How to Pick the Perfect Wool Rugs for Your Home

A rule of thumb when picking out furniture and room accessories is to follow a color palette. While the current trend leans towards muted and bold monotones and organic hues, some might want to diverge and use a broad color palette.

You can go ahead and furnish a room with furniture and accessories in several different colors, both loud and soft. But for the final touch, throw in a modern wool rug that unifies everything you picked out. That’s how you can make the room feel well-put-together.

Why a wool rug, you ask? Wool is one of the best carpet materials to exist.

• It is very resilient: it doesn’t indent easily and will do well in high-traffic areas like the living room, dining room, and main hallway.
• It can last a lifetime.
• It is naturally hypoallergenic.
• It is naturally water, flame, and stain-resistant.
• Wool carpets do a great job of hiding dirt. It still looks clean even when it’s not, so you don’t have to clean it very often.
• It absorbs natural and synthetic dyes very well. Wool fiber has a resilient quality, so colors will stay brilliant for a long time.

It would be wise to invest in a wool rug or carpet; but, as with any investment, you need to choose the right one. Not only because you’re spending money, but also for the fact that you may have to look at it for the next couple of years (even longer, if you’re considering it is an heirloom piece).

Here are our tips for choosing wool rugs:

1. Choose one large rug.

Average-sized rooms don’t need too many rugs; one big one that will tie up the color elements will do. This applies best to small, enclosed spaces because a large rug gives the impression of having a huge, usable space.

2. Choose smaller rugs to differentiate sections.

You can choose many small rugs to separate the different sections without creating physical partitions or walls for sprawling rooms and open-floor plans. You can find a wool rug that ties together the color palette of each section (i.e., a plain, white wool carpet for a glass-and-steel dining table set and a rich, Oushak wool rug for a reading nook that’s flanked by varnished bookshelves).

3. Choose hand-crafted wool rugs.

More than getting a one-of-a-kind artisan rug, you’ll also be helping local laborers and weavers preserve traditional methods of wool carpet weaving. Technology has improved so much that rugmaking is already commercialized. The only people still doing it by hand are mostly the indigenous groups or communities renowned for their rug-weaving traditions.

4. Choose flat weaves for receiving rooms.

Many love the idea of having fluffy, hand-knotted, shaggy wool carpets all over the house. Unfortunately, this isn’t the smartest move. People could trip on them, especially guests wearing shoes with sharp-edged or high heels. Consider the location or room where the rug will go. If it is for a high-traffic area, get a thin or flat-weave wool rug instead. Save the hairy wool for the more private rooms where you often walk barefoot or wearing house slippers.

5. Choose high-quality wool.

Don’t shortchange yourself when buying wool rugs and carpets. Choose the best quality your budget can allow. High-quality wool ages well: it develops a unique sheen or polish over time due to oxidation and sunlight exposure. 

Today, you’ll find many cheaper rugs in stores and online shops: sisal, jute, synthetic nylon, cotton, and linen, among others. These will serve you well — at least until someone spills wine or the cleaning service uses a bleach solution to scrub it. Wool rugs and carpets are truly worthwhile investments for a long-term home.

Browse our gorgeous collection of handmade, modern, Turkish wool rugs and wool-and-bamboo silk carpets. We can also help you find the perfect colors, designs, and sizes. Contact Lolo Rugs and Gifts to request an in-house consultation today.