Where to Buy Rugs That Your Descendants Will Fight Over in the Will

You never forget your first real rug. We’re not talking about that chevron-print doormat from college (though it served its purpose). We’re talking about knowing where to buy rugs that become the investment pieces you deserve, and which set the tone for your entire home.

For the uninitiated, knowing your Scandinavian rya rugs from your Turkish kilim floor jawnz can feel overwhelming, but you’re not alone. Somewhere, right now, a hot and emotionally-withholding “creative director” is throwing down for a beni ourain rug (and good for them) to go with that Noguchi lamp; there are Topanga Canyon nesters in need of the perfect minimalist wool rug to make their redwood walls pop, and city renters who are overcoming the plight of the Landlord Special with rugs that look cool, and don’t cost as much as their security deposit. Whether you find yourself squarely in one of these categories or somewhere in-between, we promise that there’s a rug out there with your name on it.

Where to Buy Rugs Online, According to GQ

In fact, a better question than, “Where can I buy rugs online?” might be, “What do I want my rug to do for me?” Consider the ambiance you’re trying to achieve. Think about how much ground you want to cover, and try to make sure that your living room rug fits underneath your couch (and not just in front of it) in order to make your room feel larger. Lean into layering your pricier, smaller rugs over affordable, textured jute rugs to add depth and interest to your space. And if you live with a white Persian cat, maybe don’t buy a dark wool rug. Once you’ve established your needs, the world wide web is your oyster for finding the perfect hallway runner, bedroom rug, and more.

We’ve curated a selection of our favorite places to buy rugs online below, whether you want to browse rugs by aesthetic, shape, size, or pet-durable material. Want a rug that feels like it rolled out of the convent in Black Narcissus? We’ve got you covered. One that looks like mitochondria? Easy. The following rugs are works of art, and veritable work-horses; many are designed to take the wear and tear of natural wine spills, fallen tapas plates, and whatever else your Friday nights entail, but all of them are great investments for elevating your home’s ambiance.

The Citizenry

Best for: Ethically sourced, neutral-toned area rugs with minimalist graphic designs

The Citizenry is home to the kinds of rugs that were born—or rather, hand-woven—to make your home feel like it swallowed a giant benzo. The brand works with heritage weavers around the world to ethically source handmade rugs in neutral and earth-toned colorways, which can be a great palette to start with if you want to curate a calm, minimalist vibe, or if you’re just not quite sure what aesthetic direction you want your home to grow in. Browse by categories such as rug size and type, and consult The Citizenry’s “Rugs 101” section to dig even deeper into what each hand-knotted Indian rug or jute runner brings to the table.

Schoolhouse

Best for: Monochromatic, checkered, and plaid rugs with a slight penchant for preppiness

No one does checkered and plaid motifs quite like Schoolhouse, whose rugs run the gamut from monochromatic living room rugs to graphic plaid runners and more. Even the most seemingly basic rugs from the brand pack special attention to detail in their fabrication; the classic midnight wool rug, for example, is hand-loomed with a ribbed pattern to add a touch of visual interest, and designed with “a hearty texture [that] is reminiscent of a stout sweater.” If you’re into comfort, Cape Cod, and a rug that feels like a hug, Schoolhouse is for you. Plus, if you’re on the fence about a pattern or style, the brand offers swatches so that you can feel confident in your design direction.

SSENSE

Best for: Statement-making designer pieces for your open-concept loft

What, you thought that SSENSE was only for Rick Owens hoodies and that $200 face cream Zendaya’s character rubs on her legs in Challengers? Don’t sleep on the site’s home section, which is full of statement-making rugs by home brands and designers such as Cold Picnic, WACKO MARIA, Jil Sander, and more. You can find a selection of beautiful West Elm-pilled rugs, but let’s be honest: This is where you go to find tufted graphic rugs, 70s-nostalgic shags, and Mush Studios rugs that look like they rolled out of a biology textbook.

AllModern

Best for: Affordable area rugs in timeless and trending designs

AllModern is all-encompassing when it comes to its selection of rug styles and price ranges, because you can find everything from checkered living room area rugs and graphic indoor-outdoor rugs to more traditional, antique decorative-style rugs that sure would look great in Jeremy Irons’ restored-15th century castle. There are rugs for maximalists with blunt cut bobs, rich Connecticut aunts who collect Wedgewood, and kids with their juice boxes. Surprisingly, there’s also a selection of one-of-a-kind rugs with old world charm at prices that won’t break the bank. AllModern, you’re the ace up our sleeve.

