Beautiful and Affordable Area Rugs

Beautiful and affordable area rugs are everywhere if you know where to look and the styles to look for. These printed and low-pile Persian/traditional rugs are perfect for any room and can’t be beat in high-traffic areas!

My wife is a rug addict.

Just last week, I woke up alone in the small hours of the night. Rubbing sleep from my eyes, I bobbled my way downstairs. The bluish light of her laptop cast long shadows against the living room walls and lit her face in ghostly ashen tones. Her eyes fixed on something I couldn’t see from my vantage point on the stairs.

I crept down and eased my way behind her.

She was doing it again.

She was on the rugs again.

It seems every chance she gets, she wants to buy rugs and try new and different kinds of rugs.

I never thought I’d be living with a ruggy.

But there I was, standing behind her in my pajamas while her eyes drooled over the screen-printed offerings on rugs.com.

They even have a website! They don’t even try to hide it!

“My babes?” I said.

She turned her head towards me. “Hello, my babes,” she said. “I’ve just ordered another rug.”

It all started with this – a Magnolia Home Lucas Heirloom Rug made from a cotton and polyester blend – in other words a printed rug.

You may look at that rug and say to yourself, “Why, that’s a mighty fine-lookin’ rug!”

Indeed it is, madam. Indeed, it is.

But that rug runs north of $600. And let’s be real here – you’re paying for the privilege of walking all over Joanna Gaines (admit it – you’ve secretly wanted to do that).

Six hundred clams for a woven rug? Bargain! But for a rug that’s essentially a glorified T-shirt?

I don’t think so.

Of course, this sent Handan off in search of cheaper and better rugs. Because here’s the thing: though it’s printed and not woven – most of these rugs look freaking amazing, at least in the pictures we were seeing online!

Now, when it comes to The Great Cheapening, I’m usually the first one to start hurling verbal sticks and stones.

You know what I’m talking about. You see it on daily basis, though it takes many forms.

Maybe it’s the entry-level BMW with the plastic interior.

Or the chair you’re sitting on or desk you’re sitting at. Did you have to build it yourself? Is it made of particleboard?

Perhaps it’s the half gallon of ice cream you’re treating yourself to that mysteriously shrunk to 1.5 quarts (but you’re still paying the 2-quart price).

The Great Cheapening comes in many forms – from crappy foreign knockoffs (*cough* China *cough cough*) to shrinking product sizes to all-around shoddy manufacturing. It’s crept in like a thief in the night (and that’s exactly what it is) to take your money and leave you with junk.

So on principle, I should hate printed rugs. They’re cheap imposters of the real deal!

But I must confess, these printed area rugs are amazing! I now speak from experience, as the rug addict I call “my babes” has bought no fewer than 4 (with a few more in her mental shopping cart) for the various rooms of our new house.

You’ve all seen one of them in our recent Kitchen Remodel Reveal post.

Many of you asked about that rug, either in the comments or through private emails. It seems you like it as much as we do!

And you know how rug addicts like to share their sources!

Right away, Handan started to work on this post so she could share this collection of beautiful and affordable area rugs with you. She wants to turn you guys into hopeless ruggies, too!

Printed Rugs (No Pile)

Here’s that same rug you’ve seen in my kitchen.

We bought two, just in case one gets ruined. At $80, it was a steal! The price has since moved up to $109, but we would have bought it at that price and been perfectly happy about it if we hadn’t seen it cheaper first.

Here’s the same rug in a different color.

Handan is a big fan of Persian/Traditional rugs. It makes sense – she comes from the part of the world where traditional rugs are made and still matter a great deal. Her mother used to travel all around Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Afghanistan back in the 80s to buy investment carpets. Some people buy cars, some buy wine – Handan’s mother bought rugs. She still has a stack of them mothballed in the guest bedroom of their apartment in Turkey.

Now, those rugs are handwoven masterpieces of silk that would probably fetch upwards of $10,000 or more, each. They are not comparable to the affordable area rugs we’re showing you here, but it does explain where Handan’s addiction came from!

The colors on these Persians are incredibly vivid, and though some seem to have every color in the rainbow going on in them, almost all of them work in almost any decor.

We have this in our craft room. It pairs great with the one in the kitchen, and the colors are even better in person.

Here’s our rug in action.

Distressed rugs look fantastic, and they can be a perfect choice for areas in which you want to tone down the colors.

Handan and I love this one. It’s been in her cart for a while now, but she’s been too shy to pull the trigger on it. I just might make her soon!

It’s a busy pattern, but I think the reds are brilliant (and I’m not a red guy!)

Awesome blues in this one.

Handan also likes this one, but we’ll see…I may need to lay down some more floors!

If the bold colors of most Persians are a bit too much, there are plenty of muted distressed options with soft, subtle colors.

We have this in our entryway. We bought it from World Market (in store) a couple of years ago. It’s seen a ton of foot-and-paw traffic over the years, but it looks as good as the day we bought it.

The dogs love all of these printed rugs!

This next one is one of my favorite among the distressed area rugs. I think it would look great in my office, but we’ll see what Ol’ Rughead has to say about it.

Low Pile Rugs

Though we’re 100% on the Printed/No-Pile bandwagon, we’ve not turned our backs completely on traditionally-woven rugs (by hand or machine). We love this low-pile Persian – the yellows really set it apart.

Handan also loves the colors on this just-slightly-thicker, hand-hooked Oriental. She’s just dying to have this one lay somewhere in the house, but for now, there just doesn’t seem to be any open floor space left! Maybe when we finish the basement… 🙂

We hope you enjoyed our selection of affordable rugs, and if you haven’t considered a printed rug before, we encourage you to do so. You simply can’t beat the beauty for the price, and they’re a no-brainer for high-traffic areas.

Happy rugging!

one / two / three / four / five / six / seven / eight / nine / ten / eleven / twelve / thirteen / fourteen

Rugs up to $130: one / two / three / six / seven / nine / twelve

Between $130 – $160: five / ten / eleven / fourteen

Above $160: four / eight / thirteen

Here are some of our favorite places to shop for affordable printed and low-pile rugs online:

Overstock.com
World Market
Hayneedle
Joss & Main
Rejuvenate
Rug Studio
Rugs USA

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