In Appreciation.

Hello Rug Lovers,

If you are reading this blog, this would be my assumption.

Please accept my sincere wishes for a fantastic Holiday Season and my hopes for each and everyone of you to have a peaceful, prosperous and Happy New Year!

I personally would like to take the opportunity to give THANKS for all that I have. On a global scale I a wealthy beyond all conception, relative to what many in other parts of the world call life on a daily basis.

A warm, safe home to come to at the end of my work day. [Filled with beautiful rugs, which is even more amazing.]
Good, nutritious food to eat every day with a kitchen to cook it in!
A job that I love, that I created with little if any resources from a dream in my mind!
Adult brothers and sisters that all are still alive and with which I love and have shared much.
An abiding faith that if one tries hard enough for ANY goal, the universe will ultimately surrender and bring forth in actuality that which one seeks, notwithstanding tons of hard work!
Good health. Crossing my fingers on this one!
The talented and skilled weavers that create the beautiful rugs that I sell in my gallery.
And last but not least, my beautiful dog, Dante, that is my companion through life and makes me smile every single day!

I am also very thankful for those in the world that work tirelessly to improve the health of the environment, working conditions globally, human rights violations and fairness in business and trade, . They all have my tremendous admiration and support.

Additionally, I am thankful to each and every person that has ever done business in my retail gallery and all those that have contributed to my continued survival, including all of my wonderful wholesalers, as a retail seller of Oriental Rugs.

Sincerely,
Penny Krieger
AKA TheUnderCoverRugLover!

What Makes an Oriental Rug Valuable?

Here are some of the factors that I consider determine the value of a good quality hand woven rug or Oriental Rug.

1) Beautiful colors. Are you enchanted? Are the colors working harmoniously together?

2) Design details. Do you like the details of the design? I have seen a gorgeous rug with possibly one aspect of the design that did not sit right with me. The layout of the design is called the "drawing" in the trade. If the colors are beautiful and the drawing of the rug is artistically pleasing, you are off to a very good start.

3) Quality of the materials used. Most Oriental rugs are woven with wool, silk or cotton. Is the wool spun by hand or machine spun? Machine spun wool, even on a hand woven rug, costs less than hand spun wool. Additionally, there are different qualities of wool. The finer the wool, the more it costs. See my article, “How to Buy an Oriental Rug”.

Sometimes cotton is used in the foundation, such as the warps and wefts. On very fine silk rugs, usually the better pieces have silk foundations so then you have a piece that is 100% silk. This rug will cost more than a silk rug woven on cotton warps. Silk threads are finer and thus one can tie tighter knots. More work, more labor, better skill, higher price.

4) Quality of the dyes used and the skill with which they are applied. Vegetable dyes, sometimes called natural dyes, are costlier to produce and take experience and skill to apply. In the history of weaving, the master dyer was one of the most respected members of the tribal community. Additionally, he never revealed his secret formulas for creating the beautiful colors that made Oriental Rugs and Persian Rugs so famous throughout the world.

5) Skill of the weaving. Is the weaving even? How can you tell this? Flip over the corner of the rug and inspect the back. Are the lines and knots mostly even or zig zagging every which way?

6) Popularity and demand for a particular type of rug in the market place always affects price.

7) Availability. This is another important factor as if the type of rug is too scarce and highly sought after, such as certain antique rugs, prices can reach the stratosphere.

8) An additional consideration would be the cost of fuel as this can affect shipping prices.
Value of the American dollar in international markets also affect price here in the US.

9) For antique rugs: Condition, beauty, true verifiable age, rarity and market conditions all affect the value. How well it is marketed and the reputation of the seller, or auction house can also influence the price.

Best Thoughts,

Penny Krieger

The Undercoverruglover!

Owner of Paradise Oriental Rugs

My YouTube channel...Oriental Rug videos.

In the last few months, I have recently posted some videos on YouTube, featuring a few rugs in my gallery. One is a tour of my rug store but a number are detailed videos of specific rugs. When you have an odd moment you may want to take a look.

Best Thoughts,
Penny, the undercoverruglover!
Owner of Paradise Oriental Rugs

Gorgeous new rugs in, and more on the way!

In consideration of the current business climate, I am thrilled that in the last few months I have sold quite a few rugs.

As of yesterday, I just spent my last dime (a bit of hyperbole here) to get more Persian rugs into my gallery, before the new Persian rug embargo really hits, one and all. Yesterday was the last day for the wholesalers to get their rugs off the docks. It is over now...so here we go.

