The Rug Zone Web Log

Flat screen LCD television, dimmer lighting, Swedish furniture, crisp lines and neutral colour schemes - a modern house is a statement of who you are. To maintain the element of modernity, it is important that all the fixtures and fittings reflect this. A simple rug can be the one thing that pulls a room together. So if you are looking to show off your modern tastes, then modern rugs are a must-have accessory.

The wide variety of patterns, materials and finishes ensure that, however your home is decorated, there is a modern rug to suit, from multi-coloured deep shag, to sheepskin, cotton and seagrass, in a huge variety of shapes, sizes and colours. You can reflect your fun side, your serious side, your elegant side and your practical side, all through the simple addition of the right rug. Cow hide rugs are available in a number of animal print finishes, and work well on parquet flooring and complement African style décor. These are as at home on the wall as the floor, as their shape is very aesthetically pleasing. Manufactured from food-production by-products, they are an ecologically viable option for those who wish to have a zebra print hide rug, safe in the knowledge that it has not come from the plains of Africa, but has been dyed to look like a zebra hide.

For those of us who love a label, it is good to know that top end designers such as Calvin Klein have joined the ever growing ranks of modern rug designers. Interior decoration is big business, and even the giants of the fashion world have got involved. It is not only colour and design that makes the modern rug a bold statement of you and your home. Circular rugs and asymmetric designs give a cutting edge feel. Mathematically inspired geometric designs can bring a room to life, particularly when teamed with a simple modern colour scheme. This is not to say that you need all mod cons to have a modern rug and make a statement, particularly as many designs classed as ‘modern’ have a distinctly classic feel. ‘Funky’ retro Sixties and Seventies designs and bright colours make a bold statement and are common place in ultra-chic boutique hotels and young and upwardly mobile professionals’ homes. Another old favourite with a modern twist, the rag rug is enjoying a resurgence using a wide range of fabrics and colours.

With the increasing prices of fuel to keep our houses warm in the winter months, it is worth looking at other ways of giving your home warmth, without having to have the thermostat turned up to maximum. The appearance of a living space can do as much for wellbeing as a functioning boiler, a large storage heater or an open fire. One of the factors which is key is colour choice. Blues and greens are common place in bathrooms as they reflect water, cleanliness and freshness. White and neutral colours in a kitchen suggest hygiene and functionality. In the living room, and the bedroom red rugs can add depth and warmth.

Red is the hottest of the warm colours, which also include orange and yellow. It relates to emotions from passion to power. Studies carried out in the USA show that the use of the colour red can have a physical effect on an individual, raising blood pressure and therefore, body temperature.

Often teamed with neutral colours, a flash of red not only draws the eye, but also helps to make a space appear more cosy. The size, from a doormat, to a large rug covering the majority of a floor space will also affect the level of warmth given to a room. Using red to carpet a whole room can be too overpowering. The use of a red rug, in conjunction with other floorings and soft furnishings in different colours, albeit other warm colours, can create a very comfortable palette, giving the suggestion of warmth without it being too much and being too aggressive.

For example, a red rug as your welcome mat in the hall instantly gives an impression of warmth and comfort, a dining table placed on a rich burgundy rug leads you to the centre of hearth and home, the sit down meal. In the living room, a red rug, complimented by neutral coloured walls and low lighting will increase the feeling of warmth. The choice of material for a red rug is also an important, a deep pile will help the feeling of warmth via the sense of touch, and the use of a soft material will also complement this.

So when spring has sprung, but the sun’s hat is not quite on, why not rely on colour rather than expensive power to bring warmth to your home.

The phone rings, you’re downstairs and realise the sound is coming from your upstairs bedroom. Up you go. The doorbell rings, down you go. The water is still on, up you go. As one of the high traffic areas of any home, stair runners are the perfect way to protect your staircase from wear and tear. Generally between 60 and 70 cm in width and cut to length, stair runners can start at your front door and go all the way along your hall, up the staircase and on to an upstairs landing. Not only will they protect your stairs, they also help to protect you; a high gloss wooden finish or marble floor can be a serious hazard if you are hurrying through the house.

As the primary function of stair runners and carpet runners is to protect what lies beneath, they are manufactured from durable materials, such as polypropylene, seagrass and coir, which are all tough and can withstand high traffic. Attractive borders in tapestry or linen can soften the coarse appearance of natural seagrass, although the addition of colour or pattern on the runners themselves can also mask the rough materials used in their manufacture. Stair runners also require standard carpet gripper at the tread and rise of each step to ensure that it does not warp or shift. They can also be finished with a decorative stair rod, these are available in many varieties, brushed metal, brass or chrome, complete with attractive finials in a many shapes and materials from metal to crystal.

