English Regency Rug

Like France’s Empire style, Regency-style furniture was rooted in neoclassicism; the characteristics of its bedroom furniture, armchairs, dining room tables and other items include clean lines, angular shapes and elegant details.

Dating roughly from the 1790s to 1830s, antique Regency-style furniture gets its name from Prince George of Wales — formally King George IV — who became Prince Regent in 1811 after his father, George III, was declared unfit to rule. England’s Regency style is one of the styles represented in Georgian furniture.

George IV’s arts patronage significantly influenced the development of the Regency style, such as the architectural projects under John Nash, which included the renovation of Buckingham House into the formidable Buckingham Palace with a grand neoclassical facade. Celebrated designers of the period include Thomas Sheraton, Henry Holland and Thomas Hope. Like Nash, Hope instilled his work with classical influences, such as saber-legged chairs based on the ancient Greek klismos. He is credited with introducing the term “interior decoration” to English with the 1807 publishing of Household Furniture and Interior Decoration.

Although more subdued than previous styles like Rococo and Baroque, Regency interiors incorporated copious use of chintz fabrics and wallpaper adorned in chinoiserie-style art. Its furniture featured fine materials and luxurious embellishments. Furniture maker George Bullock, for instance, regularly used detailed wood marquetry and metal ornaments on his pieces.

Archaeological discoveries in Egypt and Greece informed Regency-era details, such as carved scrollwork, sphinxes and palmettes, as well as the shape of furniture. A Roman marble cinerary chest, for example, would be reinterpreted into a wooden cabinet. The Napoleonic Wars also inspired furniture, with martial designs like tented beds and camp-style chairs becoming popular. While the reddish-brown mahogany was prominent in this range of pieces, imported woods like zebrawood and ebony were increasingly in demand.

Find a collection of antique Regency tables, seating, decorative objects and other furniture on 1stDibs.

Good antique rugs and vintage rugs have made their way into homes across the globe, becoming fixtures used for comfort, prayer and self-expression, so choosing the right area rug is officially a universal endeavor.

In modern usage, “carpet” typically denotes a wall-to-wall floor cushioning that is fixed to the floor. Rugs, on the other hand, are designed to cover a specific area and can easily be moved to new locations. However, the terms are interchangeable in many parts of the world, and, in the end, it won’t matter what you decide to call it.

It’s well known that a timeless Persian rug or vintage Turkish rug can warm any interior, but there are lots of other styles of antique rugs to choose from when you're endeavoring to introduce fresh colors and textures to a bedroom or living room.

Moroccan Berber rugs are not all about pattern. In fact, some of the most striking examples are nearly monochrome. But what these rugs lack in complexity, they make up for in brilliant color and subtle variation. Moroccan-style interiors can be mesmerizing — a sitting room of this type might feature a Moroccan rug, carved wooden screens and a tapestry hung behind the sofa.

Handwoven kilim rugs, known for their wealth of rich colors and unique weaving tradition, are pileless: Whereas the Beni Ourain rugs of Morocco can be described as dense with a thick surface or pile, an authentic kilim rug is thin and flat. (The term “kilim” is Turkish in origin, but this type of textile artistry is practiced all across the Balkans, throughout the Arab world and elsewhere.) 

When it comes to eye-catching floor coverings, the distinctive “medallion” pattern of Oushak rugs has two types of rounded shapes alternating against a rich red or blue background created with natural dyes, while the elaborate “star” pattern involves large eight-pointed shapes in diagonal rows alternating with diamonds.  

If you’re looking for something unexpected, find a runner rug that pops in your hallway or on your stairs. Dig for dazzling geometric patterns in our inventory of mid-century modern rugs and carpets, which includes works designed by the likes of Swedish textile masters Märta Måås-Fjetterström, Marianne Richter and other artisans. 

Carpets and rugs have been around for thousands of years. Prehistoric humans turned to animal skin, wool and fur to craft simple fabrics to soften hard terrain. A 2016 study suggests that "cave lions" were hunted for exactly this purpose, and that decorating your cave with their pelts may have conferred strength and prestige. Although many of these early textiles are still in existence, tracing their precise origins is difficult. Carpets quickly became such a valuable trade commodity that the weavings could easily travel far from their places of origin. 

The oldest known carpet was found in southern Siberia. (It may have traveled there from Persepolis in Iran.) For the flat-weave floor rugs crafted by Native Americans, cotton was the primary material before sheep’s wool was introduced in the 16th century. In Europe, carpet-making was fundamental to folk art, and Asian carpets imported to European countries were at one time considered a precious luxury and not intended to remain permanently on the floor. 

With the variety of area rugs and carpets rolled out for you on 1stDibs — a collection that includes traditional, modern, minimalist rugs and other coverings of all kinds — things will be looking up whenever you’re looking down.