Quality, Trust, Reliability, Exclusivity

Hand knotted wool and silk rug from Nepal

The Addison/Dicus & Bailey Company has partnered with Belgian rug designers, who have built an exclusive international rug brand.


They design their rugs in Belgium, manufacture them in Nepal, and market them throughout Europe and more recently in the U.S.


In our partners' words “interior designers find quality, trust, reliability and exclusivity. We strive to nurture these qualities."


Three generations have headed up this company that started in 1925.

Luxury Vinyl Tile

Camarlilla oak luxury vinyl tile installed

You may have already noticed this, but we think it's important enough to the design community to make a little noise.

Luxury vinyl tile is growing big time.

What Makes Expensive Rugs Expensive

Hand carded wool interwoven with metal threads.

Recently rug makers have been looking for ways to offer less expensive options. This month we thought we would swim upstream and show you some more expensive selections.

Important Costs Considerations

Number one:  silk. If the rug contains silk, it's going to be more expensive than a rug that doesn't contain silk. Silk is a natural fiber, really tough, and if cared for, lasts a really long time.

Fresh

Front of Decorative Arts Center and entrance to Addison/Dicus & Bailey

The word "fresh" is hard to describe, but we know it when we see it.


Take the shot of the entrance to Addison/Dicus and Bailey here. We just painted the building. It looks fresh.

Front of Decorative Arts Center Tampa

Freshening our building has been going on for at least a century.

Parquet in the Main Stream

Bathroom with herringbone wood flooring

Wood flooring manufacturers are responding to the growing demand for patterned floors. There are now plenty of offerings of parquet and other styles like herringbone. Before manufactured floors, laying out patterns required finish carpenters and was extremely expensive. Now not so much.

Below are some examples of installed floors that demonstrate the quality and design options that patterned flooring offer.

Finally! Stain Proof Carpeting

Stain resistant carpet Scout.

With more pets than children living in American households in the 21st century, it's only natural that the Floor Covering business will respond to the needs of pet owners.

 

At the New York Rug Show

Hair on hide shearling mosaic rug.

The New York Rug Show is a premier, forward-looking gathering and I generally go every year.

 

Marquis of NY Rug show

 

Several trends were important. First, the top-of-the-line producers are working hard to make less expensive rugs while maintaining premium quality.

Budget Saving Area Rugs

Machined area rug with hand-knotted design

Every design project has a budget and every one has a space to enhance.

Some spaces are allotted more money. Some have to get by.

Many jobs have a room that needs a nice design touch, but has little budget. For these floors many designers have relied on fabricated carpets to define the space and balance the colors in the room. A nice neutral cut to fit the room and nicely bound or basted has turned many low-budget rooms into great spaces.

Seamingly Impossible

Very large carpet pieces seamed together

Here was the problem. The designer and her client picked out a sisal/wool carpet. The mill delivered it on a 13' 2" roll.

But the coverage area required a carpet 17' 10" x 19' 11". The mill "declined" to seam two pieces together. In fact, the mill rep said the product was not meant to be seamed.

A pattern on the carpet complicated the task even more. If two pieces could be seamed together, the pattern would have to match exactly or the whole project would fail.

Bob Ford has the attitude that if something can be done with carpet, he can do it and do it well.

New Take on Moroccan Rugs

AEV-WHTBLK Moraccan Rug

Several years ago Beni Ourain rugs were quite popular in the U.S. These were made by nomadic tribes in the Atlas Mountains spanning Morocco and Algeria. Raw white wool patterned with black or gray stripes or swatches with a long nap made them easily recognizable. We featured a small piece about Beni Ourains here.