Shopping for rugs in Istanbul was a very interesting experience. There are rug sellers on every street corner, fancy window fronts on every block. Obviously a serious tourist trade. We knew we wanted a rug, but man oh man was it a challenging experience
One of the places we went, Eric liked this rug. It was painfully expensive because it was old.
I kind of liked this one because it looks like an old botanical drawing, but it was too small for the living room
At another store we found this one that was rather pretty, but there is so much gray in the house already...
so many choices, rugs stacked everywhere
You have to get close and personal. Number of knots matters, material matters, size matters. Now make a decision where you must bargain for the price, when you don't even have a clue what it might actually be worth. oh boy
One of the fun parts is watching the young men bring rug after rug (and some of them are seriously heavy) and, whoosh! roll them out for you. One on top of the next. whoosh!
We finally found a rug that was big enough, and we both liked. But it was slightly too big this time, and super fancy with silk highlights and thick lush weaving.
The pictures don't do it justice. Mustafa, our rug man, said that they don't sell online for that reason. People complain that they got the wrong rug because the picture and the reality do not match.
Edge detail
center detail
We also got a hall rug
and a rug for our bedroom
the bargaining process was super challenging and we are not entirely sure that we got a good deal, but we love the rugs, so...
folding them up for shipping
Mustafa was a character
weeeee
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