NY Good Questions: What Rug to Put Beneath Alpaca Rug?

12.20rug.jpg Hello AT,

I could use some decorating advice.

We received a luxurious alpaca rug as a gift.

Good timing since our new apartment has a large and largely unfurnished living room.

I would like to put a rug beneath the alpaca so as to (1) help dampen sound, (2) protect our wood floors and (3) prevent the alpaca from sliding around much...

(Note: Include a pic of your problem and your question gets posted first.)

12.20rug1.jpg

Because I am told that the alpaca rug will not endure significant foot traffic, I think I will protect the bulk of it by putting it beneath a translucent coffee table in between two loveseats.

Is all of this a bad idea?

If not, my question is what rug should I get beneath the alpaca?

Pottery Barn has these Sisal Rugs, but they are thin and I don't much care for the texture.

That being said, they probably wouldn't clash with the alpaca.

Any other ideas?

Thanks! MS

Comments (7)

seagrass rugs with a basketweave texture.

Sounds like you need a rug pad more than another rug. Anywhere that sells rugs will also sell the pads.

Yeah, unless you want to cover a substantially larger area, and want to see much more of the new rug, you want either a carpet pad (a thick felt-like cushion) and/or a latex rug liner, to keep the alpaca from wandering.

If you indeed want a rug for the look, anything neutral, solid, and low-pile... like a wool Berber or something the texture of low-pile commercial carpet.

Thanks everyone. I should have been more clear -- we are looking for a rug to cover a substantially larger area. So unless this sort of thing doesn't stylistically work, we were thinking of putting the alpaca on top of another rug.

Stylistically, it's fine putting your alpaca rug on top of another carpet, ie sisal or seagrass, et cetera.

I don't have a specific recommendation for color or style of rug, though the plain ones above look fine. I wanted to say that I think it will help to have a second rug, though, because the alpaca is too close to the color of the floor and it will look better to separate them a bit. Good luck.

You should get a rug pad even if you put it on a rug, to keep it in place. Do NOT get a thick one - you'll end up tripping over the edge. And the cheap latex ones on sale everywhere will stick to your floor. I have no idea whether they'll do anything to the back of the alpaca.

Neiman Marcus has very thin rug pads that "lock" rugs to the floor and have a different side if you're using it "rug on rug" - a bit more expensive but worth it.

If you put the rug under a table, think about how to weight of the table legs will effect it over time. I'm guessing it will permanently stretch the spots where the table feet rest.

I would probably put it on my bed... or somewhere in the bedroom, so I get to enjoy its texture (barefoot) and spare it heavy wear.