K to spend, I think I'd rather have a very high quality machine-made rug like a Karastan. We bought one from a friend who needed to unload it and it has become a faithful friend, even though the rugs that make our hearts beat faster are the hand-woven tribals. We've really put that Karastan through it's paces and it wears like iron. It will no doubt be handed down to DD someday in nearly as good a shape as it was when we bought it.

Karastans are relatively easy to come by used (eBay, CL, etc.) and would be easy to sell in the future if and when your budget/tastes change.

I think that's an awesome carpet. The design is known as the Ardebil design "originating" from two museum carpets.... So if you love the design and want different colors, you have the keword now :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Replica Reproduction Rugs

If you like the idea of pale neutral/cream upholstery or slipcovers, there are wonderful acrylic fabrics out now that are indoor-outdoor, soft enough to be very comfortable, and impervious to anything your children will spill or smear or track onto them. And they are not expensive, either. We just put a lovely cream slipcover on my mother's sofa in her retirement place...she has a trembling hand and sometimes spills coffee or red wine on it, and it rolls off as though the sofa were a duck!

Not that I dislike the rug but I'd like to point out that the medallion is rather large and it can be tricky for furniture placement unless you know already where each item will go. Picture a sofa and chairs on it and where the medallion will then be, will it be centered or off balance? I try to avoid that large and bold center and go for orientals with an overall same scale pattern and somewhat less bold. Just my opinion. A more muted one gives you many more options in furniture colors and choices. Good luck.

I think the rug is gorgeous. You can certainly surround it with neutrals -- doesn't have to be white.

But my advice is always look in CL and see if you can save some of that money for your old age. Unless you're rich. In that case, please do your best to bolster our economy! :)

I tend to lean towards muted tones. Though the rug you have suits your needs with children. I agree with the other comments that the walls, and furniture would look best if kept in neutral tones, as well as throwing in touches of the rug color in the pillows, or artwork

Since you wanted an honest opinion, I think that the brightness of the rug makes it look, well, cheap (which clearly it isn't). I also agree with yayagal that a rug with a medallion makes furniture placement difficult.

Well, since you asked, I don't care for it at all. IMO the dyes are too bright and way too bright for a neutral setting. I think the eye needs to travel around the room and not stop at just one place, which is IMO, what will happen if you have this rug in a neutral room. I also think you will tire of the colors. Keep looking hon.

If you really like the rug, you should have it, and make it work.
The question you might ask yourself about color in the room is, how strong a dose of color can I live with? Some of us are energized by strong color, and some are overwhelmed and made anxious by it. I think the rug is great...but I don't think the room will work unless you do two things.
One, keep the furniture completely neutral, but not too pale...camel and pewter and clotted cream in solid heavy linen or cotton velveteen or the aforementioned acrylics, rather than white - and don't use any other patterns.
And, two, choose one of the colors from the rug and paint the walls and the ceiling with it. I see a warm sage green in the medallion, and both a nice fawn/taupe and a greyed-down turquoise in the pattern, any of which might work. What I would want is saturated but not bright color on the walls to balance the rug, but in the cooler, more neutral ranges. Then everything you put on the walls will have a rich background, and the dose of color will be consistent in the room. The rug will be the focal point, but won't overwhelm the whole business.

Just thought I'd post a pic of my Karastan which has found it's most recent home in our LR. The walls are a neutral color and you can see the furniture is anything but. The last room this rug resided in had dark wood furniture, the red chair and medium green walls. Before that, it was a dark brown leather sofa, a rustic Amish rocker and a huge stone fireplace. The walls were a nasty beige, but that was a very long time ago, before I became a paint geek!

I think it is awful bright also. I would have to see it with the furnishings to be sure though. If you like it, go for it!

I'm glad that Amy posted the pic of her room.

I seem to be in the minority, but think that having a bold and colorful rug, and then pairing it with nothing but solid neutrals, is not the way to deemphasize it.

You need a good eye, which Amy has, but mixing patterened rugs with other patterns in the room is what was always done in Europe and other places. That's what makes the space and rug so special. Pattern on pattern.

