I always get a lot of questions about our (persian) rugs so I thought I’d write a post about them and try to answer all the questions. Number one is without a doubt where I bought them! I always feel a little guilty for not being able to give a shop, because I bought them all secondhand. But, I am going to share my tips for you on finding your own perfect rug!
Without a doubt our (and your!) favorite rug; this pink Persian. It’s the rug we have the longest and while I am all for changing and selling items, this one will never leave. We bought it from Marktplaats (dutch eBay) for a bargain and the story behind it makes it even better. We bought it from a woman who sold it on behalf of her mom, that moved to a care home. She was so happy her mom’s rug would find a new place with us “young folks”, as she put it. We’ve had this rug for over 6 years now, and we still love it.
Our second favorite rug is this one, and always sparks a lot of questions as well. I bought this at a thrift store, so it was a lucky find. I actually bought two rugs at the same time, I saw them laying in the back and asked if I could see them. Funny enough the ladies who showed me the rugs said that they felt this didn’t fit my style as much as the other one, so I should take that one. Ha, they were wrong because I bought both and already sold the other one. What I love most about this one are the rich colors. The pattern reminds me more of a Kelim than a Persian rug, but it doesn’t have a label so I have no idea where it’s from. It’s downstairs in the living room at the moment, because I felt it matched the dark green wall so perfectly (see top photo).
All our rugs have a story behind them, but this one might be the most telling of my personality; I bought this rug via Marktplaats and picked it up when I was 38 weeks pregnant. The man I bought it from wouldn’t allow me to lift them (I bought 2 from him) into the car, which I thought wasn’t a big deal but of course it was very kind of him. We cleaned the rugs ourselves on Wednesday, and I gave birth to our daughter Mia on that Friday two days later. Whenever we tell the story to anyone they all go: “oh yes that sounds like Marrit..”. Well, I guess I was just lucky with an easy pregnancy and I couldn’t let this beautiful rug go by, couldn’t I? It’s back in Mia’s room after the make-over we did there, see it HERE.
Then there’s one more left I wanted to show you, this rug I also found at the thrift store. It turned out to be the perfect size for our 2nd floor landing and I love it there.
So do I have any more rugs on my wishlist? Well yes definitely :) Our dream is to have a house filled with rugs, so we have a few rooms to go left. We actually have a few more rugs but they aren’t vintage so I didn’t want to include them in this post. So for our wishlist: I would love a runner for our 1st floor landing as well and we are almost starting with the renovation of the 2nd room in our attic. We want to make a music room out of it, with my husbands guitars on the wall etcetera, so I’m hoping to find a nice big rug for this room. But since we’re not sure on the colors for this room, I need to wait a little longer to make a decision.
So what are my tips on finding a great rug? Well in my case, patience. There are loads of shops that offer great rugs, but the price is higher. If you have the money, find the perfect rug and simply want to have it; go for it. But if you want to find rugs at a bargain price patience really is the key. It’s not like every time I visit a thrift store I find a great rug. It’s one out of tens of times. Same with Marktplaats, you just have to take your time, and some day you will find the perfect rug. Just keep looking :)
Where you can find secondhand rugs:
- Thrift store
- Etsy
- Catawiki
- Marktplaats
- eBay
If you want to buy a new, clean rug (2ndhand can be dirty) in a similar style, here are my favorites:
Do you have any tips or shops to share for this story? Let me know!
Love, Marrit
