How to Buy a Carpet

In Southern Asia, carpets are famous. They've been coveted for centuries, made it on the backs of camels to Western Civilization where they slept on the floors of wealthy Europeans for centuries more.

In Pakistan, carpets are the rage. Houses are huge and a carpet can serve as a wall decoration or warm a marble floor. We learned after coming here, there are many different types of carpets. Iranian carpets are the best and most expensive. Their designs are classic, which leads to copy-cat Home Depot version so the flip side to purchasing Iranian is that people think you got it on sale at Wal-Mart or Ikea. Of course, that's not a problem in Pakistan where those stores do not exist.

Pakistani carpets are not considered highly desirable because the local wool is coarser and therefore the carpets are not as soft. Carpets can be made from wool (basic) or silk (most expensive) or a combination of the two. Silk ones have their own special shine and even a marginal silk combination mixed with wool appear to change the colors of the carpets depending on the lighting.

My favorite carpets are from Afghanistan. These boast a unique shade of maroon/red indigenous to the region. The best carpets are those the most tightly woven. This is expressed in knots, you want a carpet with as many knots as possible because that means there's more cushion in the carpet.

It's very easy to spend hundreds of dollars on carpets, so know what you want, and how much you want to pay.