Buying a custom rug is an extremely personal decision, it permits you to express your taste and style and may be the perfect possibility to have that one furniture piece that ties together an area, or multiple rooms. However, when investing in something as significant as a bespoke furniture piece it is important to get it right.

There are various considerations that should be taken into account when making, or commissioning, your personal bespoke rug.

Firstly you should consider if there is something similar already out there. Existing designs are a safe way of obtaining a rug that you know will work. I someone on the market is creating a rug design the probabilities are that it works. Which begs the question if you need a custom rug to begin with. If you have a rug out there in the right size and colours then it is likely to be less expensive than having a rug made bespoke.

The price increase for custom rugs is not this is the design process however the economies of scale involved in purchasing dyes, drafting up the look onto some type of computer, then onto a canvas for hand-tufting, or perhaps a rug ‘cartoon’ for hand-knotted rugs, and small-scale shipping costs being substantially higher than large batch production. That being said, existing rugs are the most common source of inspiration for custom rugs – many custom rugs take an existing design and modify it slightly, or adapt the colours while keeping the pattern the same, or just alter the size to suit. Needless to say some custom rugs could be more cost-effective than designer rugs giving an identical quality at a lower price-tag, the only real difference being the lack of a designer sticker underneath.

logo mats The next pitfall to avoid when commissioning a custom rug gets your design wrong in the beginning, changing components of your rug once the manufacturing process has begun is probably not possible and if it is it may be costly. Better to take longer at the look stage than realise you have made a mistake later on.

Choosing design and colours could be a careful balance. An ultra-modern and patterned rug might be perfect for at this time but will it look right if you change your decor and if it does not, are you OK with that? Conversely, having a custom rug designed to have it bland may defeat the reason, so putting some thought into a design that you will love for years to come helps to ensure it is a higher value purchase. However, custom rugs do not have to cost the earth and will often cost less than you’ll think, getting a quote and sending off some ideas of designs costs nothing. Find out costs and timeframes and take your choice from there.