Dogs and Oriental Rugs. How to Camouflage Your Dog Crate with Beautiful Tribal Rugs!

I am the owner of an Oriental Rug Gallery and also a very loving "dog mom". My lovely rescue, a purebred German Shepherd Dog by the name of Prince is the light of my life. We have been enjoying life together for 4 years now and once in a great while, I will bring him to my shop. Normally this only occurs when I know it will be a short day for me and he has been well exercised earlier. He mostly stays in the crate for a couple of hours or gets a brief walk outside and then back into the crate.

Having a dog crate in an Oriental rug store is a bit strange so a while back I decided to ensure it fit in with the theme of my shop! Step by step, this is how I evloved decorating the crate which basically camouflaged it. I then thought that if anyone had a crate in their home that really needed to be in a certain room and they would like to impove the look of it, I would share this. Obviously, this look is not for everyone BUT for people that collect rugs or textiles and find they have more than they can dispay, it may be of use. 

The crate, as you can see is black metal. It is large. My dog weights 93 lbs! It is tucked into a corner of the gallery but right by the front door when you are walking in. Keep in mind, whatever I chose had to work with all the rugs that were on the walls and in the front window display so this factor guided my choices. Also, what was floppy and the correct size? 

I started with an old Sofreh (flat woven eating cloth) and covered the top of the crate.

My next step was to drape and old Qashqai rug along the side that faces the door. I then grabbed a very colorful saddlebag that you can see on the left. The saddlebag is Kurdish from Iraq and has a very old design called the Memling Gul. On the right are two very pretty vintage tribal rugs, folded in a way that clearly shows their colors. 

Now if Prince were in the shop, I would leave the front open so he could watch all, as you see here. 

But for most of the time, when he would not be in the shop, I also wanted to cover the front door of the crate. Well, well, what did I find? I had recently purchased some very pretty Senna kilims (Persian flat woven rugs) so I chose one for the front and it was a perfect fit. I just tucked the kilim under the other rugs on the top of the crate and their weight easily held it in place. Here is my end result which I was pretty happy with and so took photos and decided to share:)  

 From another angle. And yes, every rug you see here is for sale. 

Please share this blog post on any social media or anywhere if you have enjoyed this article. Penny, the undercoverruglover!   Paradise Oriental Rugs, Sebastopol, CA

Looking for Information on Oriental Rugs? Tribal rugs? Persian Rugs?

What is the difference between an Oriental rug and a Persian rug?
What is the difference between a city rug and a tribal rug?
What is a workshop rug?

All answered here: How to Buy an Oriental Rug by Penny Krieger

What do tribal rugs look like?
Like this: Paradise Oriental Rugs, Inc., GALLERY PAGES

What makes an Oriental rug valuable? May I offer an earlier blog post I did which some have found useful. Right here.

How can one tell if a rug is woven with vegetable dyes?
Great article by Steven Price on this exact subject. 

Define: Gabbeh Rug
Here is my article on Gabbeh rugs: What is a Gabbeh? 

What are some of the basic rug definitions?
I have tried to keep this small rug dictionary as simple as possible:
Understandable Oriental Rug Dictionary 

What are the basics in decorating with Oriental rugs?
This article, I wrote a number of years ago has been well received:
How to Decorate with Oriental Rugs

If I missed anything, here is my articles page with additional information on Oriental rugs.

The reason I am providing all these links is we recently did a site rebuild and moved to a new host and for a few days, I was lost in space (or at least my web site was). Great pun here as my name is Penny! So, all are here for easy reference.

Here is my new home page: Paradise Oriental Rugs, Inc. 

Here is my new testimonials page with many gorgeous tribal rugs depicted.

Here are the gallery pages of my site with many rugs available at my shop. 

And if you are a genuine dyed in the wool RUG ADDICT I do have an article for you.
For a bit of levity please have a look at: How to Deal with an Oriental Rug Addiction, by Penny Krieger

Hopefully you found some information you were seeking. We are always available for questions and believe it or not, my cell number in on the outgoing message at my shop when we are not open. Suffice it to say, I love my work and I really love rugs. No kidding:)

The UnderCoverRugLover

Paradise Oriental Rugs, Inc;
137 North Main St.
Sebastopol
CA 95472         707-823-3355

Hint:) We do ship all over the US and on "an approval" basis.

Yikes, This Rug is Heavy! Fantastic Very Large Persian Bijar at Paradise Oriental Rugs.

Well, it arrived and it's pretty heavy! If I had to open and close this by myself, I don't think I could do  it or it least it might be a bit of a struggle BUT the good news is, the rug is BEAUTIFUL.

I did have a similar, smaller piece a couple years ago which sold a while back. This piece just arrived at my gallery yesterday. The exact size is 11' 2" x 15' 4". This rug is filled with life. Nuanced colors mixed with deeply saturated jewel tones so although the rug has great depth of color, it is not too dark which it a plus for a rug of this size. Gorgeous drawing, clean, fine weaving and all things good. Pretty obvious I am from California, isn't it? :)

I just put together a quick video of the rug for anyone that would like to see it.
Video of large Persian Bijar

The rug is tightly woven, thick, slightly floppy (not stiff at all) and the vegetable dyed wool is of excellent quality, so there you are.

To see some some additional photos click here. There is a page 2 on gallery one which you can find but clicking on the little number 2 at the top and bottom of the page.

Please call for the price if you have some interest.
The number of our gallery, Paradise Oriental Rugs, Inc. is: 707-823-3355
Questions always welcome. 

What Makes a Rug Beautiful?

Well, have a look and you tell me. It's the magic. One can say, the colors or the drawing but all working together create an emotional response from the person viewing.

When a rug is captivating, charismatic, heavenly, all things good...it is obvious.
It is not a foreign language and it does not take a mind reader to see it. The rug speaks for itself and communicates to "almost" anyone that sees it. This piece arrived at my shop today and I was thrilled when I opened it. Better than expected and just right. It is so much fun buying rugs. Honestly, I am a kid in a candy store. Just thought I'd share. My Gallery!