Buying Your First Antique: 6 Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Picture this scenario. Your living room update is almost complete. Your new couch is scheduled to arrive soon, the walls are painted, and you’ve selected all of the accent pieces to match your new space. The only thing that’s missing is the perfect area rug. One way to give your room that extra bit of character is with an antique rug.

If you’re new to the world of antique rugs, it can be easy to make rookie mistakes and end up with a rug you don’t want. That’s why today, we’re going to share the 6 most common pitfalls and how to avoid them.

Pitfall 1: Confusing Antique with Vintage

You may have heard the words vintage and antique used interchangeably, but they couldn’t be more different. Most antique stores sell products between 20 and 100 years old, which qualifies as vintage. However, to be considered an antique, an item must be 100 years old or more. That means if you’re reading this blog in 2023, a rug has to be made in 1922 or before to qualify as antique.

So when you see a rug at your local antique store, it’s more likely to be a vintage product. Be sure to ask the dealer if they know the year the rug was woven. If it was before 1923, it’s antique. If it was made afterward, it’s vintage.

Pitfall 2: Not Measuring the Room

Before you purchase any rug, and especially an antique rug, the next common mistake first-time buyers make is failing to measure the room first. You may find the perfect rug, but if it is the wrong size or shape for the room, you’ll be disappointed.

Pitfall 3: Not Verifying the Quality

A rug may be vintage or antique, but age doesn’t necessarily guarantee quality. Before you buy an older rug, check with the seller to make sure the piece you want is made from durable, long-lasting materials.

Most of the time, rugs from the world’s “Rug Belt” (a region extending from Morocco to Central Asia) are made of higher-quality materials and woven with traditional, time-tested weaving techniques. Any antique rugs made from this region are made to last, so purchasing rugs made there is a safe bet.

Pitfall 4: Skipping the Rug Pad

When buying an antique rug, never forget to buy a rug pad. Despite being made of high-quality materials designed for both form and function, antique rugs need a pad beneath them just like modern, machine-made rugs do.

There are many reasons to purchase a rug pad, but here are the two main ones: one, a rug pad keeps your rug from sliding out from under you when you step on it; and two, it adds a protective barrier between the rug and the floor to make it last longer. We’re going to cover this topic more in-depth in a future blog post, so be sure to check back soon.

Pitfall 5: Forgetting to Consider Decor

Have you ever bought a piece of clothing that looks great in one outfit, but clashes with everything else in your closet and dooms you to only wearing it once? If you forget to plan out your furniture and decor for the room before purchasing a rug, you’ll feel a similar type of frustration when your rug doesn’t match the rest of the room.

You don’t necessarily have to have your decor 100% finalized, but it’s good practice to have at least a general idea of what you want. It can be helpful to use a picture of the rug you want as a guide whenever you go shopping for furniture, wall hangings, etc. That way, you can get a feel for how you want the room to look and bring in the rug as the final piece that ties it all together.

Pitfall 6: Not Buying from Reputable Sellers

If you avoid all 5 of the pitfalls described above, you can still end up disappointed if you skip the most important step: double-checking a dealer’s reputation before you buy.

At Rug Source, our team understands the ins and outs of the entire rug-buying experience, is well-versed in the history of our products, and can help you make the right choice for your home.

To get started, send us a message here or call us at 980-819-7373 today!