Good Questions: Leopard or Cheetah Print Rug?

Hello AT,

I'm looking for an attractive leopard or cheetah print area rug for my apartment as a means to liven up the french antique decor--but I can't find one anywhere in the city--except for Ethan Allen--which is cheesy and strange looking.

Any thoughts/suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Jennifer

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Dear Jennifer,

We've never looked for cheetah or leopard, but we know that zebra is darn popular, so it shouldn't be hard to find SOMETHING. We did a little searching and this is what we found, which we think is a good start. Does anyone have a lead in NYC???

• animalsonrugs.com
• homedecorators.com
• bestrugs.com
• thethemeroom.com

Comments (13)

For Zebra, we love Jonathan Adler's interpretations (including a red zebra!). There are also zebra-print rugs at Pottery Barn and West Elm. All of these are more graphic than a direct representation of an actual animal skin.

Try Karastan ...

for those with decorator friends the classic is the stark leopard print.
but back to earth, i would suggest visiting abc carpet and home i'm sure there is something there.

You can go to most carpet dealers and find leopard print meant for wall to wall, then have it cut and bound in the size you want. They may have to search their catalogs but there are manufacturers out there. I have leopard print as stair runner at home and as area rugs at the gallery. A great neutral without the blah factor.

I know that Evolution on Spring Street in Soho has some animal skins for rugs, but I don't remember if what it offers includes cheetah or leopard.

Ballard Designs always has leopard print rugs:
www.ballarddesigns.com

Ikea now carries full size animal hide floor coverings at really great prices.

On ebay they have cow hides that are printed with zebra and other animal prints. I dont know what they look like but go to ebay and put in leopard print rug or animal print rug.

They have quite a few leopard choices at Horchow.com, my favorite is this one: http://www.horchow.com/store/catalog/prod.jhtml?itemId=cprod25740042&parentId=cat4300732&masterId=cat6120733&index=10&cmCat=cat000000cat1590731cat000017cat6120733cat4300732

Unfortunately it is not cheap. The bound wall-to-wall idea is a good one, check iFloor.com to view lots of different manufacturers online.

I looked at iFloor and they also have a ton of leopard area rugs too, including a nice traditional choice from Safavieh. This vendor has a store in the city, you should stop by!

I once had a piece of cheetah print carpet bound into a large area rug at ABC Carpet. If you're in NY, stop in there or just call them for a price. I know they still carry that carpet, I saw it there this spring. I think it cost me $300 for an 8x10 piece, about 10 years ago.

Dear Jennifer,

I just found a wonderful leopard rug for my master bedroom which comes in two weights and you can get a sample for $3. It's synthetic and I chose that due to my allergies. The site is Waxman's Carpet & Rug Warehouse. There are other sites which show leopard rugs but I think the pattern and colors in this one are the best (at least for my purposes). I chose a 9x12 so that my queen size bed could sit on it and the price is just amazing. Hope it's not too good to be true, but I'll find out when the sample arrives. Good luck!

Frankiemay

Pottery Barn has a nice Chettah Rug on clearance. Only a few sizes are still available:

http://www.potterybarn.com/products/p10725/index.cfm?clg=33&cm_src=CQS&showsku=5224837&pkey=k33%2C5224837