Above: Named for the Japanese word “Ginkgo” meaning “silver apricot,” this area rug by Loophouse for Designtex is part of the Enchanted Garden collection.
Find Designtex rugs at Decorative Center Houston.
lively and cheerful area rugs add splashes of color and texture to your home
by debi bryant
Nothing beats a spot of color to bring new life to a room, which is especially nice in these gray days of January. Area rugs — of the colorful, whimsical, just-plain-fun variety — can be the perfect antidote to winter blahs.
DO THE TWIST
Big-name designers of area rugs currently are doing a modern twist, says Jenny Perry, co-owner of Emmet Perry & Co. “People are getting more adventurous with colors and textures,” she says. “Many of the renowned designers, like Michael Graves and Barbara Barry, are creating more trendy rugs.”
She’s seeing texture, like wools and silks, mixed together. Also nontraditional materials, such as sisal, jute and abacca, are dyed and woven into rugs “just to create a new element,” she says.
Valerie Roberts, co-owner of Roberts Carpet & Fine Floors, points out the many fun shapes of today’s area rugs. “We have the regular rectangle and square shapes (in 4-foot, 6-foot and 8-foot sizes),” she says, “but they now come with scalloped edges. Also, we have ovals and octagons, which look really good at the bottom of a staircase when paired with a complementary runner up the stairs.”
DESIGNER RUGS
At the San Francisco-based firm of Design Within Reach, marketing coordinator Erin Brown highlights several of her favorite designers. “Christopher Farr, who was educated in England and trained in textiles in Turkey and Peru, is a painter who integrates his painting into his rug-making. His rugs are more masculine, done in more neutral colors,” Brown says.
She also likes the fanciful creations of award-winning international designer Nani Marquina. In Barcelona, she created the “Roses” rug, a design that looks like a field of rose petals.
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RESOURCES
CUSTOM RUG SOURCE
1717 Blalock
713.973.7100
DESIGNTEX
Decorative Center of Houston
5120 Woodway Drive, Suite 207
713.784.6000
www.dtex.com
DESIGN WITHIN REACH
1956 W. Gray
713.522.3609
www.dwr.com
THE GREAT RUG CO.
3415 Fondren
713.789.3666
www.greatrug.com
HIGH FASHION HOME
3100 Travis St.
713.528.3838
www.highfashionhome.com
EMMET PERRY & CO.
8200 Washington Ave.
713.961.4665
ROBERTS CARPET & FINE FLOORS
Eight locations
713.926.7200
www.robertscarpet.com
RUBINS
3130 Rogerdale
Suite 150
713.784.1180 |
