Stories
Written for the moment between choosing a rug and living with it. Sizing, samples, what made to order commits you to, and how a handmade rug behaves once it is on your floor. If you have a question these do not answer, help and FAQ probably does. Starting out? Read how to choose a rug.
Buying · 9 January 2026 · 6 min
What Made to Order Really Means When You Buy One Rug
Nothing in the store sits in a warehouse. Here is what that changes about sizing, timing and the decisions you make before we start weaving.
Care · 3 February 2026 · 5 min
Do You Need a Rug Pad?
Usually yes, and not for the reason most people are told. What an underlay actually does for a handmade rug, and when you can skip it.
Care · 26 February 2026 · 5 min
Receiving Your Rug: Unrolling, Settling and the First Month
A new handmade rug will shed, may not lie flat for a week, and may smell faintly of wool. All three are normal. Here is what is not.
Before you order · 31 March 2026 · 6 min
Why Your Rug Will Not Match the Photograph Exactly
Every rug in the store is made by hand, so no two are identical and none is identical to its picture. Here is what varies, by how much, and why it is the point rather than the problem.
After it arrives · 22 April 2026 · 5 min
The First Thirty Days With a New Handmade Rug
Shedding, creases, a faint smell of wool and a pile that will not lie flat. Everything a new handmade rug does in its first month, and which of it needs doing something about.
Before you order · 14 May 2026 · 6 min
How to Buy a Rug Online Without Ever Standing on It
You cannot feel a rug through a screen. What you can do is check the six things that actually predict whether you will be happy with it, and get a sample of the two that you cannot check any other way.
Before you order · 2 June 2026 · 4 min
What a Sample Tells You That a Screen Never Will
A hand-sized piece of the actual rug answers questions no photograph can. How to read one, how to light it, and the mistakes people make when they judge one.
Living with it · 24 June 2026 · 5 min
Hanging a Rug on the Wall
A rug on a wall is the oldest way of displaying one and it asks different things of the rug than a floor does. Which pieces suit it, how to take the weight, and what ruins a rug hung badly.
Living with it · 16 July 2026 · 5 min
Rugs for Rented Rooms and Small Flats
When you cannot touch the floor, cannot paint the walls and cannot fit a three metre rug, the rug becomes the one thing you can actually change. How to choose it.
Choosing · 30 July 2026 · 5 min
Choosing a Hallway Runner
A hallway takes more traffic per square metre than any other floor in a house, and it is the one place a rug is chosen on looks alone. What actually survives there.
Choosing · 12 August 2026 · 5 min
High-Low and Carved Pile, or How a Rug Gets Texture Without Pattern
Some of the quietest rugs carry their pattern in relief rather than in colour. How carving and mixed pile heights are made, where they work, and what they ask of you.
Living with it · 25 August 2026 · 6 min
Living With a Handmade Rug When You Have Pets and Children
A good wool rug is far tougher than people expect and it is not indestructible. What actually goes wrong, what to specify, and what to do in the ten minutes after something happens.
Choosing · 14 March 2026 · 6 min
How to Choose the Right Pattern Scale for a Rug
A pattern that reads beautifully in a photograph can overwhelm a small room or vanish in a large one. How to judge scale before you order, and why the repeat matters more than the motif.
Styling · 2 May 2026 · 5 min
How to Choose Pillows That Work With Your Rug
The rug sets the palette and the sofa carries it. A method for choosing cushions that belong with the floor without matching it exactly, which is the mistake almost everyone makes.
Living with it · 19 February 2026 · 5 min
Extra Seating Without Extra Furniture
A room that seats four most nights and eight twice a year does not need eight chairs. What poufs actually solve, which materials suit which use, and how to store them.
Colour · 8 April 2026 · 6 min
Working With Green at Home: Olive, Moss and Sage
Green is the easiest strong colour to live with and the hardest to buy online, because it shifts more between one light and another than any other hue. How to choose it and what to put beside it.