There are literally hundreds of stair runner designs and materials to choose from and there are also companies which will create bespoke designs for your home. The large number of available suppliers work with simple linear designs and warm, natural colours, obviously reflecting the market. A stair runner not only protects, it compliments décor, with many neutral shades, for example, Buxton Mink, a cappuccino colour which would work with both terracotta and earth tones, as well as magnolia or simple white walls.

This is not to say that there are no runner designs for the more adventurous; zebra print or seventies inspired concentric circles are eye catching and make a statement about you as a homeowner and add a touch of chic, bearing in mind that a hall or stair runner is often the first thing that you will see upon entering the home, and impact is all important. The more classic Persian rug style designs are also available to fit in with other carpets and rugs which you may have collected and take pride in.

Oriental rugs are handmade rugs that are typically made from sheep’s wool, although some are made from cotton and royalty oriental rugs are made from silk (synthetic materials such as polypropolene are never used). These rugs are either produced using the hand knotted method and a special kind of knot that cannot be reproduced by machinery, or they are hand woven (if it is machine made it is not genuine). The term an oriental rug is used to describe rugs that are produced in countries considered to be within ‘the orient’. This term can therefore be applied to Persian rugs, Arabian rugs, Anatolian rugs, Kurdish rugs, Caucasian rugs, Central Asian rugs, Indian rugs, Turkestanian rugs, Chinese rugs and Tibetan rugs. The design of these rugs often dates back centuries and almost every aspect of the rug has meaning and intent behind it.

The first known Oriental rug to be found dates as far back as 400 or 500BC, it was found in the mound of a royal burial grave in the Altai mountain of Southern Siberia. It has been theorised that the nomadic tribes of Central Asia started the art of hand woven rugs.

Meaningful details within the Oriental rug include:

1. Motifs of Oriental Rugs: Oriental rugs often have motifs within their patterns. The motif used typically depends on the area in which it was created or the tribe that created it, however, it is not uncommon for more than one motif to be used within one rug. The more common motifs are as follows:

• Boteh- flame, Universe (shaped like a twisted teardrop)
• Parrot – protection, escape from danger
• Peony – power • Peacock – immortality
• Dog – protection, trust, defence
• Tree of life – direct path from Earth to heaven
• Lily – Purity, spirituality
• Paradise Bird – paradise
• Lotus – rebirth, Immortality
• Iris – religious, Liberty
• Blossom – youth, spring, newlywed
• Tulip – prosperity
• Pomegranate – fertility
• Amulet – thwarts evil eye
• Hyacinth – regeneration
• Ewer – purification
• Comb – cleanliness
• Diamond – signifying women
• Cross – faith
• Hand – prayer ring
• Herati – water garden, fish
• Mihrab – gateway to paradise
• Star – spirituality, good luck

2. Colours of Oriental Rugs:

• White Rugs - signifies purity and cleanliness.
• Black Rugs – signifies mourning and destruction (this is typically only used for outlines)
• Red Rugs - signifies beauty, wealth, courage, luck, joy and faith.
• Blue Rugs - signifies power, force and solitude.
• Green Rugs - signifies hope, renewal, life and spring.
• Yellow Rugs - signifies the sun, the joy of life.
• Orange Rugs - signifies humility, godliness.
• Brown Rugs - signifies fertility.
• Gold Rugs - signifies power and wealth.

Oriental rugs are vastly varied, colourful and exciting ensuring that for a buyer – there is an oriental rug to suit every decorative taste.

Conservatories and kitchens are typically the areas in the house where the floor is likely to be tile or even slate or stone. This flooring can be very cold underfoot and can even result in some quite serious condensation. Rugs with pile are not really that suitable in those kinds of conditions and in a kitchen can be downright dangerous, as they can be a serious trip hazard. Apart from the safety angle, piled rugs are hard to keep fresh and clean in kitchens and conservatories and so this is where flat weave rugs come into their own.

Flat weave rugs come in a wide variety of materials, from manmade completely washable or wipeable to Kilm rugs in natural fibres such as cotton, some of which will pop in the washing machine for a freshen up with no problem. If you like to support the environment, look out for flat weave rugs made from recycled materials. Some of these are made in communities where the rugs have become a major source of income and so by buying one you not only save on materials but also help a disadvantaged person to get themselves out of poverty. Some of the recycled rugs are great fun as you can still see the original materials, such as juice cartons or sacks which have contained flour or sugar. Others have been more thoroughly recycled and dyed so that they look more like ‘new’.

