Inexpensive rugs?

Pakistani Gabbeh

What size?

In Pakistani Gabbeh, you might be able to find something around 7' x 9' for about $2K. They are a deal compared to the Persian versions. Just be careful you get a rug with wool on wool; no cotton backings; those do not wear as well.

Tufukien makes wonderful rugs, mostly from Nepal. You can get excellent deals at their outlet store; check out:

http://www.tufenkianoutlet.com/

one can make a killing in the rug business (apparently a lot of successful persian business people run these type of rug stores). If you find a great source out in Iran or other parts of the middle east and import them, the mark-up on these things is tremendous. $2K rug can probably be had for $20 if bought directly in Iran. just thought i'd share that tid bit. i remember reading an article about this and how some dude made connections in Turkey and just started importing the rugs and made a fortune (relatively speaking).

Flokati.

lefty

If you can separate the wheat from the chaff. A good rug store owner in the West has a tight relationship with his producers and doesn't cast aspersions at his customers the moment they hint that they're on a budget.

I don't have any good suggestions for rug sources, I'm afraid, as I'm in Australia. However, when you're buying a Persian (for want of a better word) rug, it pays to take time to develop your knowledge of rugs, and to also find someone whom you are comfortable buying from. As John mentioned, there are plenty of lower-quality rugs out there that look nice but that just won't wear as well as one that is well made from 100% wool. Construction techniques are important, too - whether the rugs are properly knotted, whether they have been crudely clipped to achieve patterns and shape, whether they use natural or artificial dyes and so on and so forth. Finally, such rugs can often attract ethical concerns. As teddieriley noted, some rugs are made incredibly cheaply, yet they are sold at enormously inflated prices. Regrettably, a lot of the cheap rugs might be well made, but they are made using child labour in atrocious conditions. This is one of the reasons why - if you are concerned about such issues - it is worthwhile taking the time to learn about tribal rugs, so that you can get an idea as to where they were made and how they were made. If you develop a good rapport with a supplier that you feel is trustworthy, then this should also minimise the chance that you will buy a child-labour rug. I've bought tribal rugs from villages in Timor, Indonesia, Thailand, Afghanistan and Iraq, and I've been fortunate in that I've been able to see where the rugs were made and actually meet the people who were making them so that I could be reassured that I was giving money to the actual workers, not to someone who had setup a sweatshop. For most people, this simply isn't feasible, so taking time to develop a rapport with suppliers is useful. As an aside, if you are interested both in rugs and in the socio-political landscape of the places in which they are made, then I highly recommend a book called "The Carpet Wars", but an Australian journalist named Christopher Kremmer. It's available from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Carpet-Wars-Ba.../dp/0060097329

SOHO rugs makes some really cool rugs. They don't have anything quite that big, but I combined 4 smaller rugs and because of they're shaggy design, everyone always asks me "how much was a rug that big"? You really can't tell it's 4 pieces unless you really look, here's mine.... A close up of the same rug, different color...