Revival

Best for: Minimalist washable rugs and one-of-a-kind Moroccan, Turkish, and Indian rugs. Walk-up apartment-friendly boxed cardboard packaging with handles

Revival is one of the most reliable sources for authentic Moroccan rugs, hand-knotted traditional Indian area rugs, and graphic flatweave wool rugs that sure would look great in the lobby of MoMA PS1. There’s an impressive selection of washable rugs inspired by all of the aforementioned styles, and shoppers can even browse rugs by shape. But what really set Revival apart for this writer is the genius packaging, which consists of a briefcase-style cardboard box that can be carried up to your fourth floor apartment with ease.

Nordic Knots

Best for: Contemporary Scandinavian rugs that make dramatic, playful, and emotive graphic nods to traditional rug design elements

Nordic Knots’ rugs feel like they’re smarter than us. The Scandinavian brand brings MC Escher-worthy designs into the mix with the above Garden Maze rug, offers a contemporary take on Art Deco florals with its Climbing Vine rug, and also manages to deliver on more minimalist and earthy jute rugs that are sure to make an imminent cameo in an Architectural Digest home video tour. Peruse its bestselling rugs if you’re aesthetically agnostic, and run to its designer collaboration section for a rug that will floor (get it?) even your most design-savvy friend.

West Elm

Best for: High-performance, indoor-outdoor rugs with traditional and contemporary designs

When in doubt, head to West Elm. Where would we be without the brand’s mid-century modern sensibilities? We’re not saying that West Elm’s rugs can’t be styled with a more maximalist decor—the above Moroccan-inspired rug would look great with some Jonathan Adler home goods—but there’s something to be said about the way in which West Elm’s rugs are designed to effortlessly go with MCM pieces. Head to the brand for Indoor-outdoor rugs that look like Matisse cutouts, patterned flatweave rugs for a more bohemian feel, and plenty of performance and washable rugs for people with pets.

Serena & Lily

Best for: Traditional and contemporary indoor and outdoor rugs in earthy and pastel hues

Serena & Lily embodies the spirit of that PR person you’re friends with on Instagram who is always scuttling off with their Rimowa luggage set to a really sick Airbnb in the South of France. The brand’s wavy, scallop-edged jute rug is one of the most original takes on natural fiber rugs that we’ve ever seen, and the brand brings an overall breezy, carefree air to its bohemian designs through a selection of mostly pastel and earth-toned colorways. If there’s a pet or a baby in your life, you also might want to consider throwing down for the brand’s indoor-outdoor and high-performance rugs.

Minna

Best for: Rugs that are ethically-made in collaboration with traditional artisans from Latin America

Minna’s artisan-made, wool and cotton-blend rugs hail primarily from Peru and Mexico, and offer a masterclass in color blocking thanks to their bold, geometric patterns. You won’t find any shouting pinks or reds here—although the Element Rug does look like it could make a cameo in Godspell—but every rug offers a color story that can deliver a lot of ambiance into your space. There’s also something to be said about the site’s category breakdown, which allows for you to browse like God (your kindergarten teacher) intended you to with a ROYGBIV classification system.

Loloi

Best for: Basic affordable rugs for bigger spaces; cool designer collaborations

Listen, Loloi is all around us. You may have never heard of the home decor brand, but it’s always popping up on this writer’s TikTok FYP as a great brand for rugs that look far more expensive than they cost. You can find a nearly 10 foot-long, beige Loloi rug for a little over $300 on Amazon, but we’re especially taken with the brand’s collaborations. The new collection with celebrated interior designer Brigette Romanek offers an earthy take on the check print trend, while the brand’s collaboration with Rifle Paper Co. delivers on dreamy, old world florals.

Beni Rugs

Best for: Artisan-crafted rugs from the brand’s Moroccan hub. Capsule collections with luxury lifestyle brands

Beni Rugs owes its namesake to the legendary beni ourain rugs of Morocco, where its headquarters are located, and works with 85 local weavers to create the kinds of heirloom-quality rugs that your descendants will fight over. Find twists on classic knotted wool rugs, and collaborations with brands such as Flamingo Estate that are worth the 12 to 16 week wait time. After all, in the words of Beni Rugs, “[Each] rug is woven entirely by hand and then washed and dried in the mountain air.”

