Vintage Rug in the Kitchen

Hey everyone! This week my new kitchen rug arrived and I couldn’t wait to share it with you all!

It’s a vintage Saveh Persian runner and it’s 3’9″ x 10′. In some of these photos it looks a bit brown, but in person it’s more black than brown. If you’ve ever hunted for a wide runner you might know that these do NOT exist in current modern rug sizing. Thankfully you can find many vintage rugs in these unique sizes.

You might remember that this is not my first vintage kitchen rug. Initially I purchased a vintage runner on Houzz that I really loved. After living with it for a while though, I realized that red just isn’t my color and I couldn’t make it work in my house. I shared all about that in this “design mistakes” post. Thankfully it went to a good home and it will soon live in the London Road Fixer Upper. Most vintage rugs seem to have lots of red in them, so just be aware, that you typically won’t find a vintage rug in modern colors without spending quite a bit more.

I’ve been crushing on vintage rugs in kitchens for a long time and these are some of my favorite inspiration photos:

.1. Curio Design Studio 2. Lulu and Georgia 3. Studio Plumb 

4. House & Home 5. Little Green Notebook 6. Sarah Sherman Samuel

Many people commented on how I could possibly put a valuable vintage rug in a kitchen where there are spills and lots of wear and tear. My answer is that it really wasn’t any more expensive than most new rugs. It also has so much pattern and texture that it will hide spills better than a new rug.

**post contains affiliate links** In order to protect the floors and to make the rug a bit more plush I added a non-slip wool pad under it. This will also insure that it doesn’t move around. I just used scissors to trim it to the right size.

If you’re on the hunt for a vintage rug, here are some of my favorite places to shop: EsaleRugs, Houzz, The Ethical Home, and Rugs Direct. I really appreciate that EsaleRugs allows free returns if the rug doesn’t work for you. Ebay and Etsy are also good options, but there are so many different sellers that it’s hard to know exactly what you’re getting and the reputability of the seller.

Although my rug arrived “clean” it did still have a bit of a smell. I used my carpet cleaner to clean it thoroughly. Now it looks even cleaner and has no smell at all. I’m happy to report the rug also handled the cleaning fine, certain more fragile vintage rugs might need to be professionally cleaned instead.

If you can use a standard size rug, there’s also MANY places that you can find vintage replicas. This is also helpful if you’re scared of the smell or imperfections of an “old” rug. I might have considered these if they came in the odd size that I wanted. Here’s a few of my favorite new “vintage” replica runners for the kitchen. :

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope that I’ve inspired you to check out vintage rugs, even if it’s just a small one! To see the sources for everything else in the kitchen I’ve included the shopable images below. Thanks!