A few weeks ago I found and bought a vintage feedsack ragrug at a flea market and I have not been able to not think of the other one I didn't choose. Not because I liked it better, but because I wanted it as well. And then this early morning, extreme winds and thunderstorms in the forecast, I decided I HAD to have it. After some pancakes and an hour drive north, skies darkening, we arrived. I headed directly to her stand. Glancing around at her noticeably empty stall, happy the hail had not started and they were open, confused at the barrenness of her corner. Some fumbling and mumbling of words, I managed to explain my purpose and relieved she pointed over to the other corner and there it was, draped over a block of something. YAY!
This little rug is the inspiration for the play room update, where the elder child rarely plays anymore and the younger one wreaks havoc on it. By the time I scrape off the paint and sand the floors and lay the rug, she will hopefully be a bit saner and wanting to play with toys.
Browsing a flea market the other day I discovered a couple oval rag rugs. One eye scanning the vendors' collection, the other eye on my child, making sure the bed didn't crumble ... Lucy was tucking her little green bear into the rag rug which was displayed on an ancient doll bed.
And then my interest reverted to the oval rugs. The colours were precious.
The shape, quaint. The fabric and design, soft yet still holding
together and reminiscent of a young childs' bedroom. The epitome of
delicate and durable.
The vendor explained that these were vintage floursack / feedsack rugs from scraps of ... yep you guessed it ... flour and feed sacks. That piqued my interest. Wouldn't you love to get
your food delivered in such pretty bags!
A quick search on Etsy brings up other items made from vintage flour sacks.
I've got the rug. Not the one shown here, although it is a beauty. The one pictured is from Güney Carpet where I bought mine. My new rug(s) are patchy and multi-colored. I wanted to see how this sectional would look w/ a similar rug. ... Playing around with Olio Board. White or Gray?
The walls are white. The floors are hardwood. The area is smallish as the door opens into the middle of the room (and there is another entrance to work around. These sectionals, West Elm's Tillary are 74"w. One will work in my room for sure. Maybe two.
I like the white, but I am a pet owner and they like to rub against the edges of furniture and lay on the furniture. I don't think I want to cover the sofas all.the.time. The gray is good too, but I would like darker gray.
Over-dyed carpets were recently added to Anthropologie's rug collection and have long been around at ABC Carpet. As a huge investment. I had to go in and find out Turkey's take on this trend. Once we relocated the store on our second trip to the Grand Bazaar, Recip from Güney Carpet recognized us and was happy talk carpets. (post edit: I have now read up more on over dyed carpets and discovered that Istanbul was one of the first to do this, reclaiming stained carpets)
He had informed us that he sends many over-dyed carpets to Scandinavia countries right now. Since I am in love with Scandinavian design, this bit of information thrilled me.
Recip explained the process as:
1) shave the carpet.
2) sun dye the carpet.
3) apply and over dye the carpet.
They use vintage / old carpets for the process. The dye is not as dark as I saw on carpets @ Anthropologie, but that could merely be the lighting / photo. I am not sure. And although this is a beautiful carpet and I like that I can see the original design through the dye, I might like the colour to be even darker.
I also loved the colours and thin stripes of this carpet:
And the design and colours of this carpet:
But I was drawn mostly to the patch carpets, over-dyed pieces patched together. Gray, dark purple and yellow have been my colour motif for a year+. I especially like the pink block with black design in this carpet pictured below. This carpet had it all.
A very old, unique patch carpet. This one was special for its smaller antique pieces and different piled patches.
Over-dyed gray, turquoise, yellow and pink.
Over-dyed large blue gray patch carpet. Very interesting!
The shop, Güney Carpet, beautiful woven art. Recip has three locations in the Grand Bazaar. The one shown below, another one that we had walked by and declined a sales persons' offer to look at their carpets. Remember, I wasn't there to buy? I just wanted to learn about the over-dyed carpets. So we had to find this one particular store. Carpet sales people LOVE to show off their inventory, it is after all, woven art. I do not like to bother people, but felt obliged to let him unroll a couple ... Can you see the layers of carpets on the floor ... hand selected for us to admire, de-shelved and spread out for our viewing.
And the third larger store, with even more inventory. At first Recip's assistant hauled a couple carpets from here to us, but then they decided it was better for us to go there. Recip told us that he had been in San Diego for a carpet convention. He was then contracted to mend a few carpets, which is his forte. He told us he could not believe that people let their dogs sit on the carpets...he had lots of mending to do. I didn't tell him I had a dog and three cats. I didn't even want to remind myself of that.
And whats a trip to Istanbul without a walk through the Grand Bazaar.
