North Shore News – Oct 2008

 North Shore News

 

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

bowen-5Design from the ground up

A well-decorated home should look put-together from top to bottom, and that means it’s important to carefully select rugs that tie a room together and complete the desired look.

“I think it’s something that a lot of people overlook because people first buy the couches and some of the other things and think about the colours in other parts of the room,” says Sasan Salari, owner of Vancouver’s Salari Fine Carpet Collections.

But a rug can make a big difference, especially with the popularity of hardwood floors, he says.

“Without a rug it looks very cold and bare so (people) end up choosing a rug and that’s to really help unify the whole room and anchor the room down.”

Although traditional style rugs are still popular, modern designs are very trendy right now and what’s great is that they’re customizable in terms of size and colour, says Salari.

“It may be an eight by 10 that we have, so if you need and eight by eight or a six by eight it can be altered and it can be custom made for you specifically. So it’s really a one-off carpet for you.”

Colour pods — one-inch squares of pre-dyed wool — can be used to replace the colours on a rug if you wanted them to fit in well with the rest of a room.

“If the design has some geometric element that is in red but you want maybe a lighter shade of red or you want blue, that can all be customized.

“That wasn’t really possible with traditional rugs; you would have to go in and you basically got what you saw in the showroom,” he adds.

In general he says a lot of the colours tend to be earth tones, and though there are some bursts of other colours, it’s not being overdone.

“People are playing with mauves and purples. Something a little bit warmer but still subtle though, nothing too, too crazy.”

Teresa Cain, owner of West Vancouver’s Interior Solutions Design Group, agrees it’s probably best to stick with more neutral colours for a rug, but focus on texture to add interest.

“If you keep everything fairly neutral and you bring your colour in your accessories than you can change your colours out if you get tired of them, you can change it from a winter to a summer look,” she says, noting warm greys, rich browns and creams are very popular.

Patterns and textural elements like tone on tone stripes, rugs that appear woven, and even thick shags in fabrics varying from felt to wool are great for creating a contemporary look, she says.

As far as fabrics go, it depends on your price range but Cain says natural material like wool is an eco-friendly way to go and it tends to last longer.

“Wool is definitely one of the nicest, or if you’re having some silk and mohair in the rugs than certainly it’s going to be a very luxurious rug, very, very comfortable.”

Salari says his rugs are made only of the finest wool available, including pure Himalayan highland wool from Nepal for the more modern pieces.

“This is some of the best wool you can find for rugs because it’s very fatty and it’s really resistant to dirt and to wear,” he says. “It’s important that people research a little bit into what the materials are and what the quality is.”

One of the store’s top-selling modern lines is Diurne, created by an artist from Paris who bases his rugs on images he creates.

“He has really great compositional shapes and just very avante garde imagery,” says Salari, adding his customers are often seeking out unique designs.

Another hit collection by New York designer Clodagh is appropriately called Strata, as it is based on the Grand Canyon’s rock formations.

“It’s a little bit more rustic,” says Salari. The earth tones are a perfect match for cottage homes or family rooms and dens, he adds.

“They can fit quite well with the West Coast, where people are quite into harmonizing with the outside and bringing the outside in.”

– Manisha Krishnan

North Shore News 2008

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