apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time


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

12.20rug.jpgHello 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

Tags

rugs & carpets, Good Questions

Related Links

Share

Comments (7)

seagrass rugs with a basketweave texture.

posted by vincentine on 2007-12-20 10:49:47
view vincentine's profile

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

posted by Deeliscious on 2007-12-20 10:58:11
view Deeliscious's profile

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.

posted by patrick (the other one) on 2007-12-20 11:09:47
view patrick (the other one)'s profile

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.

posted by mks on 2007-12-20 11:41:30
view mks's profile

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

posted by readingglasses on 2007-12-20 12:32:13
view readingglasses's profile

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.

posted by brittanykate on 2007-12-20 12:45:09
view brittanykate's profile

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.

posted by Taureg on 2007-12-20 23:16:18
view Taureg's profile