There are two kinds of shopping in Istanbul. One can go to MANY MANY different fashionable, modern shopping malls such as Akmerkez in Ulus, Kanyon in Levent, City in Nişantaşı... it goes on and on. Every time we come to Istanbul, there is a new mall. It amazes me, the constant YAPI YAPI (construction construction). There is even a bank named YapiKredi. Construction Credit. Nothing like supporting new construction, unlike our mall back home that started an expansion and then it was halted due to financing. A few years ago. One nice big chunk of concrete stuck onto the existing mall. Ah, but I digress...
And then there is the infamous covered market ... Kapalı Çarşı ... The Grand Bazaar where one can soak in the trades of beautiful carpets, tapestries, kilim rugs and bags, leather, jewelery, ceramics, hanging lanterns. The lanterns are so beautiful... I would love one but can never make up my mind on which one I want. In the past I was all over the ceramics and I have a lovely collection of bowls and little cups and vases. This year, I seem to be led to hammam towels, soaps and tapestries and, well, carpets. I love my carpets.
Our first stroll (7/1) through the covered market consisted of the tram ride up the hill, a walk down some streets and into the bazaar. We wound our way up and down some aisles until we could no longer follow what seemed to be a logical way of walking every aisle. We then exited and made our way down a narrow, cobblestone street of stores selling shoes, formal children's wear and pajamas. Kitchen utensils... everyday kind of stuff. We ended up at the spice market and it was time to leave as two little people had had enough were ready for some ice cream. I bought a flute, some wooden spoons and a tiny frying pan. An embroidery hand bag for the house-sitter and some soaps and a couple hammam towels.
We returned a second time (7/9). My intention was to soak up some inspiration, pick up a flute for my sons friend, a couple more hammam towels and get the business card of the carpet seller we spoke to during our first stroll.
We met Recep Ergin during our first stroll as he had an over-dyed carpet displayed in the storefront window. I had first spotted over-dyed carpets on Anthropologie's website a few months ago. They were gorgeous and expensive. So I HAD to check out these carpets. We entered the tiny shop and spoke with Recep. He informed us that he sends lots of the over-dyed carpets to Scandinavia countries. You see, I had no intention of buying a carpet or even looking at carpets. I was just curious about this over-dyed window display. We left and I was all giggly about the information I had learned. I made a mental note to return with my camera, well fed/patient children and get his business card.
The Bazaar is a seemingly windy and never ending, hustle and bustle place filled with many of the same kind of shops, over and over again making it a bit difficult to find that ONE specific store.
We passed many beautiful items such as this embroidery bedspread / tapestry.
Some lovely pillow cases. I almost.almost bought one of these cases, but decided to wait until I decide on a sofa.
And more tapestries.
While trying to find this persons shop we had to decline many offers to look at other carpets. We started asking shop owners about this one specific shop and eventually were guided there by another carpet seller.
And finally his shop, Güney Carpet. Ah, beautiful woven art.
The shops are very small spaces, maybe 8x8, yet the space is used SO well. Carpets folded and piled up to the ceiling. After a small discussion about ones preferences, many rugs will have been taken down, unfolded and spread on the floor for you to admire. And then slowly, carpets are eliminated, folded back up and put aside. By the time one is done, 10 carpets will be laid on the ground and you will be sipping apple tea and negotiating.
But I was not there to buy. We talked with the shop owner and got his business card. We looked at a couple of carpets and then left. Just as I intended, but as we reached one of the Bazaars exits, I hesitated...
My living room is an odd shape; actually not odd at all, its rectangular, but there are many doorways leading into the room. Such an exciting room, one needs to be able to access it QUICKLY and EASILY. Or leave it quickly. There is the french door set leading to the dining room. And another doorway leading to the kitchen. And another door leading to a porch. As if three doorways in the room are not hard enough to work around; there is forth. The most important door in a house and the biggest challenge as it separates the room into two. The front door leading right into the middle of the room. I hate that. But that didn't stop me from buying the house. There are actually two front doors, separated by a tiny, tiny foyer. So it wasn't quite front doorway leading directly into the living room.
So I am challenged with finding carpets. A large, huge one, 10 x 20+ - hard to find, hard to pay for - although I like the idea of no furniture and one large carpet and a huge bean bag chair a la UrbanOutfitters.
I like the pattern on this round rug and I think it will work perfectly as an accent rug. In front of the piano and the grey and white striped wall. Yep.
I recently bought a 5x8 brown patch rug, but neither the sparkly floor nor room look better. And the rug lost its appeal. The hardwood floors are gleaming and it requires a carpet that compliments it. This one pops. Right in front of the fire place. 8x10 is a bit big for the area, and 8x9 doesn't exist:
Love the doily.
I am a bit of a rug fanatic. Maybe I'll post more now that I figured out how to take an image. Actually, these photos are compliments of Anthropologie and they openly share their images.
