Guide · For the trade
Custom rugs for designers: how to order one, what it costs and how long it takes
Custom rugs are made to a designer's specification rather than pulled from a line: any size, any shape, any color, any pattern, in constructions from bound broadloom to hand-knotted wool and silk. Through Interiors the process is a rendering in your colors, a woven strike-off to approve in 4 to 6 weeks, production in 18 to 20 weeks and installation anywhere in the country; custom size rugs cut and bound from broadloom are faster, usually 3 to 5 weeks.
This guide is for the designer or the junior putting a custom rug into a scheme for the first time, or the tenth. It covers the three kinds of custom, what each is good for, what drives the price, the timeline, what we need from you and the questions clients ask.
Three kinds of custom rug and when to use each
Most custom requests fall into one of three programs and choosing the right one early saves weeks.
| Program | What it is | Lead time | Use it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cut and bound from broadloom | Any of our 3,500 broadloom styles cut to size and finished with binding, serging or a fabric or leather border | 3 to 5 weeks | You need a specific size or shape, the room is large (12x18, 14x20, L-shaped), or the budget wants a wool look at broadloom cost |
| Mill custom program | A mill's existing design recolored, resized or re-proportioned on its own loom (Stanton, Prestige Mills, Couristan and Milliken all run one) | 8 to 16 weeks | You love a line's pattern but the colorway or size is wrong, or you need a matching stair runner and area rug |
| Full custom, hand-made | Your design, or ours from your brief, rendered, sampled and produced by hand: hand-knotted, hand-tufted or flatwoven in wool, silk, viscose, linen or alpaca | Strike-off 4 to 6 weeks, production 18 to 20 weeks | The rug is the room: a signature piece, a client's pattern, a shape no mill offers, or fibers and knot counts a line does not reach |
If the project schedule is under three months, the first two programs are the realistic ones. Full custom is a four-to-six-month commitment from approved rendering to install and it is worth telling the client that on day one.
What a custom rug costs
Pricing is quoted to approved trade accounts; we do not publish it and this page will not give you a number to repeat. What we can tell you is what moves it. Fiber first: wool costs more than polypropylene or nylon, silk and viscose more than wool and a wool-silk blend sits between. Construction second: machine woven and tufted are the least expensive per square foot, hand-loomed and hand-tufted in the middle, hand-knotted the most and within hand-knotted the knot count (60 to 150 knots per square inch for most decorative work) is the lever. Size third, because custom is priced by the square foot and shape, since a round or a curved edge adds waste and finishing. Borders, especially leather, add a per-linear-foot charge. A custom color on a mill program is often a modest upcharge; a full custom design carries a strike-off fee that is credited against the order.
The honest version of "is it cheaper to bind carpet or buy a rug": for anything larger than 9x12, a bound wool broadloom rug is usually less than a comparable finished rug and it is the right call for big rooms. For a hand-knotted look, nothing bound will substitute and the custom price reflects the hands.
The timeline, step by step
For a full custom piece the sequence is fixed and every step has a reason.
- Brief. You send us the room, the size and shape, the look and anything that helps: a floor plan, a fabric, a pom, a photo of a rug you saw once. Through the Design Studio form or by email.
- Rendering. Within about two weeks you receive a rendering of the design in your colors, with the fiber, construction and quote. Revisions are normal; three rounds is typical.
- Strike-off. A woven sample of the actual design, usually 18 by 18 inches or a corner with the border, in 4 to 6 weeks. This is what you put in front of the client. Approve it, or change it and we weave again.
- Production. 18 to 20 weeks after approval and deposit for hand-made work. We send photos from the loom at the midpoint.
- Delivery and installation. Freight to the site, then our installer in your client's city unrolls, pads and places it. Anywhere in the United States.
Cut-and-bound custom size rugs skip the rendering and strike-off: you approve the broadloom sample and the binding sample and the finished rug ships in 3 to 5 weeks.
What we need from you to quote
Finished size and shape, with the room dimensions if you want us to check the fit. The construction you have in mind, or the look if you do not. Colors as poms, Pantone or fabric references, or a photo. The install date. A ship-to address. If the rug turns a stair or runs a hall, the stair count or the run length and any landings. With that, a quote on a mill program comes back in a day or two; a full custom quote comes with the rendering.
Custom size rugs: the sizes designers ask for most
Custom size rugs make up more than a third of what we quote. The common requests are 12x18 and 14x20 for great rooms, 10x16 under a long dining table, 4x14 and 3x20 runners for halls, 8-foot and 10-foot rounds under a round table and odd widths to leave exactly 18 inches of floor at the walls of a bedroom. Any broadloom in the catalog is a candidate; the oversize collection and the sisal with leather border collection are the two we cut most often.
Custom rugs with a logo or a client's artwork
Logo rugs and rugs from a client's own drawing are full custom work. We redraw the artwork for the loom, confirm colors against poms and weave a strike-off of the detail that matters, usually the logo itself at full scale. Hand-tufted is the usual construction for lettering and tight curves; hand-knotted for a painterly design. Allow the full timeline.
Designs created with Interiors are made through Interiors
Renderings and strike-offs are produced for the project they are quoted on. We do not release production files to other mills or showrooms and we ask the same of designers: if we drew it, we weave it. In return, you get a single point of contact from the first sketch to the last stair and a mill relationship that has made thousands of these.
Questions designers ask
How much does a custom rug cost?
It depends on fiber, construction, size, shape and borders, in that order. Net pricing is quoted to approved trade accounts within a day or two for mill programs and with the rendering for full custom. A bound wool broadloom rug is the least expensive route to a large custom size; hand-knotted wool and silk is the most expensive and the most durable.
How long does a custom rug take?
Cut and bound from broadloom, 3 to 5 weeks. A mill's custom color or size program, 8 to 16 weeks. Full custom hand-made, 4 to 6 weeks to a strike-off and 18 to 20 weeks of production after approval, then freight and install.
Can you match a fabric or a paint color?
Yes. Send the fabric, a pom or the paint chip and we match it on the strike-off. Wool takes dye predictably; silk and viscose read lighter and brighter in the same color, which the rendering accounts for.
Can you make a custom rug and a matching stair runner?
Yes and it is one of the most common requests. The runner is woven to width or cut from the same broadloom, with a matching border, so the hall, the stair and the landing read as one piece.
Do you ship and install outside California?
Everywhere in the United States. The rug ships from the mill or our finisher to the site and we arrange measuring and installation through our installer network in your client's city.
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