The Storied Rugs Blog

Guides, stories & care.

Practical advice on choosing, placing and caring for a vintage rug, written by the people who source and restore them.

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Pale cream rug on dark oak floorboards in a stone farmhouse sitting room with a linen armchair, an olive tree and open casement windows. Care

How Our Vintage Rugs Are Washed and Restored

What professionally washed and restored actually means: dusting, color testing, a hand wash, dryi...

Care · 8 min read
Stone farmhouse sitting room with white plaster walls, a teal and terracotta Isparta rug in low sun before a linen sofa and cane chair Reference

The Different Types of Rug Fibers and Their Characteristics

Wool, cotton, silk, jute, sisal and synthetics compared: what each rug material does, which is so...

Reference · 8 min read
Living room with blue-gray walls and dark wide planks, a pale mint and rose rug laid loose with bare floor around it Reference

What is the Difference Between a Rug and a Carpet?

One word came into English on a table, the other on a horse. What they mean now, what the trade m...

Reference · 6 min read
Upright wooden loom in a whitewashed village house, a red, indigo and ivory knotted rug on the lower warp, baskets of wool History

Who Invented Rugs?

Nobody knows who invented rugs, and the oldest one that survives has been argued over for seventy...

History · 7 min read
A red Kashan rug with a pale beige rug laid over one corner on herringbone parquet, before a worktable covered in fabric swatches. Trade

How Do Interior Designers Pick Rugs for Their Clients?

Answered from the dealer’s side of the table: how a designer specifies a one-of-a-kind vintage ru...

Trade · 8 min read
Entrance hall with gray-green paneling and a white staircase, a navy and red Mahal rug between a walnut console and a rush bench Buying

What Determines the Cost of a Rug?

Why hand-knotted and Persian rugs cost what they do, what a vintage rug actually costs by size, h...

Buying · 7 min read
Dark paneled study at dusk, a navy and red botteh rug flat on oak boards, a rolled gray felt pad beside a leather chair Care

Rug Pads 101

What a rug pad actually does, which of the five materials suits your floor, which side goes down ...

Care · 8 min read