Yes, I am currently taking good quality Persian rugs, into my gallery on consignment, but I am fussy, so if you have something, please send me detailed photos, including the back of the rug, the size, age, condition, and any info you have on the piece and your expected price. I am particularly interested in antique rugs from Iran, and antique Oriental Rug trappings such as camel bags, saddlebags, or any such items, nomadic tribal weavers would create! I always answer emails and actually wrote an article on my web site, for those that are interested in selling their rug themselves, entitled, "How to Sell Your Oriental or Persian Rug". You can find it on my articles page.

New rugs in yesterday, more coming tomorrow. These recent pieces are from Afghanistan, fair trade, no child labor and beautiful. The Persian rugs en route, same.

Keep your eye on my site. Whenever I add new rugs, they are always at the bottom of the galleries and normally in the first few galleries on page one.

Here's one pretty piece for your viewing pleasure.
This is an 8 x 10 Heriz rug woven in Afghanistan. Good dyes, good wool, beautiful colors and design. Proud to have this one! Always available for questions: 707-823-3355
Penny Krieger, owner
Paradise Oriental Rugs,Inc.
137 No. Main St.
Sebastopol, CA 95472
www.paradiseorientalrugs.com

Recent letter written to the International STEP non-profit orgainization.

Dear Sirs,

I am highly distressed by the pending Iranian Embargo moving forward this month on the importation of any products, which will include hand woven Persian Rugs.
I am a small business owner and depend heavily on these very special Persian rugs for my gallery. I also sell rugs woven in other areas of the world but the Persian rugs, literally have kept me in business these past few years as their quality and construction are above and beyond any other types I am offering.

My business, Paradise Oriental Rugs, Inc., located in the San Francisco Bay Area at 137 North Main St., Sebastopol, CA, has been purchasing rugs from EMOC Oriental Rug, Inc., located in New York, for over 10 years. These rugs are woven in villages in Southern Iran and near the Bijar area by expert weavers in their homes and are paid a fair wage.

With the loss of this product, it is almost assured, my retail gallery will loose a tremendous advantage and a good deal of income.

I urge you to rethink this embargo as it will have a very negative effect of American rug dealers, such as myself, with retail galleries offering these beautiful Persian rugs to their clients and customers.

Penny Krieger, owner
Paradise Oriental Rugs, Inc.
www.paradiseorientalrugs.com

More info on the pending Iranian Rug Imbargo:
http://www.oria.org/administrator/newspdfs/34.pdf

2010 Persian Rug Embargo, a Dealer's Nightmare!

The last day to bring in Persian rugs, according to what I have read on these new Iranian sanctions, is September 28, 2010.

Considering at least 40% of the rugs I sell are from Iran, I am highly distressed by this upcoming embargo.

Yes, there are other rugs, but the new, vegetable dyed tribal rugs from Iran (Persian Gabbeh's, Qashqai, Khamseh and Bijar rugs) are what I would consider the top rugs offered at my gallery.

I actually thought to myself...maybe it's time to leave the US.

At this time, I still have a nice selection of Persian rugs but as far as what will be available in the future, your retail choices of Iranian rugs will markedly decrease, after September 29, 2010 from US retailers.

If there every was a reason to buy it now, this is it, for sure!
I am very sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the good news is, to those that have purchased the better quality Persian rugs, my guess is that your rugs will be going up in value!
Paradise Oriental Rugs

UPDATE: The Persian Rug Embargo has ended! 
Here's the news.   Sanctions Are Lifted!

My beautiful German Shepherd, Dante!

Hello!

If you're here in California, hope you enjoyed the hot weather today. Gorgeous day and with the heat, thought it might be a bit slow at the shop...which it was. A few visitors but not busy, as expected. Brought my dog, Dante down to work and he did well. Particularly enjoyed the air conditioning and we had some fun taking pictures.
Just for anyone out there that is concerned, my dog is very clean, no fleas and all rugs were vacuumed properly after the photo shoot.

If you love German Shepherds and also pretty Oriental rugs, this is a true test of the durability of the rugs I sell, as all are new, and still in perfect condition. His reward for posing perfectly for our "photo op" was a little go round with the ball. Since at least 90%of the clients that buy rugs from me have pets, just thought some of you might enjoy these photos. My boy Dante, is housebroken withing an inch of his life and loves people, so he did enjoy his little visit to the shop today!