Choosing · 27 January 2026 · 6 min
How to Match a Rug to Your Upholstery
The sofa is usually bought first and the rug has to answer it. How to work from an upholstery you already own, and the two rules that prevent the most common mismatch.
Light · 11 June 2026 · 6 min
How to Light a Room So the Rug Still Reads
Most rooms are lit from the ceiling, which is the one angle that flattens a rug completely. Where to put light so a hand-knotted floor keeps its depth after dark.
Light · 5 July 2026 · 5 min
Pendant Lights Over a Dining Rug: Height and Placement
The numbers that decide whether a dining pendant lights the table or blinds the guests, and how the rug beneath changes what you should hang.
Light · 23 May 2026 · 5 min
Lighting a Reading Corner
A chair, a light and a rug is the smallest complete room there is. The heights and angles that make it work, and why a swing-arm beats a floor lamp in a small space.
Styling · 29 June 2026 · 4 min
Styling a Side Table Without Clutter
Three objects, three heights, one of them alive. The oldest rule in styling, why it works, and how to apply it to a surface the size of a dinner plate.
Styling · 17 October 2026 · 6 min
How to Style a Pouf: Six Places It Earns Its Keep
A pouf is a seat, a footrest and a side table depending on the hour. Where it works best, what size to choose and how to pair it with a rug.
Materials · 17 October 2026 · 6 min
Wool vs Cowhide Poufs: How They Look, Feel and Age
Two very different surfaces for the same job. How wool and cowhide poufs differ in feel, care and the rooms they suit, so you can choose with your eyes open.
Care · 17 October 2026 · 6 min
Caring for Wool Cushion Covers, From First Week to Fifth Year
Wool cushion covers need less washing than cotton and more care when you do. What to do weekly, how to deal with spills, and what never to put them through.
Styling · 17 October 2026 · 5 min
Jute Baskets: Where to Use Them and How to Keep Them Good
Natural jute baskets for blankets, plants, toys and laundry. Where they work, what they should not hold, and how to clean and reshape them.
Styling · 17 October 2026 · 5 min
Styling a Woven Wall Hanging: Height, Light and Company
Where a wool and wood wall hanging looks best, how high to hang it, what to put it with, and how to keep it looking good.
Care · 17 October 2026 · 6 min
Caring for Cane and Teak Furniture Indoors
Teak and woven cane are durable and easy to live with if you know their two enemies: very dry heat and standing water. A simple routine for both.
Sizing · 17 October 2026 · 6 min
Placing a Round or Irregular Rug Without It Looking Lost
Round, oval and free-edged rugs bring movement to a room, but they follow different rules from a rectangle. Where they work and how to size them.
Care · 17 October 2026 · 6 min
Rug Care in the Monsoon: Keeping Wool and Jute Dry
Humidity, wet feet and slow-drying air are hard on rugs. How to protect wool and jute rugs through the rainy season, and what to do if one gets wet.
Buying · 17 October 2026 · 7 min
Buying a Handmade Rug Online in India: What to Check First
How to buy a handmade rug online in India with confidence: material, construction, size, price, delivery and what happens if something is wrong.
Delivery · 17 October 2026 · 6 min
Ordering a Rug for Delivery to the UK or EU
Why rugs for the UK, EU and EEA are made to your exact size, what else you can order, who pays duty and what your cancellation rights are.
Delivery · 17 October 2026 · 5 min
Who Pays Import Duty When You Order From India
How import duties and taxes work on an international RS Living order: you pay them to the carrier on delivery, and we do not collect or refund them.
Buying · 17 October 2026 · 6 min
How Custom Size Rug Pricing Works
How a custom size rug is priced to your size, how to work out the area, when a standard size is the better buy, and what to measure before you order.
Styling · 17 October 2026 · 6 min
Choosing a Coffee Table That Works With Your Rug
Size, shape, height and material: how to choose a coffee table that sits well on your rug and with your sofa, and how much floor to leave around it.
Materials · 17 October 2026 · 5 min
Where to Put a Rug With a Sheen
Rugs with a sheen use a wool and silk mix that catches light. Which rooms show them at their best, how light changes them, and how to care for them.
