If you’re a rug enthusiast, then you'll know that handmade rugs are some of the most prized home décor items. Whether you have a Persian Rug in your living room or a Kilim rug in your bedroom, you'll know how much handmade rugs for sale contribute to home décor.
However, handmade rugs are more than just décor items. They have a rich history and the rug-making tradition has been alive for hundreds of years!
If you buy an expensive handmade rug for sale for your home, then you can impress guests by giving them interesting facts about your handmade rug or sharing its story.
What Makes Handmade Rugs Unique?
With modern rugs coming in new designs every day, you may wonder what’s the need for an expensive handmade rug? After all, modern rugs are cheaper and look just as good.
Or do they?
Modern rugs are made by machine, which may produce several rugs in a short time. The rugs are dyed using synthetic dyes and may be dried using industrial dryers. This process is great for producing cheap rugs of a similar design, but it doesn’t help with quality.
Handmade rugs, on the other hand, are made using natural fibers, dyes from natural extracts and the rug weaving process is more thorough. These rugs are often more durable, unique, and have the best motifs.
However, you probably already knew all this.
Here are 6 things that you probably never knew about handmade rugs:
1. The Oldest Rug is 2400 Years Old!
Did you know that the oldest handmade rug has been preserved for more than 24 centuries? This rug was discovered in Siberia and was part of an ancient king’s tomb. It is now known as the Pazaryk Rug and the patterns will make you speechless.
So how did this rug manage to survive for so long?
For one, it’s a handmade rug and most handmade rugs can last more than a century. However, in this case, it was frozen in the snow allowing it to be preserved in pristine condition. The rug's colors were intact too, which is surprising considering that it was dyed using colors from natural extracts!
Don’t get too excited, though. It’s unlikely that your rug will last this long and this is an exceptional case. Besides, even if it did last for that long, you wouldn’t be around to see it, would you?
2. The Most Expensive Rug is Worth More than $33 Million
Ok, this one will blow your mind! How can a handmade rug cost this much? Well, this rug was sold on auction in 2013 and the price tag is staggering. So, what made it worth so much?
For one, it is a 17th Century Persian carpet with an intricate pattern and is pretty much in the same condition as when it was made. Also, Persian carpets are worth much more after they reach a certain age. In most cases, a rug will be considered antique if it's more than 100 years old.
So, when it comes to handmade rugs for sale like Persian rugs or Bokhara Rugs, old is gold! Or worth more than gold!
3. A Good Handmade Rug Can Clean the Room’s Air
Do you live in a large city with high pollution levels? Or is the area where you live dusty and windy?
If so, then you’ll probably be breathing a lot of dust particles, which is harmful to health. Another reason to buy handmade rugs for sale is that they can trap dust particles in the fabric, making your room’s air much cleaner.
Considering the fact that handmade rugs are already environmentally friendly, this is yet another benefit of getting one for your home!
However, the same rug can reduce the air quality in your room if you don’t clean it often! When the dust and dirt trapped in the rug fibers reaches maximum capacity, you’ll have to clean it with professional rug cleaning services.
Fortunately, that’s only once every 12-15 months!
4. The Largest Rug on Record Measures More Than 60000 Square Feet!
The largest rug on record was made in Iran and is bigger than a football field! It was so large that it had to be made in 9 separate parts and then assembled later on. Because most large rugs are 15 square feet at most, this is an incredible feat!
However, smaller rugs look just fine in your home setting and there’s no need to try and break any records!
5. More than 100 Weavers May Work on a Single Handmade Rug
Have you ever wondered how Oriental Rugs and Tribal Rugs are more durable than machine-made ones? After all, aren't machine-made items flawless?
In a way, machines help speed up production, but not much else.
Handmade rugs take longer to make and much more labor. Because more than 100 weavers can work for months just to complete a single rug, it's no wonder that handmade rugs for sale are so expensive!
Did you know that some Persian Rugs can take more than 300 weavers up to a year to complete? No wonder they last so long!
6. There is a Distinct Difference Between a Rug and Carpet
You may have heard about handmade rugs and handmade carpets. However, they are not the same thing. Carpets are much more expensive and are meant to cover the whole floor. Carpets are meant to get foot traffic, which rugs are often used for design.
So, what is the difference between a carpet and a rug?
In most cases, you won’t see any difference in the design. Handmade carpets and handmade rugs are made using the same weaving and dyeing techniques. The difference between a rug and a carpet is the size. Anything larger than 40 square feet is a carpet and anything smaller than that is a rug.
There are many more unique things about handmade rugs that could probably fill a whole book. So, next time you buy handmade rugs for sale, you’ll know that your rug has a whole history behind it.
Now you can impress your guests when they ask about your home décor!
