If you’re like me, you may have gone through your fair share of rugs. Especially with everything being online these days, you buy a rug thinking it looks one way, and get it and its completely different. Then you just learn to live with it because it’s a nightmare to return. Well today, I’m going to try to save you from the headache I ensued by breaking down all the different rug types, and what to look for when buying a rug. Trust me it’s important!

A few tips for rug shopping:

1. Go look at rugs in person to get a feel for what you really like and what hand tufted vs. machine made actually look like. Pay attention to the labels.

2. Wait for friends and family sales! It is possible to get good deals on hand knotted or hand tufted rugs, you just got to watch out for the sales! I personally would rather spend a little more on a rug that will last forever than constantly buying cheap rugs that fall apart.

3. Read reviews! Especially sites like RugsUSA that are super popular a lot of people will post photos of their rugs, and rug pictures tend to not look accurate, and a lot of times the customer photos are more accurate to the colors!

Hand Knotted

This is the best type of rug you can get and usually the most of expensive. This is your classic rug that you probably grew up with where the design is actually hand knotted, it’s not printed or machine made. These rugs are usually made of wool, and will last a lifetime.

Hand Tufted

Hand tufted rugs are very similar to hand knotted aside from the fact that they are made with a tufting gun to help me the process a little more efficient and fast. They still have the same look and appearance of hand knotted in my opinion, and are a little less costly. You can tell the difference between the two by looking at the back, and hand tufted rugs usually have a cotton backing to them.

Flatweave

Flatweave rugs are hand woven rugs. They are usually very thin, but do have the appearance of looking handmade. They tend to be pretty floppy though. They can vary in range from being printed on or having the design actually woven into them. You can usually find this out by looking at the description of the rug. I have also found these rugs are hard to vacuum and do not stand up to the test of time.

Machine Made

I would say machine made rugs are what a lot of rugs on the market are. Machine made rugs are usually a printed design on a low pile rug. They tend to have a thick border around the edge which is a tell tale sign that it’s machine made. They are also usually made of synthetic fibers instead of wool to make them cheap. Most rugs you find at like Target or Rugs USA are going to be synthetic machine made rugs.

Honorable mentions

There are obviously so many other types of rugs out there, but most fall into the categories above.

Jute Rugs

These are going to be natural fiber rugs and they tend to be rough and not the softest to walk on. They are handmade though, and can be nice on a screened in porch or something like that.

Shag

These are the really high pile rugs that are super shaggy or furry.