There are many beautiful designer rugs available that are crafted with the finest of materials by the most skilled rug makers in the world. However, with all of the skill needed and the luxury materials used, these rugs can sometimes be out of reach to the average homeowner. Today we will be outlining some of the more affordable alternatives to some of our most high-end rugs and giving you all the help, you may need to find the perfect rug for your home.
Floreale Rugs by Harlequin
Once more, professionally hand-crafted using the finest New Zealand wool the Floreale rug range by Harlequin rugs. With beautifully bold floral patterns in bright, cheerful colours it is the perfect rug to add a splash of colour to any room. However, as this is a Harlequin rug it comes with a Harlequin price tag. The smallest rug in this range is 2.0 x 1.4m and comes in at £435 up to the largest size of 3.5 x 2.5m priced at £1499. The range currently features 3 colourways:
Alternative: Reef Floral Rugs by Asiatic
Similar styles are available by London based rug maker Asiatic. Available in 3 sizes from 1.7 x 1.2m up to 2.9 x 2.0m the Reef floral rugs range in price from £120 – £335 depending on size. Hand-tufted in India these are a lower weight but perfectly good quality for all but the most discerning of home-owners and while they do not share the same vibrancy as the Floreale counterparts, being more pastel they are likely to be able to fit in with most interiors.
Harlequin Nuru Rug
A modern classic, the Nuru rug offers a multi-coloured contemporary design against a grey background, perfect for adding colour, or pulling colours from existing decorations but grounded by the modern grey tones.
Alternative: Matrix Ping Multi MAX72 Rug
An exceptional alternative to the Harlequin Nuru range is the Matrix MAX72 Ping Multi rug by Asiatic. This rug offers a very similar style and pattern at half the cost. Still a thick tufted wool rug, the Matrix Ping affords a stylish design without the designer price tag.
Sanderson Manila Rug
Sanderson is an internationally renowned interior design and decorating brand. Their quintessentially English fabric and wallpaper collections are famous worldwide for offering classic and inspirational patterns, excellence in design innovation, exceptional quality and relative value for money.
The Manilla rug is a strong statement piece for those looking for a naturalistic or eclectic interior. Its strong greens and bold pattern, like most Sanderson rugs, make it a unique focal point.
Alternative: Asiatic Matrix MAX73 Palm Rug
The Matrix range by Asiatic offer excellent quality, heavy-weight wool or wool and viscose tufted rugs across the board. This particular design (the Matrix MAX73 Palm rug) provides a similar naturalist palm appearance in similar bold green tones. Still a high-quality piece, this rug comes in at around half the cost of the Manila rug by Sanderson.
Romo Scala Rugs
Generations of distinctive British design culminate in the Romo Group. Romo rugs are renowned for their assorted library of classic and contemporary designs and versatile plains, offering a diverse style and timeless elegance enriched with a sophisticated colour palette.
The Scala range of rugs gives a contemporary stepped chevron design that works in both contemporary spaces but also those looking to inject a subtle tribal style to their decor.
Alternative: Matrix Cuzzo Rug Range
Asiatic again come to the rescue with the more affordable Matrix range. While not being a ‘cheap’ rug by any means, the above Romo Scala rug is priced at £750 in a 2.4 x 1.7m size; with the very similar styled Matrix Cuzzo rug, marginally smaller at 2.3 x 1.6m, priced at a more affordable £330.
Luster Wash by Calvin Klein
The Luster Wash range has been discontinued recently but ran for several years as part of the Calvin Klein rug collection and when it came to market was one of the only rugs in its style available to buy. In recent years there has been an explosion of modern abstract-art styled rugs hitting the market, however, the Luster Wash rug still offers a stunning and iconic look. Hand-tufted in a plush New Zealand wool the soft and subtle gradients add depth and modern style to your home, a stunning look for an industrial-style interior.
This design, coupled with various unique hand-knotted (and exceptionally expensive) rugs in similar designs has not entered the more mass-market with machine-made and non-branded tufted rugs becoming available.
Alternative: Galleria Rug Range
Galleria by Mastercraft is a long standing collection, constantly being updated with the most up to date and on-trend designs the range is ever-changing and improving. Old designs and colourways are cut and new, current designs added in their place. A heavy-weight machine-made rug made from hard-wearing polypropylene this rug will stand up to even the most ardent of critics, perfect for families with messy children or pets, this rug doesn’t break the bank and is easy to maintain.
Currently, there are three colourways in this particular design but due to the nature of the Galleria range, this is subject to change with the coming and going of each season.
Langham by Katherine Carnaby
A step up in exclusivity to the Luster Wash is the hand-knotted Langham rug, part of the range by Katherine Carnaby. A stunning abstract design knotted in hand-spun wool and Bamboo Silk, this rug can range from £3210 to £6420 depending on size.
Crafted in a 100-knot Tibetan weave that is the result of a full industry of highly skilled craftspeople. The entire creation of the rug is constructed by hand, from the carding and spinning of the yarn through to the knotting, to the finishing process of washing, clipping and binding. Each rug is slightly different from the next given the hand-knotted nature of the production process.
Wool & Silk by Christopher Guy
Even more exclusive again is the Wool & Silk Collection by Christopher Guy. Timeless design of the modern age, the Wool & Silk collection is hand-knotted to order and has a starting price of £5440 and can be made to a mammoth 5.49 x 3.66m setting clients back up to £18,360. These rugs are the pinnacle of modern rug design and luxury, comparative in quality to the finest of handmade Persian or Oriental rugs but designed for the modern interior.
Out of reach to all but the wealthiest this range exudes quality and style. However, a very similar look can be achieved for a tiny fraction of the price.
Alternative 1: Rustic Textures Rugs by Nourison
Manufactured by Nourison, who are the company commissioned by Christopher Guy to make their rugs, the Rustic Textures range is a machine-made collection made with textured polyester and polypropylene mixed pile. These rugs can add a similar style to your interior without costing the same as a family car or home deposit. Although these are a lower weight, made by machine and with cheaper products, they are still of a perfectly good standard and will last a few years by which time your decor may well be changing.
With a 1.8 x 1.2m (6ft x 4ft) Rustic Textures rug costing just £145 this range is an excellent alternative to the premium-grade designer rugs on the market.
Alternative 2: Gatsby Rugs
Another great choice for those looking for the appearance of the hand-knotted designer versions is the Gatbsy range of rugs. While by no means a cheap rug, this range of silk-like viscose rugs offers a very similar style to those costing ten times as much.
Nuevo Rugs by Scion
Nuevo is a bold, contemporary collection of rugs by renowned designer Scion (famous for the iconic Mr. Fox design). Like most Scion rugs, Nuevo rugs are a stunning and eye-catching range, perfect for both contemporary homes and those looking for a more bohemian, eclectic or even Scandi appearance. Capturing the ambience and colour of the Californian desert and the earthiness of its endless horizon, this range of geometric rugs blends urban style with an ethnic twist.
Alternative: Colt Rugs
Colt rugs are a budget alternative, at this price point, the quality is not the same as the Nuevo range; being a thinner machine-made polypropylene rug, but the quality is fairly reasonable and not as low as the price would suggest. Furthermore, if you are looking for the same style and colour and not as concerned with having a plush and comfortable rug to lounge around on the the Colt range may well be perfect for you.
There are so many rugs on the market today that for every stunning designer piece there are bound to be alternatives available that are more friendly on the purse-strings.
Do you love a designer rug but don’t want to stretch to its designer price-tag? Use the comments section below and we will continuously update this post with new ideas and alternatives based on demand.
