Rugs do more than cover floors; they give a room the right foundation


By STEVE EDWARDS
More than 150 years ago, Edgar Allan Poe, who knew a thing or two about ravens, decided to offer his insights on interior design too.
In “The Philosophy of Furniture,” Poe wrote: “The soul of the apartment is the carpet. From it are deduced not only the hues but the forms of all objects incumbent. A judge at common law may be an ordinary man; a good judge of a carpet must be a genius.”
That’s pretty high praise for something we’ll spend most of our time walking on, vacuuming or cleaning spills out of. But carpets — or rugs — say a lot about the people who live inside a home.
For many people, floor covering means wall-to-wall carpet. But more people are adding accent rugs. According to statistics,
60 percent of those rugs go on top of wall-to-wall carpet. So it doesn’t take a hardwood floor to enjoy a special rug.
“There is nothing more wonderful than a hand-knotted and hand-spun rug; it is truly a piece of art,” says Tracy Brooks, owner of Re-Creations Interior Design and co-owner of Journey Home. “Sometimes the rugs have fairly complex designs, so it’s easier to start with a rug and work around that to decorate a room. If you start with the rug, you can play up the color of it.
“But you can get a rug that will work in an already existing room.”
A MAN OF ACTION
Nicholas Kazan has worn a lot of hats during his lifetime. He graduated from the Romanian Air Force Academy, served as a commercial pilot, escaped dictatorial Romania in the early 1980s, started Cafe Europa bakery in Anchorage, opened a bread store in Seattle, opened coffee shops in Anchorage and has proved himself to be environmentally friendly — selling organic coffee and being one of the first Alaskans to own a hybrid car.
For the past three years, his focus has been on rugs, specifically hand-knotted rugs made by Tibetan and Nepalese people living in the Katmandu Valley.
Kazan’s company, Kazan Designs, sells a variety of handmade rugs at its Northern Lights Mall location between REI and Title Wave Books. One of the most popular sizes is 8 feet by 10 feet. Rugs that size generally cost $3,000 or $4,000. Kazan says similar rugs created by well-known rug companies Outside can cost up to nearly $10,000. Of course, a trip to Wal-Mart might yield a rug that size for less than $200, but you sacrifice quality and craftsmanship.
Kazan says he is passionate about the rugs, the people who create them and the Earth.
About the rugs: “These are very good rugs. They’re all natural — wool, cactus, wild hemp. We use all natural materials, including 100 percent natural dyes. Less than 1 percent of handmade carpet is made with natural colors.
“People may look at the price and say ‘That’s expensive.’ Really, this quality, you don’t find it anywhere else for this price. We deal directly with the people who make the rugs. This is wholesale price.”
About the people: “We work with families. A whole family will work together creating one of these rugs. We work directly with the families who have looms. This is something that the family line has done for years and years.
“I have spent probably a total of a year in Tibet during the last three years. I like talking with the people. They don’t work in a factory.”
About the Earth: “Total sustainability. It is the only way to do this. Natural fibers, natural colors.
“Being in Anchorage, we are at the best place. We are in a strategic location — the best place between the weavers and customers. It is good for everyone; it is good for the Earth.”
Yes, Kazan is enthusiastic.
He is a salesman, an entrepreneur, an enthusiast, a dreamer. And he dreams of rugs.
Most of the rugs displayed around his showroom are his own designs: “Living on Clouds,” “Fire,” “Rainbow,” “Potter Marsh,” “Fall Sunset,” “SeaCubism,” “Verdant.”
He loves the role he plays, serving as a rug conduit between the makers and the buyers.
“If you’re going to own a home, you might as well make it a home,” Kazan says. “Make it more than a house, make it refreshing. Be in harmony with all your surroundings.
“That is the theory behind the rugs. They are connected with the Earth. We are overwhelmed by noise; this is a way to overcome the noise.”
A DIFFERENT LOOK
At Kazan Designs, traditional Oriental rugs are relegated to the back room, where they are on sale. They have been replaced by rugs that are much less ornate, more modern.
The showroom has recently evolved as well. For years, Kazan had the contemporary rugs covering nearly every square inch of the room — floor and walls.