I like it. I also agree with bronwynsmom that the walls would look good painted a saturated color picked from the rug, rather than a pale white or neutral. If you find the room too big and cold now, that rug plus a warm color on the walls would do an awful lot to bring it down to scale. The rug would also be very forgiving of kid spills.

I have to say I LOVE bright rugs. One of my favorite places to browse--wish I could afford to buy there--is the Susan Sargent store in Vermont. The rugs in there are to die for!

Here is a link that might be useful: Susan Sargent rugs

ooops....

Here it is again.

Parma, you do my heart good! :-)

Okay, now I am realllly confused. The pic was gone because I was reorganizing. Now it's back twice. Just when I think I have Photobucket figured out...I screw it up. Oh well....

There is a high-end rug store near us which sells only expensive Persian rugs. I have seen rugs similar to this one in the store. I am sure if I went back, I could find the exact name of the rugs they have that are similar to this, the tribe, etc.

I do find rugs with medallions harder to place and they can look wonky if the room size, angles, etc., are off and the furniture placement is not "just right," so one has to be careful with large medallion rugs, but I don't think this rug is a really bad rug.

I think it is a rug that will not easily show stains from children but using all light neutrals would not be my idea of defocusing the rug. You would certainly need to be careful what you paired with it but then isn't that the way with most rugs?

Gosh, I have a buncha rugs since some of us have had jobs in the Middle East since about 1949 and that means many trips to and fro and with rugs so easily available, there is no shortage of rugs (especially since I got several of my mother's rugs), but I think the rug can work. Just be careful what colors you use and I don't think you should have to be confined to neutrals.

Incidentally, my friend (who is actually a cousin several generations removed) who has traveled extensively due to her husband being an international diplomat, has a rug very similar to that in her great room (room and rug are also great sizes) and for the life of me, I cannot remember her furniture in that room but I do recall she has a big elephant in the corner of that room in some kind of ceramic and I think her furniture might be sectional. The reason I recall her rug looking similar to this is because I thougnt, "Wow, I would never have chosen this rug, but it looks so good here."

Will have to see the room again. LOL. Like my sister, she too met her husband when she was asked to decorate his home.

I agree with Amy's way of thinking and I really like her room .. instead of going neutral, add color. I bought an inexpensive Karastan off of e-bay to go in my family room. It's held up to five dogs, three kids and all of their friends. This rooms is so, so not even close to being done yet. It's last on the list. It actually hasn't been really touched, or remodled at all even or really decorated .. all my mismatched stuff has found it's way in here. But it's very easy to pull the colors out of the rug and it's about indestructable.

You guys are great! Thanks so much for all your opinions. I am afraid, as mentioned above, that the rug will look cheap, but at the same time, I've seen the room before with a paler, more neutral rug (peach and creams and beige with kind of a minty color, a beautiful antique rug) and it was just too cold and not cozy. I don't want a rug with blacks in it and would prefer a handknotted rug. We're moving into my in-laws old house, so I'm very familiar with the issues in decorating the room. I've seen it done a couple of different ways over the years and have a weary veteran in my MIL.

I never realized covering the medallion was such an issue! I have no problem covering it if I have to, although I don't think I will. That is not something I was concerned about at all. But I'll keep it in the back of mind for sure. I think the only thing that might cover it would be a coffee table (that we don't yet own) so maybe I should get a glass one so you could see the medallion through it? If it covered it at all. Anyone else done that?

Amy, I love your room! That rug is beautiful. You could magically enlarge that rug, box up that whole room and then ship it to me- that would be great. :)

I'll let you all know when we make a decision. If I have time I'll run up to the house and take some photos. My inlaws stuff is still there though so it might not help. Thanks again!

Zipdee! Your room looks so warm and comfortable. That's the feel I'm going for, if not the exact color scheme I'd choose. I think part of the issue I'm having, not just with the family room but with the entire house is that my inlaws live very formally while we don't. I think color like yours- on the walls and the floor really helps to make things look, well, like you could sit and eat some popcorn and not feel like you need to be dressed up to do it, yet the room still looks VERY nice.

