You bought the house. Now you need to make it a home. There's much to be done before the last paintbrush is cleaned and curtains get hung just so. Inspirational ideas and advice are yours for the taking as you explore this section.

Sell Your Home With Strategically Placed Artwork

Photography, oils, watercolor, posters: your walls say so much about you, sometimes even too much. Read the Article

Does Your Entrance Say Welcome or Walk Away?

Putting extra effort into your home's reception area will leave a lasting impression on potential buyers Read the Article

Great Kitchens Sell Homes

To sell your home fast, showcase your kitchen as a clean, modern, inviting and immaculate environment. Read the Article

Basement Renovations

Is adding the extra space worth it? Read the Article

Careful Landscape Planning Yields Big Payoffs

Landscaping projects can be a big commitment of both time and money. But by carefully planning your landscape design, you can make it come in on time and on budget. Read the Article

Building a Welcome Mat for Your Home

Your driveway should say, come on in. With proper installation, seasonal and setting considerations and the proper care, it's a great way to enhance your home and its character. Read the Article

Building Green from Basement to Rooftop

Creating an environmentally friendly home is not a simple exercise. It requires research, planning, design and execution. The secret to success is being able to make informed decisions. Read the Article

Choosing the Right Glass for Your Home

Windows are for more than just looking through. Putting energy-efficient glass in your windows can lower your heating and cooling bills significantly. Read the Article

Accenting hard surface flooring with area rugs has become the latest trend in home decorating, says Flooring Trends, http://www.flooring-trends.com. 

Custom, contemporary, and oriental rugs are used to accent a room that already has another flooring surface such as wood or tile. These fine rugs are worth the investment because they can anchor the theme of the décor.

Custom rugs - getting exactly what you want

Custom rugs can be made of any style, fabric, size, design or color.  Some custom rug makers even let the buyer design the rug.

Natural materials such as sisal, seagrass or mountain grass, bamboo, and jute appeal to environmentally conscientious buyers and are the latest decorating trend, according to Flooring Trends.  

Go contemporary

Contemporary rugs are manufactured with both synthetic fibers and wools, and include braided rugs, wool Flokati rugs, and looped wool, bamboo, cotton and nylon reversible, flat-weave rugs. 

When a rug is handmade, the design is one of a kind, according to Contemporaryrugs.com, http://www.contemporaryrugs.com. Hand-hooked, hand-knotted, and hand-tufted (tufts are sheared) rugs can be custom ordered. 

The main focus of a contemporary rug is the design and color, which is as artistic as the paintings on the wall. The designs are inlaid with colored carpet material, which is “cut in” with a background color to create a custom design.

Modern designers embrace styles of décor from Art Deco to Italian Futurism to create abstract and geometric designs. They can also recreate the designs of top artists such as Andy Warhol, Kate Ward Thacker and Frank Lloyd Wright. 

The quality of a contemporary rug is reflected in a higher price tag.  Typically, contemporary rugs are dense in fibers for better wear, and they can be hand or machine bound. 

Oriental rugs

True Oriental rugs are hand-woven and hand-knotted, and highly prized for their high  quality and beauty. The origins of these rugs vary, as hundreds of Turkish and Persian tribes scattered all over the Middle East developed distinct tribal styles, colors, and motifs over the centuries.

Fine Oriental rugs are handmade from wool or combinations of wool, cotton, and silk. Wool quality can vary, and some tribal rugs may even contain goat or camel hair.  

Observing the back of a carpet is instructive, because the higher the knot count, the clearer the design is.  A fine rug will appear almost as distinct on the back as the front.

Many antique and semi-antique Oriental rugs are dyed with natural vegetable dyes.  The colors of the natural vegetable dyes soften on the wool over time, giving a distinct patina to the rug.  Newer rugs are colored with artificial dyes which do not fade or bleed which does not hurt the quality of the rugs.

Choose your rug first

No matter what kind of area rug you decide on, keep in mind that your flooring is your foundation, and the rug is the first element of décor.

If you love the color and design of the rug you choose, you’ll find it much easier to coordinate the furnishings that will go on top of the rug.