Me and my rugs

"They are works of art," said Javad Karamkhani, master Persian rug weaver.  He had come to evaluate our carpets -- carpets I was contemplating replacing!  Having seen an advertisement for hand-woven middle-eastern rugs, I thought we should get a new one for the living room.  "Geez, $4,000!" I said, looking at the sale.  "That's a lot of money!"  "What will you do with the one we have?" asked B.  "Well, it's shot, so maybe put it to the curb," I ignorantly replied. 

Except it wasn't.  Not by a long shot.  In fact, the weaver said it was worth at a minimum $7,000.  Whaaaaaat?  After looking at all our rugs, Mr. K informed us we had two Persian and five Pakistani hand-woven varieties, the Persians being far more valuable.  I remember buying the latter at Beaver Hall Antiques in Gananoque more than 30 years ago.  For the little 8 x 2 hall runner, we paid $750.  It's now worth $5,000!  For the big living room carpet we paid $1,200.  It's now worth $7,000! 

This master weaver will repair each, weaving strands in and re-finishing the ends with authentic, hand-woven fringes.  "When did you last have them cleaned?" he asked.  Never, was my ridiculous answer.  So, we are having that done too.  Apparently, they immerse the rugs in a swimming pool and then wash each delicately by hand. 

Asking the weaver how popular these rugs are in "cowboy Calgary", I was surprised to learn very.  "We get a lot of business from show homes," he told me, "because floors look so much better with the rugs."  Yes, they do.  And they give our townhouse so much. 

Can't wait to see their true, vibrant colours when they come home and shine for Christmas.