Flat weave rugs are very easy to keep clean on a daily basis because all they need is a shake out of the door or a few sweeps of the vacuum cleaner. Some flat weave rugs made from grasses or sisal need a little more specialist care; they shouldn’t be allowed to get too dry or they will crack and split, so you might need to spritz them occasionally with water, especially in the conservatory in hot weather. Grass flat weave rugs can be very attractive and are available in various colours and patterns, either achieved through weaving techniques or by dyeing the grass. These are particularly suitable for use in a conservatory, especially if you have rattan furniture and lots of plants in there, as they will echo the tropical look. In the kitchen it is probably more appropriate to have a manmade flatweave rug, because they are more amenable to the kind of deep cleaning that a kitchen floor needs.

If you are feeling rather jaded when you look around your living room or bedroom and you are a bit canny with budget makeovers, probably your first thought will be – new rug. This is a great idea because a new rug can really lift a room and is something that you can reuse elsewhere in the house when yet another makeover is needed, so your money will never be wasted. There is something you should always bear in mind, though, and that is that your new rug should not just be a bargain, it should really say something about you or it won’t fit in with the rest of your bits and pieces in the room and will always look a little out of place.

When you go out shopping for your new rug you should always make sure that you take something from the room with you; this could be to remind you of the predominant colour or the style of the room. It is all too easy to fall in love with a rug in the shop or online and completely lose sight of where it will be in the house and what it needs to go with; a very contemporary rug won’t look good in a very traditional setting, no matter how well the colours might go together.

If you are the kind of person who tends towards a chintzy look in their decor, you won’t feel comfy with a great splodgy modern design in the middle of your living room floor and conversely you won’t want a washed out flower motif if you favour bright colours and simple outlines. Every single thing in your house says something about you and floor coverings should be no exception. Although rugs are relatively inexpensive as makeover tools go, they are rarely cheap enough to be considered disposable decorating elements, so you should give some thought as to whether you really want to live with it for a while before you buy it. Ask yourself ‘is this really me?’ and if the answer isn’t a very prompt and definite ‘Yes!’ then move on to another rug. Somewhere in the shop or online you will find the very thing that sums you and your decorating style up and it is worth the time it takes to find it.

Woollen rugs are a beautiful and warming addition to a room, they offer many practicalities such as reducing noise levels, maintaining heat levels, protecting flooring, to name a few . There are two main types of wool rugs that are available on the market today, hand tufted wool rugs and hand knotted rugs. Hand tufted wool rugs match hand knotted rugs in both beauty and elegance, furthermore they are much more cost effective to produce, meaning customers can purchase hand tufted rugs at a cheaper price than hand knotted rugs.

The difference between hand tufted and hand knotted rugs:

There are two main methods used when producing a rug and this forms the sole basis of the difference between the two aforementioned rugs.

• Hand knotted rugs use a method called hand knotting (funnily enough) whereby each thread needs to be woven and knotted onto the base of the rug by hand to secure it there tightly. This is a very timely and expensive production method where yarn is usually hand spun and dyed using natural vegetable dyes resulting in the customer having to pay a premium to acquire the rug. Whilst this may be a more expensive production method, it is considered the best method, as the thread is secured more tightly and is therefore less likely to shed after continued use. However, because production costs are high, a hand knotted rug can be too highly priced for the average customer.
• Hand tufted rugs are made differently, rather than each thread be knotted to the base, they are instead tufted into a cloth then backed with a, secondary glued on backing, that secures the individual tufts. This has the benefit of being much quicker and therefore much more time and cost effective, as production costs are much lower more money may be invested in a better quality of yarn. Of course, it does mean that the yarn is securely anchored to the base of the rug, but as with all wool rugs some shedding will still occur.

Hand tufted rugs, otherwise, use the same basic material as hand knotted rugs and they can offer the same satisfying visual effect to a room and the same practical benefits. They, in some cases, can also add a more striking effect than a hand knotted rug because different pile heights and textures such as looped piles and carved features are easier to achieve. Owing to the fact that the production method is more cost effective, better quality threads can be sourced and more time can be spent making each rug unique.

