The Making of My Custom Master Bedroom Rug at ELTE

My venture into ELTE’s custom rug department was the result of falling head over heels with their silk orchid collection.

Made of deconstructed silk saris, the collection’s luminous colours and graphic ikat designs were so gorgeous and worked perfectly with my vision of grounding an otherwise white bedroom with a jaw-dropping rug.

Unfortunately I didn’t have a five digit budget, which is how the large silk orchids roll, but I did, however, realize that I could get the same global look by customizing the colours of their wool ikat design. Not only was this a more accessible material, but wool is also a more practical choice considering it can be spot cleaned easily – a must for pet owners like us!

Once I had nailed down a more cost-effective material and the ikat pattern, I needed a show-stopping colour palette that would be totally fabulous, but not too alienating for my husband’s tastes. As mentioned in the previous post, I found my inspiration for a unique blend of hues in a stunning Hermès scarf.

I worked with Jamie Metrick, general manager and head buyer of the rug department (and the third generation of his family to work at ELTE, which his great grandfather founded in 1919!) on the rug order and it was obvious from our meeting that the sky is the limit when it comes to the custom rug department executing a creative vision. Jamie and his team were so knowledgeable about anything and everything to do with floor coverings so it was a treat learning about the process and getting their input on the design.

Choosing from the hundreds of colours of wool was daunting but so much fun, and eventually we whittled it down to a sky blue, deep purple and navy on an ivory background (which is the whitest colour of wool available).

Not only did colours have to be chosen, but placement had to be decided on as well. I ultimately specified the larger centre diamond in the pattern to be in the deep purple in order to make the light blue pop, with the smaller diamonds surrounding it in navy.

After a computer drawing of the pattern and colours was provided for me to sign off on, a sample was ordered so I could get an idea of what the rug would look like to confirm everything. Because I wasn’t sure if a true navy would be too dark and read as black, I requested one half of the sample we woven with a lighter blue to see what would work best. In the end I chose the darker navy, which looked more graphic and rich. Edie enjoyed testing out the sample herself (and even puked on it coincidentally)

After signing off on the sample, production began on the finished product. I was even sent a photo of the weavers at work! Seeing the artisans creating my rug was such a treat and definitely lets me appreciate the artistry under my feet every day.

(bedroom photos by stacey brandford)