Buying online is a popular option for clothing, work and grocery items, and with more people working from home than ever, online shopping is seeing a boom. Not only is it a time and money saver, it’s a safer option than going to the stores during the pandemic.
What many don’t realize is that it’s possible to buy large purchases for your home online as well, and in some cases, even have the installation arranged. If you’re looking for an easy way to freshen up the décor you’ve been staring at for months, a rug is an easy and affordable way to change things up.
Here are three tips to keep in mind when rug shopping online.
Pay attention to detail
When looking for rugs for sale, you’ll find that based on how it’s made, there are quite a few different price-points. Hand-knotted rugs, often referred to as a Persian or Turkish rug, are made of wool or silk and since they’re considered top of the line, depending on the size and quality they can cost upwards of $10,000.
However, these days there are machine-made rugs that replicate this style and while they tend to be less expensive, many of them are still quite beautiful and durable. While there are a lot of options in-between, with machine printing you can get designs printed on wool and nylon, and rugs made from organic fibers like sisal or jute are relatively inexpensive.
Just remember, if you find rugs for sale that are priced too low for the stated quality, they’re probably either “too good to be true” or not produced ethically.
Avoid big brand stores
While you may believe that the rug you want was created by that brand-name store, companies like Urban Outfitters and Pottery Barn often purchased that kind of item from third-party manufacturers. Furthermore, while every business is in business to make money, they will often mark up the price of rugs, sometimes considerably, and with a little searching, you are likely to find the exact same product for less.
Before looking for rugs for sale
One mistake that rookies and even some repeat buyers make is that they forget one very important step, especially when shopping from the couch. You simply cannot forego measuring the space where you want to put the rug. The beautifully staged product images on the websites show the rugs with furniture, making it quite easy to misunderstand the scale.
Always take the time to measure because depending on where you made the purchase it could be rather difficult and cost you a good bit in shipping to send it back. If you get the wrong size, you could be stuck with a rug you can’t use.