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Simple Striped rugs are sophisticated and elegant, they can transform a room or they can complete a room.  Striped rugs are always in fashion, however, like all fashions they have had highs and lows in terms of popularity.  In the 60’s broad striped rugs were very popular and again in the 80’s striped rugs were back with narrower stripes. Today simple striped rugs are more popular than ever, they are available with different sized striped designs and in a wide variety of different colours and they incorporate the design of the 60’s and 80’s era’s to produce beautiful and elegant simple striped rugs.

Benefits of striped rugs:

Adding a striped rug can completely change the dynamics of a room, for example the addition of a striped rug in a room with plain neutral décor will give the illusion of additional space as it will feel like the walls have been pushed out.  Whereas adding a striped rug in a room with a collation of other patterns brings the walls in and creates a cosier feel and a busier space.

As there are a number of stripes, even within the simplest of rugs, they offer an array of colour’s, each colour scheme giving a different feel to room.  Natural colours, such as cream, grey and brown tones create a calm and relaxed atmosphere.  A colour scheme of stripes of blues and greens give an ocean feel and offer a sense of serenity, whereas a colour scheme of reds, yellows and burnt oranges offer a Middle Eastern feel.  Striped rugs, therefore, are extremely versatile, whatever décor currently in use – there is a rug that will fit in with it.

In rooms where there are a number of different colours, either clashing or cohabiting harmoniously together, the addition of a striped rug that incorporates these colours will bring the whole room together and complete it.  In a room that is colourless, with simple natural tones the addition of a striped rug can bring life and colour.

Along with the above benefits striped rugs offer, they also boast the same benefits as other rugs, they reduce noise levels and create a warmer atmosphere within a room.  They offer protection for the flooring and further to this they offer protection for things or people falling onto the floor-they offer a softer landing.

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The fibre polypropylene is the first choice for Wilton rug manufacturers today; the main reason for this is it primarily due to its lower cost to purchase and ease of manufacturing it from the raw fibre to the finished rug.

Wilton Rugs are available in a wide range of sizes, designs and colours and are usually manufactured in one of four textures, they are either: short pile (velvet or twisted texture), flat woven, looped piles or longer and deeper shaggy pile rugs. The choice of how to manufacture and the type of polypropylene used in the rug is an important one as the different methods all vary drastically in terms of how much they cost. Polypropylene fibres also come in two main types BCF (Bulked Continuous Filament) and Heat Set, while the overall benefits are similar to both manufacturer and end user of the two the Heat Set is the softer to touch and is more expensive. Benefits to using polypropylene for Wilton Rugs:

• Excellent chemical resistance (for example from mildew, insects, perspiration, rot, weather etc).
• Low price.
• Easy to process.
• Colourfast
• Fade resistant
• Good bulk and cover.
• Very lightweight.
• High Strength
• Abrasion resistant
• Low moisture absorption
• Stain and soil resistant
• Easily washed and quick drying.
• Resilient

Therefore using polypropylene allows manufactures to be more flexible. Polypropylene allows for experimentation with the manufacturing process as rug makers are able to experiment their manufacturing technique with new textures. Modern Wilton looms can produce using a greater variety of colours meaning they can used to produce complex and detailed designs that replicate Persian and Hand knotted rugs.

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Some hallways can be very dull and dark, especially if you don’t have glass in your front door. Obviously, lighting can make a difference to any dull corner but in these days of escalating fuel costs and worries about global warming, no one wants to leave the light on all day just to perk up the hall. Most hallways have fairly dark carpeting or flooring; a very sensible choice when dealing with wet and dirty feet traipsing through all the time from outside. The addition of a carpet runner can be the answer to a dull hallway, bringing in light and colour with not too much expense. Hall runners are also easier to keep looking bright and cheerful as they can be turned around, shampooed and generally perked up much more easily than a fitted carpet.

If you have a highly polished floor, before introducing a carpet runner to brighten up a dull hallway you should also purchase some Cybergold rug anti creep spray to prevent movement. Similarly if the runner is laid on carpet, Cybregold anti creep spray is also a good idea to stop it creeping as this can also be a trip hazard. Some runners come with a fringe – before you buy one of these make sure that your vacuum cleaner has brushes you can switch off, otherwise you will have to be very careful when cleaning or you will be forever disentangling it. If you can, buy just one runner for the whole length of the hall. Several smaller rugs tend to look a bit messy and also will be yet another trip hazard. If your hallway is very large, centre one rug rather than use several for a much more elegant and neat look.

