Perth’s newest boutique hotel, the Alex Hotel, is so cool, so funky, so hipster, so much fun. The interiors by Arent&Pyke are like a breath of fresh air. No stuffy, seen-it-all-before hotel rooms here. No. Young, fresh, fab. I can feel a trip to Western Australia on my horizon if only just to book in for a few days.
I have been searching for the perfect rug to change up my living room with the New Year coming. I had gotten a bit tired of the polished white and modern area rug that had been gracing my floor for the past six years. As a Minnesota resident, I had been struggling to find what I was looking for in terms of a contemporary rug. I wanted a hand knotted rug on a larger scale, as my living space is large. My furniture is inspired by modern Nordic decor and I have white walls. I was hoping for a contemporary rug with cool, blue colors but I was open to different pops of color.
Initially I visited the rug department at Macy’s and Gabbert’s. The stores had some nice pieces but I was not overly impressed with the lack of selection in terms of colorful contemporary rugs, and they did not have the best variety. I had very high and particular expectations of what I wanted and envisioned for my room, but was unable to find exactly what I was looking for. I was recommended by an online forum to check out a Minneapolis luxury hand knotted rugs store called Cyrus Artisan Rugs. I live in Edina, which is a suburb just south of Minneapolis, so it was an easy trip for me to make one Saturday afternoon.
The moment I showed up at Cyrus Rugs, I was both surprised and impressed at the size of the showroom and huge variety within. A lovely woman, Alison, was extremely helpful and provided me with a ton of knowledge regarding different brands and different materials. I explained what I was looking for and she showed me some colorful contemporary rugs in from the Vintage Reserve Collection, including the VC-3 design and the PT-8 design. I really found both rugs to be beautiful, but I ultimately settled on the Cyrus Artisan AK-4 design in the chocolate brown palette.
The rug is hand knotted in India from wool and silk with a stunning floral motif. The orange and gold accents spice up the brown color scheme and add character to the soft rug.
Overall, I am so pleased with my purchase, my new living room look, and I highly recommend Cyrus Artisan Rugs in Minneapolis, MN to my friends all the time. If you are in the market for a high-quality artisan rug, Cyrus Rugs has a truly impressive selection ranging from traditional and contemporary rugs to tribal pieces and transitional carpets.
Here a few of my favorite pieces:
Some other points to note:
– Cyrus Rugs is based out of Minneapolis, MN, but it also has a large online rug store with beautiful, realistic images of its inventory.
– They allow clients to customize a programmed area rug, and give the specialists unique rug specifications to create a representation of your dream design.
– The showroom has a large selection of antique and semi-antique rugs from around the world.
*** This post was written by a guest writer ***
Having just ended a four day weekend, I managed to get some photos taken around my house and get them organized for a couple of posts. This first post is to show you the new dining chairs I purchased, along with a few rugs to help hide my hideous floors. As I hinted a couple of weeks ago, I got my hands on a set of eight vintage reproduction tulip chairs, from Benjamin Curran in Montreal. Yes, EIGHT. GIDDY UP! They are fantastic for repros – the bases are steel and the seats are fibreglass. They are upholstered in a chocolate brown velvet which I am slowly learning to love – especially the velvet part. When it comes time to vacuum up the cat fur it’s a breeze, so I think the velvet will stick around a while. Or I need to find some other colour of velvet to reupholster them with. Please keep in mind with these photos that I have done nothing with this room except purchase the light fixture and credenza. I need a new larger dining table, paint, new curtains, a new rug (this one makes the chairs look really beige which is driving me nuts – I’m on the hunt for a replacement to the cowhide) and whatever else I can come up with.
A couple of weekends ago my husband and I took a drive out to check out the Third World Bazaar in Manotick. They are open 6 weekends a year around Thanksgiving, and carry beautiful products sourced from around the world – Bangladesh, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Guatemala, Indonesia etc. I try to go every year (my sister’s godmother Brenda Cavaciutti helps run it – it’s one of the only times I get to see her) and always come home with a car full of goodies. This year it was all about rugs, required to help hide my yellow/orange stained hardwood floors. I found 3 small rugs – wool kilims from Morocco, Pakistan and India. I have 2 in the living room and 1 in the foyer. The cats freaking LOVE them. Which is great seeing how easy it is to get cat fur off of wool (that was a totally sarcastic remark). They’re doing the trick though so I can’t complain. P.S. This weekend is the last chance to hit the bazaar this year so GO!!!
While I contemplate the plethora of projects that eventually need to get done around my house, figuring out what to do with my what-were-the-former-owners-thinking-??? yellow/orange stained floor is always on my mind (seen here, and it’s toned down in the photo). And whether or not I can figure out a way to get the floors re-stained while owning too many cats to make it easy, perhaps a stair runner is a good option. Makes hiking up and down them easier on us humans as well as the cats, and would add a fun punch of colour and/or pattern to my pretty fabulous foyer/staircase. So on that note, I thought I would do a stair carpet runner roundup.
Hill Mitchell Berry Architects
And I had to include this one despite it not being located on stairs because it is FABULOUS!