OMG It's soooo hard to wait for JUST THE RIGHT piece....

Kylie here!

Ok, as you all know, I’ve been designing my own home for a while now (let’s be honest, I’ll never be done….shhhh, don’t tell my husband that! :-P) But as a designer, I’m always holding out for JUST the right piece, whether it’s an antique lamp or the perfect wallcovering. And in this day and age of instant gratification (who doesn’t love Amazon and the “swipe to purchase” and you see it in two days on your doorstep?! YES PLEASE!), it’s hard to wait sometimes. But when it comes to designing your space, it’s important to understand that design takes time. I have to sometimes tell myself that again and again. Don’t rush things - the right pieces will come along, Mary is always right, shhh!

That being said, I’ve been searching for a while for THE perfect rug for my living room. You remember my living room, right? The “Granny Chic” space? (If you want to see the behind-the-scenes of that space, read more here!) For a while, I thought I’d put in an indoor/outdoor rug that would be kid- and pet-friendly. But I just wasn’t in love with any of the options. This room needed something special. Something that made my inner-granny sing!

For a long time, I did envision a beautiful antique Persian rug. But I’ll be honest, they’re pricey and had not found my perfect fit. The unique thing about antique Persians is that back in the day, they were dyed using natural resources (called vegetal dyes….no NOT vegetable, as they are sometimes incorrectly called….vegetal means they can come from any plant or natural resource!). Because they used natural dyes, you tend to see many of the same colors. For instance, the blues you see are typically created using Indigo or Azurite. Hence, they tend to be deep, dark hues. My problem was always finding JUST the right green. Greens were always created by mixing Indigo with a yellow dye. That means the greens are always finicky, and never quite right for my space!

Alas, I searched and I searched and I searched. One of my favorite rug sources is Ramble Market in Waltham, MA. If you’ve been there, you know how AMAZING it is! They have a huge, huge, huge warehouse and in one room, they have tons of amazing antiques, art, furniture, and one-of-a-kind pieces. In the other room, they have stacks of beautiful antique and new rugs! They were so patient with me - in fact, one of their amazing colleagues, Daisy, helped me flip rugs one day - GIRL POWER. If you’ve ever “flipped rugs”, you know it is HARD work. Holy crap, my arms are still sore.

I tried three or four rugs, but none of them were working. Those greens were always too harsh and the reds were always more of a raspberry color. Nothing was working. So I took a break from looking for a while. I even (almost!) went back to my idea of getting an indoor/outdoor.

But something still nagged at me……besides Mary 🤣

Last week, I was in Waltham for another meeting so I thought I would just stop by and see what new rugs had come in. And OH MY…..there it was. MY rug.

It had just come in 24 hours earlier. It had come out of an estate in Greenwich, CT. An 8x10 beauty!!! The colors were STUNNING. The green is what caught my eye first: it was the most beautiful and different green I’ve ever seen. It was much brighter than what I’ve seen in the past. Not only that, but the reds were the PERFECT coral color!

I found out a little more history about it, which got me even more excited! Turns out, the rug is from 1920 (100 years old!) and has been in the same family for generations. It’s a true antique Persian; specifically a Heriz/Serapi rug….don’t worry, I’m getting to that!

So, a Heriz rug is one of the most famous kinds of rugs from Iran. They have a very unique style. Heriz is a city located in Northwestern Iran, near the city of Tabriz. Tabriz is a major rug-weaving destination in Iran. Typically, Heriz rugs have oversized geometric medallions in the center as well as a rich red, rust, or dark blue field color.

Serapi is a trade name given to a higher quality Heriz rugs, usually made before 1920s. It originates from the village of Serab. The reason these rugs are distinguished is due to the type of wool that is used - it is said that the sheep live in a copper-rich area, which provides additional nutrients, making the wool stronger.

All of these rugs were hand-woven in the villages of Iran. The other wonderful thing about my rug is that I can even see the imperfections, which makes it even more perfect, in my opinion! There is no other rug like mine!

OK, back to the history……while there’s not much information on the travels of my rug, I do know a few things: It was originally purchased by the family when they were in Russia in the 1920s. It traveled with the family to Serbia, before making its way to its final destination in Greenwich, CT. As I said, it lived with the same family for the last 100 years! It was a beloved piece, how cool is that!

Here’s a quick note for those of you just getting into the groove of searching for a rug: rugs are not cheap! Nor should they be: the high-quality pieces, as I said, are hand-woven - it takes MONTHS to weave a stunning 8x10 like this. These pieces are so well made that they should last for another 200 years! Of course, you can go and get an 8x10 rug for a few hundred dollars from a home store, but they are machine made and made of synthetic materials or a wool-combo. I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing: of course I would purchase one of those for my kids’ playroom or basement. But for my statement piece in my living room, I wanted something special.

Anyway, more things continue to happen at my house…..I keep tinkering away. And I’ll keep you posted of new stuff that happens. But until then, hope you enjoy my rug as much as I do :-D

Cheers!