Custom Carpeting – Design Your Own One-of-a-Kind Rug

These days Hamptonites are moving away from wall-to-wall and embracing custom area rugs “to display their beautiful wood floors,” according to Robert Gill, owner of The Carpetman in Southampton. Why custom? For one thing rooms are larger than they once were. “So, they’re looking to find a size rug that is 9 to 12 inches from the wall.” It’s not like the old days “when the only choices were to put a 6-by 9-foot rug under the coffee table and a 9-by-12 foot rug under the dining table. Now it’s not unusual to have a rug that is 16 by 22 feet,” he says. “It takes four men to carry it.”

And rooms are no longer simply square or rectangular making it important to get the right shape. Furthermore, a custom rug can be woven with colors to exactly match the colors in a room.

Texture is also popular now. “You can order a mixture of loops and cut pile at varying heights,” says Gill. Geometric is today’s most popular pattern. As for colors, either muted or natural hues with splashes of sharp colors work for contemporary homes. For modern interiors bright colors are the way to go.

“You dream it, we weave it!” That’s the motto behind the custom rug department at Syosset’s Designer Rugs & Carpet by Peykar, considered the premiere rug, carpet and flooring showroom on Long Island.

Besides its aesthetic, a custom rug can be made in any size or shape. “We are able to adapt and scale designs to make round, octagonal or even curved rugs for any space.”

Customization can be as all-encompassing as, say, one of their recent offerings – a portrait of Bob Marley – to simply tweaking colors. “There’s no limit. We can make anything you imagine,” says Robert Hakimi who spearheads the family business. However, that total freedom to create often overwhelms customers. “They need a starting point.”

While some clients – whether a designer or homeowner – come in with a vision in mind, most start by viewing samples from the store’s comprehensive “library” of samples. Others might bring in a fabric or picture from a magazine. “Our job is to translate their idea into a rug.”

The store’s new “Boutique” offers “concierge rug service,” in which a salesperson guides the client through the entire rug purchasing process. First, one of the firm’s “experts,” goes to the client’s home to take measurements and assess their needs such as determining the rug’s most appropriate material(s).

Take a master bedroom for example. “There’s limited traffic so you can use almost anything,” says Hakimi. “Silks, manmade silks, wools, cottons, linens.” On the other hand, a high-traffic area like a den where children and pets abound, they might recommend “more practical materials” such as treated nylons or a loop pile “to give a different texture.”

With its “Fifty to Infinity” custom rug program, leading global floor covering company Nourison allows the client to get a one-of-a-kind area or broadloom rug by browsing through hundreds of styles and colors as well as choose a size and shape. Nourison produces extensive collections of rugs including licensed collections from well-known brands such as Calvin Klein, Kathy Ireland, Waverly, Barclay Butera and Christopher Guy.

A look at the company’s catalog reveals that styles range from traditional to contemporary with extensive shapes including rectangles, squares, runners, rounds, octagons and more. Collections can include Nourison’s signature fine New Zealand wool, known for its luminous sheen, and are hand-finished with such sophisticated production techniques as hand serging, embossing, carving, sculpting and washing.

Interior designers love the program not only for its vast selection of size, shape, color, pattern, texture and style, but also because of the speed of production. Items are shipped in a remarkable ten days. All area rugs come in 50 styles and shapes – the ‘fifty’ of the program’s name. By using those as a base then choosing colors, patterns, textures and more – that’s where ‘infinity’ factors in.