Styling · 17 October 2026 · 5 min
A Daybed in the Living Room: Where It Goes and Why It Works
A daybed is a sofa, a guest bed and a reading spot in one. Where to place it, what rug to put with it and how to dress it so it looks intentional.
Styling · 17 October 2026 · 5 min
A Bench at the End of the Bed: Size, Height and Rug
How long and how high a bench at the foot of a bed should be, how it sits with the bedroom rug, and the alternatives if a bench does not fit.
Choosing · 23 October 2026 · 6 min
How to Tell if a Rug Is Hand-Knotted: Five Checks
Turn it over. On a hand-knotted rug the pattern shows on the back as rows of individual knots, the fringe is the warp itself, and the knots are slightly irregular. A hand-tufted rug has a backing cloth instead. Five checks, and what they cannot prove.
Choosing · 23 October 2026 · 7 min
Wool vs Jute vs Wool-and-Silk Rugs: Feel, Wear, Water and Price
Wool is the all-rounder: springy, forgiving and right for most rooms. Jute is coarse, strong and the least expensive in our range, but it absorbs water and stains when wet. Wool and silk adds a sheen and belongs in quieter rooms out of strong sun.
Buying · 23 October 2026 · 6 min
Made to Order vs Ready-Stock Rugs: Waiting Time, Choice and Fit
RS LIVING makes every rug to order and holds no ready stock. A ready-stock rug already exists, so it can leave sooner; a made-to-order rug waits for the loom, about 50 days to about 90 days for our pile rugs, but can be made in your size and checked against a sample first.
Choosing · 23 October 2026 · 7 min
Rugs for Homes With Pets: Which Constructions and Fibres Hold Up
Choose a low, firmly anchored surface in wool: a hand-knotted rug or a tight flatweave in a low pile, in a mid-tone with some pattern, on a pad. Avoid loose loop pile if your animal has claws, and keep jute away from accident spots. We sell no synthetic rugs.
Choosing · 23 October 2026 · 6 min
Wool Cushion Covers vs Cotton, Linen and Velvet
Wool resists wrinkling and repels some liquid; cotton and linen are cool and absorbent but wrinkle unless treated, linen badly. Velvet is a pile weave rather than a fibre, so it behaves like whatever it is made of. Every RS LIVING cushion cover is 100% wool.
Buying · 23 October 2026 · 6 min
How to Read a Rug Listing: Handmade, Hand-Woven, Wool Blend and Viscose
Read a rug listing for four facts: the material with its share, the construction, the exact size with its tolerance, and the production or delivery time. Handmade, hand-woven and wool blend are families, not specifications. If a listing stops there, ask before you buy.
Buying · 23 October 2026 · 6 min
Buying a Rug Direct From the Maker vs a Marketplace vs a Retailer
Buy from whoever can answer, in writing, who made the rug, what it is, how long it takes and what happens if it is faulty. Buying direct puts your questions to the people who made the rug; a marketplace or retailer may have stock to send sooner. Published by Raheem & Son, which is included.
Choosing · 23 October 2026 · 5 min
Hand-Knotted vs Hand-Tufted Rugs: How They Differ
A hand-knotted rug has every knot tied by hand around the warp, so the pile is part of its foundation; a hand-tufted rug has yarn punched through a canvas and held by a latex coating under a backing cloth. Turn it over: knots show on the back of one, a cloth on the other. At RS LIVING hand-knotted takes longer to make and costs more.
Choosing · 23 October 2026 · 7 min
Rug Pile Height: Low, Medium and High Pile Compared
Pile height is the length of the fibres above a rug's foundation, not its total thickness. Two guides we read put low pile under 1/4 inch (about 6 mm), medium 1/4 inch (about 6 mm) to 1/2 inch (about 13 mm) and high above 1/2 inch (about 13 mm). Low pile is easier to vacuum and suits busy rooms; high pile is softer but holds more dirt.