Now artwork adorns the walls and the floor space is shared by rugs and furniture.
“I think it will help people visualize the rugs better,” Kazan says. “The art, the furniture, the rugs — they create a living space. People will say, ‘I can live here.’ ”
Karen Peterson, owner of Karen Peterson Interiors and a member of the American Society of Interior Designers, says modern rugs have a special niche in today’s designs.
“There are so many wonderful rugs available,” she says. “Today there are so many different materials, so many different patterns.
“Orientals actually adjust to just about any environment, but there are some beautiful modern designs available now. People sometimes like the more simple designs.”
WHY RUGS?
As winter descends on Alaska, the better question may be: Why not?
Area rugs add warmth during the colder months, protecting feet from chilly floors and creating a cozy look for the room. But it can be a challenge to place the right rug in the right room the right way.
How much furniture should be on top of the rug?
Can I put a rug in the dining room or even the kitchen?
How big (or how small) should the rug be?
What about the color?
“A rug can encompass an entire room or just a small portion of the room; it’s all about context,” says Lindsey Mattison, design assistant at Spiral Design in Anchorage. “Anything can work anywhere in the right context.
“A rug defines the space, it adds color, it adds texture. They also act as a good sound damper too.”
So, how much furniture on top of the rug? It’s usually best if most of the furniture can sit on top of the rug. If the furniture surrounds the rug, it may look like a bull’s-eye. “The rug is often the focal point or the center of the room,” Mattison says. “You want the furniture to sit comfortably on top of the rug.”
Are any rooms off-limits? No. “They’re perfect in a dining room. Usually it is a woody area with the furniture and wood floors and all the legs from the table and chairs,” Peterson says. “They go perfectly in living areas, but I’ve also used them in kitchens or as runners in a hallway.”
How big should the rug be? “The rug should fit the room,” Kazan says. Says Brooks: “The most common size is probably 6 by 9, but they come bigger or smaller. If you have a very large room, you could use a couple rugs — one to define one living space and a second to define another space in the same room.”
And what about the color? “Color and pattern are very important,” Peterson says. “And now you can have just about any color you want. A rug gives you the opportunity to pull a little color from grandma’s sofa, from some artwork, from other elements.”
Special sections editor Steve Edwards can be reached at sedwards@adn.com or 257-4316.
What should you do with that rug?
What size is the right size for a rug? Here are some tips:
DINING ROOM
• Measure your table, then add at least 6 feet to the length and 6 feet to the width. Three feet of rug on each side of the table will allow for chairs to sit with all legs on the rug and will provide enough room to move them in and out.
• Should you measure your table fully extended with all its leaves in, or do you measure your table at the size you most frequently use it? It’s best to stick with the most commonly used table dimension, otherwise the table often will look dwarfed by an extra-long rug.
• Buffets, sideboards and china cabinets normally are all the way off the area rug, American Heritage furniture advises. Otherwise, you’d be creating a visual mass, rather than defining a table area that is balanced along the walls by other furniture.
LIVING ROOM, FAMILY ROOM OR DEN
• A large rug meant to cover a room should leave a margin of exposed floor on all sides. That margin makes a room look larger than if the rug was scrunched all the way up to the baseboards.
• A rug set in the middle of a room looks best if the amount of floor showing is equal on all sides. That may not be possible, so at least shoot for equal margins on opposite sides of the rug, such as a foot of floor space showing on two sides and 6 inches on the other sides.
• For a smaller area rug, chairs should either be all the way off the area rug or all the way on. Chairs or rugs can shift if the front legs are on the rug and the rear legs are not.
• Sofas tend to be heavy enough that they won’t move if the legs are half on and half off the rug. Anyone sitting on the furniture should be able to have both feet on the rug.
• A rug under a coffee table looks proportional if it is the same length as the sofa.
BEDROOM
• The basic rule for bedroom area rugs is to leave 3 feet of carpet showing on all sides of a bed.
• Try two or three smaller rugs if you can’t bear to hide much of that expensive rug underneath the bed. The rugs should measure a minimum of 3 feet by 5 feet to look proportional to the bed, plus be stable enough to prevent slips.
— Fort Worth Star-Telegram