Blue Persian Rugs: Where the Blue Comes From and How to Decorate With One

By Storied Rugs9 min read

Spanish revival living room with arched windows, a navy and red Persian rug under a linen sofa’s front legs, rattan armchairs, walnut table

A blue Persian rug usually means a rug with a navy field, the large background inside the borders. Blue fields are less common than most people expect. Most Persian rugs have a red, rust or rose field, and blue usually plays a supporting part in the border or the drawing. If you find a navy one you love, pair it with warm things like wood, warm white, rust and leather. Navy cools a room in the way red warms it.

Sunny bungalow study with pale oak floors, a dark navy Kashmar rug under a walnut desk, a cognac leather armchair with a rust throw — A Kashmar, 8 feet 2 inches by 11 feet 6 inches, under a walnut desk and a cognac leather armchair. Warm wood and leather keep a navy rug from feeling cold.

Where the blue in a Persian rug comes from

The traditional blue is indigo, a plant dye.^[1] It builds up dip by dip.^[2] A navy field is wool that went back into the dye vat many times, and a pale blue is wool that came out early. Our piece on natural dyes explains the process. By the time these rugs were woven, about fifty years ago, synthetic blues were in use as well.^[3] We do not test each rug, so we cannot tell you which dye a particular rug has.

Dyers worked in small batches, and each batch came out a slightly different depth. When the weaver moved on to a new batch, it showed as a band of lighter or darker blue across the rug. This is called abrash. It comes from dyeing by hand and is not a flaw.^[4] Age does the rest. Fifty years of light, footsteps and washing soften navy toward slate or denim, most of all where the sun fell.^[5] Greens were often made by dyeing yellow over blue, so an old green can drift toward blue as the yellow fades.^[6] We do not paint color back onto a faded rug, so the blue in our photographs is the wool as it is.

Close view of a navy rug field with small cream and red flowers, crossed by a paler blue band whose edges fade in and out — Abrash in a navy field: a band where the dyer’s next batch of wool came out paler, so the blue softens for a stretch and then deepens again.

Blue field or blue border: two kinds of blue rug

The field decides what color a rug looks from across the room. So there are really two kinds of “blue Persian rug.” One has a navy or blue field and looks blue from the doorway. The other has a red, cream or rose field with blue in the border and the drawing. From the doorway it looks red or pale, but it still gives you a blue to repeat elsewhere in the room.

The second kind is much easier to find. Kerman rugs are the classic example, and the answer if you are searching for a blue Kerman. Many have a red, rose or cream field framed by a navy border. Our Kerman guide covers the origin in more depth.

Prewar living room on herringbone parquet: a raspberry red Kerman rug with navy border, cream sofa, navy velvet armchairs, walnut coffee table — A Kerman, 8 feet 9 inches by 12 feet 3 inches. The raspberry red field makes it a red rug from the doorway, and the navy border gives the room a blue to pick up in the chairs and cushions.

Red and blue Persian rugs

Red and blue is the classic pairing in Persian rugs, and it comes both ways round. Almost all of our navy-field rugs carry red in the border or the drawing, like the Mahal further down. Many red rugs have a navy border, as the Kerman above does. If you want one rug to tie together a red chair and a blue sofa, this is the type to look for.

Blue and cream Persian rugs

A blue and cream Persian rug has a pale field with blue drawing, and the Nain is the best-known type. Kashan and Tabriz rugs sometimes use the same palette. Cream fields are far more common in Turkish rugs, and the cream rugs include both. Blue and cream suits a white room that a red rug would weigh down.

Light blue Persian rugs

A light blue field is rare in a Persian rug. Pale blue is more usual in the drawing. It also turns up more often in Turkish rugs, in the motifs or border of a soft, faded palette, and the Isparta guide shows the type. If you want a truly light blue Persian rug, know your size before you start looking. There are only ever a few to choose from. Our post on vintage rugs in a coastal home pairs faded blues with sandy neutrals.

Dining room with plaster walls and white paneling, a denim blue Kashan rug under a long wooden table and rush seat chairs — A Kashan, 10 feet by 13 feet 3 inches, with a denim blue field under an all-over floral pattern in warm gray. A field this pale is unusual in a room-size Persian rug.

