I feel every great room starts with either great artwork, great fabric or a great rug.  I’m working with two different clients both in need of a complete room designs.  The rug is where we started for each room. 
Over Dyed Vintage Rugs

These rugs are not only beautiful but eco friendly.   Older rugs with unattractive color ways are given new life with vibrant dyes.  In the picture below they pair an over dyed rug with neutral interiors so it really pops.
Here’s another rug with monochromatic and neutral colors but with a patchwork design.  They’ve taken old rugs and patched them together.  What a great way to reuse old rugs and get a fantastic look!
In this picture they are introducing more color with the rug but still keep the room from being overstimulating with the white walls, one of my favorite looks…
I’m loving my client’s new rug from Colore that just arrived for their entry.  We are also doing an over dyed patchwork rug in their living room.  The living room sample is on the left with a side table is going in their living room.
Here’s the design plan for the entry.  The living room design is being finalized which I’ll share a little later.
Oriental Rugs
Oriental rugs are hand-knotted or hand-woven rugs and are from the Near or Far East that are woven in complex floral or geometric patterns.  There are many oriental style rugs on the market but technically they are not “oriental rugs” unless they’ve been made by hand in an asian country such as China, Vietnam, Turkey, Cyprus, Iran, India, etc.  Oriental rugs are organized by origin such as Persian, Arab, Anatolian, Kurdish, Caucasian, Central Asian, Turkestanian, Chinese, and Tibetan.  
Another client will be using oriental rugs in their great room and sitting room.  Oriental rugs are wonderful because they can be used with all different styles…modern, contemporary, rustic, traditional.
Last weekend, the Washington Post, highlighted this home recently built in northern Virginia.  I fell in love with it because of the home’s connection to the outdoors. Below is a room from this home that uses neutral interiors with the rug, probably so the focus would be on the outdoors.   To see more of this home, click here.  
In the room below the oriental rug is mixed with both contemporary and rustic elements.  The furnishings, again, are more neutral.
A little more color is introduced here…
Below the solid pillows tie back to the colors in the rug.  But notice the turquoise pillows are not an exact match to the blue in the rug to prevent it from being too boring.
A more eclectic look with dark grey walls…
I snapped this picture with my iPhone in the Kravet showroom many months ago.  I was taken with the kilim style pillows and rug.
This pretty room with more formality is from Lillian August‘s (a great furniture line) website.
Here’s another more traditional room that mixes in blue and white porcelain and pattern, very pretty..
Oriental rugs are not just for the living room.  A very pretty look in the bathroom too…

And also for a child’s bedroom.  Love the grey walls with the rug.

I found the following rugs at Manoukian Brothers, a fantastic rug store in Silver Spring.  They have gorgeous oriental rugs with fair prices and they’re a pleasure to work with.  I don’t believe they have a website but here’s their contact information on yelp.

We are using two oriental rugs with a similar look to define two different seating areas in the room.  Here’s one…

And here is the other.  Design plans are being finalized which I’ll share later.  But you can see I have lots of wonderful colors to work with.

In another room, we are using this rug as the starting point…

Here’s a close up…so beautifully made with vegetable dies that gives you the variations in color.

I took these pictures at Manoukian Brothers several months ago when I was picking out a rug for my own living room. 

They clean and repair rugs also, plus provide excellent rug pads which are needed to increase your rugs longevity.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Have a good week ahead!