Rugs: Upgrade Pick.

December 11, 2018 6:10 AM

We're in the market for a new rug, but want to go a step above our normal $150 rugs we have bought over the years from Overstock. These are large rugs, 5 x 8 that go in our living room. We're looking to go one step in magnitude up, to $500-$600. Where should we buy for best quality? We're in NYC but shipping them is fine.
posted by sandmanwv to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

ABC Carpet and Home might be out of your price range, but they do have sales. Similarly Crate and Barrel, and Room and Board. Our rugs are from Pottery Barn, and cost about that much; they're pretty good and we certainly put them through their paces. Finally, Ikea can be a great source for rugs, although transport can be a challenge. They're typically cheaper than your budget; quality and style will vary wildly.

As with all things in New York, there are many additional levels of quality, expense and inconvenience! You might be able to look at Housing Works (do they have rugs?) or on Facebook buy/sell groups for lightly used Very Nice rugs at a significant discount.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 7:34 AM on December 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Not sure what the estate sale scene is like there, but nice area rugs are often available at extremely reasonable prices. Rugs don't really seem to hold their value unless they are exquisite, so someone might pay more than 1k for a rug and not be able to sell it for that price. I've seen nice Turkish, Afghan, and Indian knotted wool rugs the size you need for like 200-400 bucks (admittedly not in NYC).
posted by ParticularPoncho at 7:55 AM on December 11, 2018

Ebay is also a surprisingly awesome place to buy rugs if you have a vague idea of what you are looking for. I've gotten two from this seller and am really happy with them.
posted by mjcon at 8:14 AM on December 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

We have always bought our rugs from RugsUSA and been very happy with them. They ship for free, seem to be well-priced, and you can't beat the selection. The link I provided is for 5x8 rugs, of which there are 26,345. Fortunately, their search engine is pretty good at narrowing them down by material, style, weave, color, etc.
posted by DrGail at 8:30 AM on December 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

ABC Carpet is actually closing its carpet annex so it's got a big sale going on over there, though whether that brings them down to your price range, I don't know.
posted by praemunire at 9:27 AM on December 11, 2018

Not sure what style you're looking for, but Cold Picnic has some cute designs in that price range.
posted by greta simone at 9:58 AM on December 11, 2018

You could try Craigslist. Here's a larger Persian rug for $500, for example.
posted by pinochiette at 8:05 PM on December 11, 2018