When choosing a colour for your carpet runner it is a good idea to stick to brights, not pastels. Pastels will look lovely at first but will soon get grubby in a hallway and this will immediately counteract the brightening effect for which you are looking. Fresh is the watchword, so make sure you go for jewel greens, blues, yellows and, to a lesser extent, red. These will catch and return the light and will also look good alongside almost any other colour; matching reds can be quite difficult and a clash will irritate you every time you see it.

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All wool rugs have an annoying tendency to shed fibres, especially when they are new. But why? There are two main reasons:

1)  Wool is cut from a sheep then the short lengths of fleece are spun together into a contuious length of yarn. When the yarn is made of shorter spun lengths it will shed more than yarn made from longer ones. Better quality yarns are usually spun using a longer staple fleece – if the quality of fabric is low or the pile is long it will break up easier and therefore the rugs will shed more. Equally if the quality of fabric is of a high standard the rugs will shed less as the fabric is less likely to break up or break away from the base of the rug.

2)  How the rugs are made – there are many ways in which rugs are made, they are can be ‘machine woven’ , ‘machine Tufted’, ‘hand-tufted’, ‘hand-knotted’, ‘hand loomed’ and ‘flat woven’ (Kilim Rugs) . Machine and Hand-tufted rugs are made by a needle tufting the fabric through a base and then gluing on a secondary backing to create a strong bond, this is easier, quicker and therefore a cheaper way to produce rugs. Hand-knotted rugs are more expensive as they take longer to produce, instead of the fabric being glued at the base it is knotted at the base offering more security overall. Machine woven rugs are woven usually on Wilton looms, but are rarely produced in wool.

In order for manufacturers to keep costs down, they must either choose cheaper fabric or a cheaper production method.

Wool rugs made from New Zealand wool is reputed to be the best for its softness and the ability to dye. This wool (after the process of spinning, dying and washing which is required to get the wool ready to be made into rugs) is costly when compared to inexpensive materials such as polypropylene, a common rug fabric in modern Wilton weaving. Manufacturers of wool rugs, therefore, take the cheaper production method option of hand-tufting their rugs in India or China in order to keep overall production costs to a minimum. Whilst the quality of the wool would suggest the rug would shed less, the longer, chunkier pile of hand-tufted rugs will in fact mean the wool rug sheds more.

How to maintain your Wool Rug:

• Ensure you vacuum your wool rug every day for the first 10 days after purchase.

• After the first 10 days vacuum your rug twice a week.

• When vacuuming your wool rug ensure that there is not too much suction on the wool, you may need to turn the suction power down or use a different head attachment to achieve the right level of suction.

• Ensure you wipe or remove shoes before walking on the rug, any friction from bricks/sand/grit on the bottom of your shoes will break the fabric away from the base and cause more shedding. Equally try not to cause friction in any other way, don’t drag furniture back and forth across it, for example.

They say that the many design rudiments on traditional rugs can unfold into a story.  In essence this is true, although the designs on a rug are more likely to symbolise a simple message of good will or celebration rather than an actual story. Because the ancient rug weavers were usually illiterate the messages woven into the rugs were reliant on symbols and motifs. I believe the woven motifs play like the lyrics of a song, sometimes they tell is a story, sometimes they’re just clever plays on words and others are simply words of love and devotion. Even today in the Middle East rugs are still a highly valued commodity and often given as gifts to newlyweds and new born babies and best not to forget they are used daily as prayer mats.

The basic colours of the rugs have meaning and start to tell the story. Red Rugs, probably the most popular colour as it represents enthusiasm and courage while also used to convey sorrow and tragedy.   Orange and Terracotta Rugs symbolises humility while Blue Rugs are the colour of strength and authority, Green Rugs, being a holy colour is therefore used in moderation and in areas where it’s less likely to be trodden upon, it means hope and life.

The symbols and motifs on the rug are a little more complex as they can be broken into as many as nineteen different  groups, these include Islamic Building, flower patterns, hunting patterns, all-over designs, geometrics and probably the most recognised the large central medallions designs, which are believed to inspired from the intricate designs on the domes of mosques.

Translating the design elements

While it is unlikely that you will ever gain enough knowledge to fully understand each element of the rug, here are a few common symbols found in traditional rugs and what they represent.  As with hand writing every weaver has their own unique traits and you will not find symbols on different rugs exactly alike.

Star: Spirituality and Good Luck
Diamond: Signifies woman when two diamonds are attached together this means a man and a woman.
Comb: Cleanliness
Lotus: Rebirth and Immortality.
Dog: Protection, trust and defence
Boteh: Flame and Universe
Cross: Faith
Ram’s Horn: Fertility, heroism and power
Pomegranate: Fertility
Iris: Religious Liberty
Tree of Life: The direct path from Earth to Heaven.