My dog is what is called a "sable" German Shepherd. His mom was born in the Chez Republic and his dad had a similar heritage. He is a purebred German Shepherd Dog, bred for three traits. Loyalty, tracking and protection. He is very, very smart, incredibly attentive and loyal and has a prey drive to end all. In German Shepherd lingo, that means if it moves he will chase it. This is quite an asset when training this type of dog as it is a truly motivating force. He is a superb ball player and quite the jumper, although he always has the corner of his eye on me! Obviously, I think very highly of my companion dog, but just thought I'd share. He is 2 years and 4 months old, weighs just under 80 lbs and has many doggy friends at the dog park here in Sebastopol.

Back to the rug universe...my recent sale is now over but still have some rugs I am making deals on, particularly the rugs from Turkey. They are on my site so take a look, if a Turkish rug calls out to you give me a call. Questions are always welcome and hope you enjoy these photos.





Although, this is a little blurry, it is my favorite!



And last but not least.

Very interesting month in the rug business.

It's been almost 5 years now since I put up the first page of my web site and as anyone knows that has a site, it is always a work in progress. I spent the good part of a year reading everything I could find on search engine optimization (known as SEO) which deals mostly with how to get the search engines to recognize one's site and bring it up when someone is looking for information or products similar to what is being offered. Google is the king of the mountain with Yahoo trailing closely behind.

When I started selling rugs a number of years back, I truly never thought anyone would by a rug online. At that time, I didn't have a computer, nor a clue of how things would change.

In the last couple of months, here are a few of the locations where rugs from my shop have found new homes! Apparently, with these buyers there was either no local rugs store or the shops in their area did not have the types of rugs they were looking for. Alaska, Iowa, Tallahassee, Seattle, NYC and yesterday, Boston. I will say, this really helps so I will continue to make improvements to my site, when time permits.

I really enjoy the communication and meeting different people, even if only in phone conversations and it's always facinating to me, how each individual is attracted to different colors and designs.

I still have many rugs that are looking for homes, so don't hesitate to give me a call with your questions!


Here are a few more of the many exquisite pieces currently at my shop!



If you're in the Bay Area, my gallery is in Sebastopol, CA, an hour north of the city. Not every rug is on my site, so if you have a question, call me! Love to show rugs and of course, I'll never sell you a rug, unless you absolutely love it! Hope to see you soon.

707-823-3355
Penny Krieger, owner
Paradise Oriental Rugs, Inc.
137 No. Main St.
Sebastopol, CA

New Rugs in this week from Iran. Here's a peek!

Keeping it interesting over here. Love getting new rugs in, particularly when they are this inspirational.

Have a look. To see more, come by my shop or take a look at my gallery pages.
This runner is one of my favorites. I believe it's about 12 feet long and the wool is as luscious as the design layout and the colors. In the window of my shop as I type!



Also, this beauty. Simple, very finely woven Gabbeh in a wonderful, almost teal green with blue undertones. Not easy photographing simple designs but did my best. Green rugs are often unavailable, as the wool is first dyed yellow and then over-dyed with blue. It is not always a successful process, but when it's right, it's magical. Always pushing my many resources for green rugs, simple or tribal and when I am fortunate enough to acquire a few choice pieces, they are usually, very well received. Enjoy.


Last but not least, have a look at this rug. I was mesmerized. I will let the rug speak for itself. Size is 4 x 10. A long wide runner. In the trade, this size is referred to as a gallery size carpet.

Beautiful runner in client's home...great decorating!

Just received this photo in an email and the lovely runner I sold is smiling happily in it's new home.

The clients came with measurements and a concept and we looked at many runners and they finally settled on this piece. Was so pleased to get the photo as their home is very well done!

The darling "husband" called me today and said, "We don't like the runner!", "We Love it!"

Perfect!
My shop is in Sonoma County and these were local people. I'm always pleased when I have the right rug for the needs and wants of my potential clients.

If You're Interested in Gabbehs...just did a rewrite on my article, " What is a Gabbeh?"

When I started in this business there was an embargo on Persian rugs and what was available to sell as a merchant, was much more limited than what is now available. The wonderful, colorful Gabbehs are just one of the numerous rug types that were no where to be found here in the US a decade ago.

With the renaissance in the use of vegetable dyes and the resurgence of creativity in designs such as antique and modern, I personally think that the choices available to anyone seeking a rug to own are better than they have ever been.

There are Persian Gabbehs, Indo-Gabbeh and tufted Gabbehs (which are not Gabbehs at all!) Tufted rugs are not hand woven, if there is any question about that but actually held together with glue. A different animal for sure and never to be put in the same category as a hand knotted or handmade Oriental rug.

If you're interested in Gabbeh rugs, you might want to take a peek at, "What is a Gabbeh?"