Your Guide to Buying a Vintage Rug

Guide to Art Deco Style Rugs

Guide to Art Deco Style Rugs

Defined by the 1920s, the Art Deco style is one of geometric shapes, simple lines, and contrasting colors. Bold and beautiful, Art Deco rugs will make a significant impact in whatever room they grace. With their wide variety of patterns, designs, and colors, you have a lot of room to play with when it comes to styling your space and working with other pieces.

While many rugs lay there uninspired, resigned to being a soft-landing pad for your feet, Art Deco rugs are like modern art for your floor. Borrowing design elements from many periods and styles (neoclassical, art nouveau, modernism, cubism), they are a collaboration of vintage charm and bold assertion.

Art Deco Roots

At first glance, Art Deco can be defined as a style that features symmetrical, bold, geometric patterns, often in specific colors. Heavily influenced by shapes and smooth lines, they often feature vibrant, contrasting colors that “pop!” Often confused with their 1920’s sister-style, Art Nouveau, which features elegant curves and more gold, the Art Deco style celebrates sharp angles and brighter tones.

Popular in the 1920s, their use started to decline during the ‘40s and ‘50s before finding a resurgence during the “Hippie ‘60s”. Compatible with the upbeat optimism that rang through that decade and pairing well with the flourishing pop-culture movement, Art Deco rugs in bright colors and repeating geometric patterns adorned the floors of many trendy bungalows. The Pop Art and Postmodern movements spurred this period of Art Deco-revival. Fast forward 60-years, it now comes with a vintage-aesthetic consideration that allows it to join other popular design styles in the same space, complimenting without clashing.

Decorating with Art Deco Rugs

So, how do you decorate with an Art Deco Rug? The first step is to feel comfortable with your courageousness. Common elements of the Art Deco style are bright and rich colors, reds, yellows, blues, purples, and greens. These colors combined with geometric shapes and patterns, such as Chevrons, Zigzags, triangles, circles, and trapezoids, define Art Deco Style.

Decorating your space following the Art Deco style means a focus on deep, rich colors (cobalt blues, vibrant purples, emerald greens), and furniture with reflective surfaces, fluted detailing, and a variety of “cold” materials (marbles, granites, and metallics). As such, you have a lot of leeway in choosing a rug that pairs well. Be bold, be exciting, and play off the aspects of the room that you want to highlight.

If your style is more aligned with Modern, Scandinavian, or Minimalist styles, then an Art Deco rug will add a pop of color and inspiration that can bring a rush of excitement. In a room filled with muted tones, an Art Deco rug with a simple geometric pattern in strong complementary colors will become an eye-catching display, one that ties the room together and brings an uplifting ambiance to the space.

Whether starting from the beginning or replacing a rug in an already established space, going with the culturally significant Art Deco style will add a high-impact conversation starter. With the lively and uplifting nature of the Art Deco movement now gracing your floor, you will be the envy of all guests!