Ack, I meant to write Medallion rug, not Karastan. *slaps head*

Thanks for the kind comment, this room is in no way done at all, it's a bit of a mis-mash right now. I do think putting a colorful rug like this or the one you picked out in a roomful of neutrals would really bring emphasis to the rug. Where putting it in a colorful room with other carefully chosen patterns would make it look more part of the room as a whole. I can also tell you from experiance, colorful rugs like this hide a multitude of sins and are great for family/pet oriented rooms!

As you can see from my photos, I am one who likes vibrantly colored rugs (mine are wool, with natural dyes, but they are STRONG colors), AND I like to combine the rugs with vibrantly colors walls and furniture. Aside from addressing your little stain-makers, it's a matter of what appeals to you and what kind of "feel" you want your room to have. It's all about what you want, and I simply offer my photos as alternatives.

I like it and I think with some bright pillows and bright art work it would look great. I understand starting with the rug. I moved into new construction 2 years ago and I did that in my living room. When looking for a rug for the hearth room, I fell in love with Karastan paysage rug and I chose all my furniture and fabrics in the living room to go with the rug. I still love it :-) So if you are drawn to that one, go for it! I don't think the spills will show up much on it either.

It's not that you need to cover the medallion, it's that it should be centered in a room and centered within the furniture. We were just saying that you are bound by the constraints of centering the furniture around the medallion.

Also, insofar as the color goes, a colorful rug is great as long as the colors aren't as "electric" as the ones you've chosen. I think that's what makes it look cheap.

Yes, I take your points about pale neutrals...the kind of neutrals I had in mind are more like the sofa in Zipdee's picture...textural and rich. But if you're good at mixing patterns, leap in! With that rug, stripes can work (like Callaloo's curtains) and small-scale graphic checks or what's called "diaper" prints are good, too. (I know...unfortunate term, isn't it! If you haven't heard it, it refers to an all-over repeating pattern that is usually organized in a straight or diagonal grid. I think the term comes from China, and you see it in a lot of Persian and Celtic designs.)

First of all, I think that rug will visually warm up the room.
Second, you don't have to center the rug in the room, just center in in the conversation area. If your room is large, you probably will divide it into multiple functional areas.
Third, there are enough colors in the rug for you to pull out for your furniture colors, and they can be dark enough to coexist with young children, or even sloppy adults.
Here's the great room at Olana, Frederic Church's Persian inspired mansion that is now a historic site, open to the public.

myredhouse, is the rug returnable? Can you take it to the house while the room is empty and audition it?

I like it, and if you like the bright colors, then I think it is a good rug for you, though I myself would prefer something more muted. I also feel that the way to tone it down is to include its colors in other elements in the room.

Amy, that is just one beautiful, comforting-looking room.

Could you take a picture of the room you'd like to put the rug in? It's hard to say without seeing the room first.

Everyone has such good ideas and insights and examples. I didn't have time to take a photo today, but I'll do it tomorrow for sure.

Alright, I ran up to the house this afternoon and took some photos of the room. As you can see from the missing rug (only the padding remains) and the cushions stacked under the console, misplaced chairs and endtables, etc. the room is being slowly packed up by my inlaws. But you can get a feel for what I'm dealing with. As a reminder, not my stuff, not really my style and there will need to be some serious updating. Everything you see is going except maybe the bookcases (I'm not a fan, my husband loves them; I'll probably lose that one).

To be honest, going over there today was good for my memory even if it made my indecision worse. For instance, I thought the floors were lighter then they are and I'd forgotten how much wood was everywhere: the beam celings, the thick redwood baseboards, the trim and two of the walls are all glass doors with heavy wood frames. How to deal with all that will be a different post, I'm sure!

I apologize for my poor photography skills in advance.

Any revised opinions about the rug now?

Wow, that is a cool house. IMO, I think a big room like that with all that pretty, natural wood (which I love) could really help absorb the strong colors of the rug.

We've decided to hold out for awhile and see if we can find a rug that we both like a lot as opposed to like-but-are-slightly-scared-of in our size and price range. I've given us a deadline of two weeks to decide though because I need to start thinking about other things that will have to draw from the rug- paint, accent pieces, art, etc. decisions that will all take time and mental energy as well.