Travelling from their summer pastures in the Highland of Shiraz to the winter pastures in the Persian Gulf the nomadic Qashqai tribes herd their flocks while hand weaving their traditional rugs from vegetable dyed wool. The journey of 300 miles means many overnight stops and constant dismantling and assembly of the rug looms this results in vastly varying tensioning of the looms as they are packed then unpacked along the route. Looms require a constant tension to keep designs and edges straight, but keeping looms tensioned on such a journey is virtually impossible for the nomadic tribesman. The result is a rug that is irregular in shape.

Of course the Qashquai aren’t the only nomads of Iran, Bakthiyaris, Baluchs, Guilaks, Kurds and Lurs also roam the Iranian plateau and also produce their own individual style of Nomadic or Tribal Persian rugs. The traditional rugs are hand knotted using the Senneh knot as typical Persian rugs produced in cities but they virtually all have the common characteristic of irregular edges and patterns that twist and curve out of tune to their unbalanced edges. The rug experts never look at these traits as being substandard because they understand the complex nature of making a rug on the move. Instead they tend to look at the characteristics as a selling point a feature to behold.

Irregular features are common in all handknotted rugs whether they be Persian, Turkish, Afghan, Chinese, Indian or Pakistani, however the irregular features in a nomadic rug are almost certainly more pronounced. As we can recognise people from different cultures form their skin colour or facial features, we can more easily spot the characteristics of a nomadic hand knotted rug, simply because it doesn’t look manufactured. For that reason it is a one off and no matter how ugly the shape or even the design it is absolutely unique and therefore thing of natural beauty.

Decorating a room is not just about colour and style, it is also about the way different objects react with each other’s space. We have all had a go at changing a room just by moving the furniture around and sometimes the effect is amazing. Nothing new has been introduced and nothing has been taken out and yet the whole room can look totally different. An easy way to achieve this ambiance without having to lug the furniture about is to introduce a round rug into the space.

The curved edge of a circular rug will pull the furniture around it together in a completely different way. If the round rug is under a round table, it will make the table far more of a feature, as it will draw the eye to it right down to the floor. If the rug is in the centre of the room, it will make the corners seem further away, making the whole room look bigger. If the rug is in a bright colour it will certainly give the room a lot of added zing, but if the decor is generally bright, it might be best to keep the rug to a more muted shade. Wooden floors would lend themselves to having a round rug as a centre piece; the floorboards against the curved edge make a very unusual statement.

Round rugs come in all sizes, some of them almost big enough to fill the average sitting room floor. It is important not to have too small a rug, because that looks a little skimpy and mean, but one which is too large is a waste of money unless you have very little furniture in the room, because you will lose the shape of the edge and this is where the rug’s impact lies. Round rugs look very nice in bedrooms, and this is one place where they can be smaller. Made in a really long pile, they would be great as a bedside rug and very welcoming to the toes in the morning.

A fairly recent fashion in home furnishing was the ‘club’ look, with polished wooden floors and brown leather furniture, the boxier and more beaten up looking the better. This was a really great look, but rather an expensive one to achieve and so now that it is not quite so cutting edge, not everyone can afford to change it. There is no need to try and alter all of the furnishings in a room which has this very masculine aspect. Some large rugs or throws will soon give it a different feel altogether and without your having to spend very much money at all.

Bright colours mix with each other really well, as long as they are crisp and clean and not muddy mixtures. A rainbow effect with different coloured cushions along the back of a Chesterfield settee would not only cheer up the palette but also make it much more squashy and comfy, changing the club look and feel with one fairly minor purchase. Throws also change the look, but it is very important when covering leather furniture to make sure that the throws are big enough to tuck in, because otherwise you will be constantly sliding about and won’t be comfortable sitting and relaxing. Small spots of colour are often more effective anyway, so throws should be used with caution.

Primary colour accent rugs give a real lift to a room with literally no other changes necessary. They direct the eye in a totally new direction and will make everyone think that the place has had a major makeover. They make a wooden floored room much cosier right from the start and also oddly quieter, as they absorb sound not just from footsteps but from voices, music and television as well. All clear colours go well with brown furniture, but if you go for slightly more muted shades, check first that they won’t make the brown look muddy; blues, greens and peacocks look especially wonderful with brown.