Which Persian rugs have a navy field?

Many rugs with a blue field are Persian, and a handful of weaving areas make most of them.

Mahal is the most common source. Expect a navy field under a small repeating pattern, usually inside a red border. The Mahal guide has more.
Hamedan and Torkaman rugs sometimes put bold geometric drawing on navy, mostly in runners and small sizes. See the Hamedan guide.
Kashan and Tabriz are city workshop rugs. Navy sits under curving medallions and vines and looks formal. A navy Kashan is usually a large room size. See the Kashan and Tabriz guides.
Ardabil, Nain and Kashmar are smaller groups, but a navy field turns up in each. The Ardabil guide shows the town’s red and navy village rugs.

A small navy rug starts at about $250. The largest room sizes reach about $3,400. For a blue Persian runner, start with Mahal and Hamedan, where our navy runners turn up most often.

Garden room with limestone floor, a navy Mahal rug with wide red border beside a linen daybed, rattan chair and potted geraniums — A Mahal, 4 feet 9 inches by 9 feet 4 inches. This is the classic Mahal look: a navy field of small repeating flowers inside a wide red border.

What colors go with a blue Persian rug?

Start with the colors already in the rug. A navy Persian rug is rarely only blue. Almost all of them carry some red, rust or rose as well, and many have cream in the drawing. Pick one of those colors and use it once or twice elsewhere in the room.

Rust and cognac. Orange sits opposite blue on the color wheel, so muted oranges make a navy rug look richer.^[7] Think of a rust velvet chair, terracotta pots or a tan leather sofa. Our post on what color rug goes with a brown leather sofa covers leather in detail.

Wood. Warm wood such as oak, walnut, cherry or teak balances a cool color. A navy rug looks crisp on a pale or honey floor. On a very dark floor it can disappear, unless there is plenty of cream in the drawing.

Warm whites. Navy sits more easily than red beside a white wall, and a warm white softens it further. Linen, oatmeal and cream upholstery let the pattern show.

Two things work against a blue rug. Blue on the walls, the sofa and the rug flattens the rug into the background. With a blue sofa, a rust or terracotta rug with a navy border usually works better, and what color rug goes with your couch covers blue sofas. And navy with cool gray, chrome and north light feels chilly. If you wonder whether a traditional rug suits a modern room at all, read are Persian rugs out of style. If deep reds tempt you too, see oxblood rugs.

Pine-paneled den with a white brick fireplace, a navy Kerman rug under a tan leather sofa, a rust velvet armchair and an oak table — A Kerman, 7 feet 1 inch by 9 feet 10 inches, with its navy in the corners and the drawing. Beside a tan leather sofa and a rust velvet chair, the wood and rust make the navy look richer.

A blue rug in the living room

Size the rug so at least the front legs of the sofa and chairs sit on it. Our post on 8x10 vs 9x12 works through the usual choice. Two practical points are specific to navy. A plain navy field shows pale lint and light pet hair more than a busy red does. If you have a pale dog, choose an all-over pattern like a Mahal’s small repeat, which hides far more. Navy also gets darker in low light. In a north-facing room or by lamplight it can look almost black, and cream in the drawing keeps the pattern visible.

A blue rug in the bedroom

Blue is a calm color to wake up to. A bedroom has little traffic and soft light, so it is the easiest room to live with navy. A room-size rug under the bed works, and so does a runner down each side. Our guide to rug size for a queen bed has the numbers. In a pale bedroom, a softened denim blue sits better than a deep navy.

Stone farmhouse bedroom, a navy Hamedan runner with rust and coral diamonds on bleached boards beside a bed with a rust throw — A Hamedan runner, 3 feet 5 inches by 9 feet 3 inches, with a navy field and rust and coral diamonds. Beside a bed or down a hall, a runner is an easy way to bring in blue.

Before you choose a blue rug

Check three things. Is the blue the field, or only the border? Which warm color in the rug will you repeat in the room? And how much daylight does the room get? Then browse navy rugs for the deep blues, or blue rugs for a wider range that includes rugs where blue is the accent.