Wool keeps you warm, muffles footsteps and feels soft under bare feet. It is also a natural fibre that grows back on the sheep every year. Once you have stood on a dense wool pile, you understand why so many people ask for a wool rug and not just any rug. Ours come in four kinds of make, and they differ quite a lot.
Woven, tufted or knotted
- Handwoven, 100% wool, soft and deep, in plain colours and in patterns
- Handwoven blend of 70% wool and 30% polyester, full and soft
- Hand-tufted, mottled, dense and flatter
- Hand-knotted oriental designs, low pile, firm and flat
Weaving makes surface and pile in one go. A handwoven rug is firm, and front and back often look alike. You will find more of them among our handwoven rugs. The patterned designs come off a handloom, so here too a person works the loom and not a machine.
Tufting works differently. The yarn is shot into a backing fabric with a tufting gun, and the back is then covered with cloth, cotton in the case of our mottled design. Tufted pieces in other materials sit under hand-tufted rugs.
Knotting takes the most work. Every knot is tied by hand, on some oriental designs with hand-spun wool. The pile stays short and flat. Most are made in India, and a few knotted pieces come from Afghanistan.
Which make suits you? If you walk around barefoot a lot and like it soft, pick handwoven wool with a fuller pile. Moving chairs often, or a door that has to swing over the rug? Then the flat oriental designs or the tufted one make more sense. Strong colours on a calm surface usually lead people to gabbeh rugs. And if wool feels too matt for you, compare it with a viscose rug, which has far more sheen.
Wool rugs room by room
In the lounge wool lies warm under sofa and coffee table, and the thicker handwoven designs are the natural match. As a rule of thumb the sofa and armchairs stand on the wool with at least their front feet. With a three-seater that usually means 200 x 290 cm or more. Some designs also come in 200 x 300 cm, and for a corner sofa there is a square version. Large wool rugs go all the way to 300 x 400 cm. Planning the seating area is easier with our guide to living room rugs.
The bedroom is all about how the morning feels. Soft and quiet. Laid crosswise under a double bed, at 200 x 290 cm or 240 x 340 cm, it lets you step onto wool on both sides.
For the hallway the wool rug comes as a runner, from 180 cm up to 600 cm long depending on the design. Wool dampens footsteps there, which is welcome in older houses with creaky boards. Two designs are even listed as fit for the kitchen in the product data, as long as you deal with spills quickly.
Several designs are made round. A selection of its own waits on our round wool rug page, and circles in every material are under round rug. For children's rooms there are handwoven kids' rugs with motifs in cream as well. Children sit and play on the floor a lot, so a warm surface is worth more than a smooth one.
Colour and care
Cream and red are the most common shades, followed by grey, black and blue. A cream wool rug or a grey one makes a calm base, especially in a mottled finish, which hides crumbs and pet hair better than a clear plain colour. Strong single colours such as turquoise, yellow or green mostly come in the gabbeh style. Prefer several colours in one piece? Patterned designs exist too.
New wool sheds a little at first. Loose fibres from production come out in the first weeks and ease off noticeably with regular vacuuming. Vacuum more often early on, without a rotating brush or on a low setting. Blot liquids straight away, working from the outside in, then go over the spot with a barely damp cloth. Keep heat away. Let damp patches air-dry, and turn the rug every few months so the walkways wear evenly.
Once a year it enjoys some fresh air. Laid out on a dry day and gently beaten, it loses dust the vacuum cannot reach.
Frequently asked questions
Does wool shed?
A bit at the start. After a few weeks of vacuuming it's much less.
Is it virgin wool?
The product data say 100% wool or hand-spun wool. There is no separate virgin wool label.
Can a wool rug go on underfloor heating?
According to the product data, yes. Flatter designs let the warmth through a little faster than the thicker ones.
Do you have shaggy wool rugs?
No. Our wool has at most a fuller pile. Long shaggy pile only comes in polyester.
