Floor rugs are actually called carpets by strict definition. Rugs originally were garments woven or sewn specifically to keep animals warm and dry. The word was also used to describe coverings on tables or walls before the 17th Century. That is when Persian rugs first appeared in western Europe, one century before Europeans began to use them to cover floor areas. There are four basic ways to make floor rugs: woven, needle felt, knotted, and tufted.
Woven area rugs are made through a loom comparable to that which makes woven cloth, and under normal circumstances use multiple yarns in multiple colors—making the familiar intricate patterns, normally from pre-determined designs. The drawback is that woven rugs are also the most expensive: the process for making them is very slow compared to other rug-making techniques.
Needle felt rugs receive more sophisticated production: electrostatically attracting individual fibers. They are considered among the most durable rugs and, perhaps naturally enough, are the rugs of choice for hotels, offices, the food industry, and other enterprises in which a great deal of floor traffic is expected routinely.
Tufted rugs have their fiber piling injected into backing material that is bound to secondary backings. These secondary backings are usually made of woven hessian derivatives or man-made synthetics firm enough to offer basic stability. Today the tufted method is the most common for making rugs marketed to homes.
Traditional Area Rug, Home Dynamix Royalty 8' x 11' Brown Ivory
Finally, knotted pile rugs involve alternating structural and supplementary wefts (cut loops), the latter rising at right angles to the weave surface, and fitted by one of three knot types to fashion its nap: symmetrical knotting, asymmetrical knotting, and shag. The shag rug was highly popular in the 1970s, and the style is still available today but not even close to its one-time popularity.
Some knotted pile rugs are knotted by hand, particularly in the making of Oriental and Kashmir carpets. Otherwise, whether flat or pile they are loom-woven, with their warp threads framed in the loom before the process starts. Rows of knots are cut and the knots are secured with rows of weft (the yarn drawn below and above parallel warps).
All that said, floor rugs come in either wall-to-wall or area mode—area meaning that the rug does not cover all floor space from wall to wall to wall. Many are not only asymmetrically knotted (if the rug in question is knotted pile) but asymmetrically patterned. These afford a room a distinctive appearance assuming the dominant colors are a match for the furniture, drapery, and accessories. Designs range from flat single colors to polygon and other shape patterns, botanical patterns, even animation patterns.
The prices? Those range generally as low as $30 at some outlets to as high as $500, depending on the source materials, craftsmanship, and even the style or the brand name.
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