Rugs by Color
Vintage Rugs by Color
Color is the first thing anyone reacts to in a rug. Every tone here has been softened by decades of light and use, which is most of the reason vintage pieces settle into a room so easily.
Eighteen palettes, softened by age
RedMadder reds, rust and terracotta, the classic Persian ground.
BurgundyDeep wine and oxblood grounds, darker than madder red.
BlueIndigo, navy and washed denim tones.
NavyThe deepest indigo blues, close to black in low light.
NeutralCamel, sand, oatmeal and undyed wool.
CreamSoft off-white grounds that lift a dark room.
BeigeSand, tan and greige, the quietest end of the range.
IvoryWarm white with a faint yellow cast.
ColorfulPolychrome pieces where no single tone leads.
GreenSage, olive and oxidized copper greens.
PinkFaded rose and soft coral, usually sun-softened madder.
BrownWalnut, chocolate and deep earth tones.
OrangeApricot through burnt orange.
TerracottaClay and brick orange, warmer than rust.
PurpleAubergine and plum, genuinely rare in vintage weaving.
GrayStone, slate and silvered wool.
CharcoalNear-black grays with a soft, dusty surface.
Reading color in a vintage rug
Color is the first thing anyone reacts to in a rug and the hardest thing to judge from a photograph. A few things worth knowing before you choose.
Natural dyes shift with age
Madder red mellows toward rust and rose. Indigo lightens unevenly. What you are seeing in an eighty-year-old rug is not the color it was woven as, and that softening is most of why vintage pieces sit so easily in a room.
Abrash is a feature
Bands of tonal variation appear where the weaver moved to a new batch of hand-dyed wool. It reads as depth and movement rather than as a flaw, and it is one of the clearest signs of a hand-knotted piece.
Screens lie, daylight tells the truth
Every monitor renders warmth differently. If a color is critical to your room, ask us for a daylight photograph before you commit, we would rather send more pictures than process a return.
Choosing a color for the room you have
A rug is usually the largest single field of color in a room, so it sets the temperature of everything around it. Reds, oranges and warm browns pull a large or cool room inward and make it feel occupied. Blues, grays and greens hold a room open and calm, which suits bedrooms and studies. Neutrals do the quiet work of tying mismatched furniture together, and are the safest choice when the room already has a lot going on.
If you are matching to something specific (a sofa, a wall color, a floor) aim for relation rather than exact match. A rug that picks up an undertone of the sofa will always look more considered than one that tries to match it outright and misses by a shade.
Browse the wider collection
Or come at it from a different direction entirely.