I'll post whatever we end up with regardless! It might very well be this bright rug.

I think the rug would look sensational. Your rug is not at all going to be jarring in that room. It is so well appointed by such nice furnishings that it will be a nice accoutrement.

Yes, I think the rug would look wonderful, and its strength will balance and be balanced by the strong woodwork and all those wonderful windows. The challenge will be wall color, and where to start and stop it, in your open plan, but I bet once you are in there and see how the light moves across the walls and doorways throughout the day, you will be able to tell what direction to take. And if you aren't sure, there is no shortage of opinions to be had here!
It's lovely house, and whatever you do, you're starting with great bones.
Nice to see the picture of Olana...I've been there, and it's fabulous. You might like to use the idea of painted decoration around doorways, to make those transitions...simplified, of course, since Frederick Church had, shall we say, resources! The link takes you to the story of the house, and it's a wonderful tale of changing your mind...but I digress...

Here is a link that might be useful: Olana

Maybe you'll find a bargain here. lol.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Navigation?Ntk=AllProps&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Ns=P_Topseller_Sort:1&N=10000003+90401+526453+4294924877&rpp=48&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&style=A

Hey everyone, just an update. We didn't buy the bright rug afterall. I was too nervous it would look cheap, though I do really like the colors. If the seller had been willing to work with me on the price I probably would have bought it anyway. Instead, we bought the rug below off craigslist. It's a Karastan Multipanel Kirman 10X14 so if you've seen it in person you know these photos (from the listing) don't do the colors justice. We only paid $825 and the rug is in excellent condition (apparently it had been stored for 4 years after having been placed in a rarely used billards room). It's not exactly what I wanted, but I never could find the perfect rug, and for the price, I'm happy.

Thanks again for all your opinions, they did help me. We're going to being putting a new coat of polyurethane on the floors, but once I have the rug in place I'll post another photo. Then you guys can help me pick a paint color!

Well done, myred...I'd have liked the whiz-bang one as well, but you've chosen a lovely one. Thank you for letting us all weigh in.

I was just thinking of you yesterday after reading another "big colorful oriental rug" post. It is always nice when someone comes back to let everyone know how the story ends! :-)

You saved a lot of money, eliminated the medallion issue (though it wasn't a problem for me), and bought something you can probably sell for a bit more down the road if and when you find something you like better. I think you really got a deal.

Gorgeous rug and great price! You'll be so much happier with this than the original.

Oh now that's pretty. That pattern will be so much easier to work with. I also think you got a great deal.

Very pretty, good price, and I don't think you can go wrong with a Karastan. I've bought 2 and love the quality. Thanks for the update and I'm glad you found one :-)

I have had that same Karastan pattern in my foyer for the last ten years. It's indestructible. We and the dog go in and out of the front door many times a day and it never shows dirt or any wear and tear. The colors are beautiful and you'll find it goes with everything.

Good choice!!

Mimi_2006 & Caroleoh: I can't tell you how great that is to hear! My son just turned three and his sister will be two in April so I'm sure they will be putting this rug to the test. I've heard nothing but good things about Karastan, but at the rug store we weren't prepared to pay the $4200 + tax for the size we needed. What did people do before craigslist???

I have that same rug at the foot of our bed. It's one of my favorite rug patterns and it works well with so many colors.

One door closes and another one opens. Congrats on your great buy!

Myredhouse, you found a wonderful rug that will work exquisitely with your room. You have very good taste and that uneasiness you felt about the first rug was your sensibility nagging at you. I think this rug was a great decision and a greater buy. I'm happy for you.

It is a real struggle to find just the right rug for a room. I really like the one you chose. I kept cream colored walls and a solid sofa to go with our colorful Persian rug, but I used accent colors taken from the rug on the chairs. My rug is 10x13 and I found it on Ebay. I wanted a hand knotted, wool rug and ended up with this one for only $125.00. It pays to keep looking! Sorry about the picture quality. I took the picture at night, which makes the walls appear yellow. Have a great time decorating your new place.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

Personally, I absolutely love it! I need a large one too, what is this and where is it available?

You realize that this was 8 1/2 years ago?