Neighbor

Best for: Outdoor rugs made with Sunbrella yarn

If you’re in the market for versatile, well-made outdoor furniture and rugs, head to Neighbor. The brand is doesn’t have Amazon-levels of rugs to choose from, but what it lacks in numbers it makes up for in great design; run-of-the-mill outdoor rugs tend to feel like screen-printed afterthoughts, but many of Neighbor’s rugs are woven with ultra-durable Sunbrella yarn, and always feature a pattern that brings more visual interest to even the drabbest of patios.

Wayfair

Best for: Quick shipping, affordable prices, and an endless variety of rugs

Where would we be without Wayfair? The home goods behemoth offers everything from cursed Design Toscano foyer animal butlers (a SkyMall classic; RIP) to a surprisingly impressive trove of chic designer goods from Jonathan Adler, Alessi, Lauren Ralph Lauren, and others. The same goes for the site’s rug selection: Stay focused, browse by brand, rug size, and aesthetic, and you’ll find cottagecore, hand-hooked check rugs by Gracie Oaks and hand-knotted, earthy wool rugs with sophisticated geometric patterns. In short, Wayfair is the sleeper hit.

Rejuvenation

Best for: Traditional medallion design and vintage rugs, as well as a selection of rugs made out of recycled materials

Rejuvenation is where the most well-adjusted adult in your life goes to upgrade their drawer pulls to polished brass handles, or to buy Belgian linen blackout curtains that will compliment their Shaker dresser. Naturally, the brand’s rug selection is just as sophisticated, and offers a selection of more traditional floor jawns; think, Southwestern-inspired rugs, rugs inspired by 18th century British carpets, and sprawling medallion design rugs. You can also explore your options by not only rug size, style, and material—there are some beautiful indoor-outdoor options—but Rejuvenation has also taken the liberty of grouping its rugs by helpful categories such as “Neutral,” “Warm Tone,” “Cool Tone,” and “Bold.”

Design Within Reach

Best for: Unique rugs with a penchant for modern and contemporary designs

Design Within Reach, or DWR as it’s called by your friend who collects Cesca chairs, is a powerhouse of modern design wares and furniture. You can browse through dozens upon dozens of iconic and emerging brands that probably made it onto the Mad Men set at one point in time, including Herman Miller, BREUER, Knoll, Dusen Dusen, HAY, Vitra, and more. There’s really something for everyone at DWR, from Brutalist and Bauhaus rugs to charming rugs by designers such as Nani Marquina (above) that bring a contemporary twist to a traditional Hindu floral design.

1stDibs

Best for: Vintage, one-of-a-kind Moroccan and medallion rugs

Exploring 1stDibs is like entering a jewelry box of vintage designer goods and antiques, because the online auction site is filled with Sputnik chandeliers, Louis XVI furniture, and thousands of other items that were probably owned by the late Lee Radziwill at some point in time. There is an impressive spectrum of rugs on the site, however, which boasts plenty of traditional rugs with old world charm that you would expect from a site selling original Picasso lithographs, but it’s also filled with minimalist Moroccan rugs and plenty of graphic contemporary rugs that give SSENSE’s irreverent curation a run for its money.

Cold Picnic

Best for: Contemporary abstract wool rugs and bath mats

Cold Picnic still reigns supreme when it comes to abstract, shape-centric rugs. Wavy and blob-shaped candles and decor might be gently phasing out (box your Ultrafragola mirror’s ears) of the culture, but Cold Picnic has proven its staying power amongst blob aesthetics thanks to its intentional designs and versatile color palettes. The brand’s wool rugs feel like a dream under your feet (we know from experience) and it makes an alligator motif runner that will make your hallway the most interesting part of the house.

Etsy

Best for: Scandinavian rya rugs and affordable Turkish and Moroccan rugs

Etsy isn’t just for hand-knitted balaclavas and stationary, folks. The marketplace is filled with a seemingly endless selection of traditional and abstract rugs from sellers in Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey, as well as plenty of vintage rya rugs that belong in a contemporary iteration of the 1970s-style conversation pit set-up. As always, be wary of sellers with no reviews, but otherwise, enjoy Etsy’s truly eclectic smorgasbord of rugs.

Rugs USA

Best for: A large variety of affordable rugs, particularly jute, for covering a lot of ground

Another ace up the sleeve, Rugs USA is home to an exhaustive curation of rugs for your living room, bedroom, outdoor spaces, and everything in-between. Bring home an affordable, 10-foot jute rug for layering under your grandmother’s smaller antique Turkish rug, and explore the site’s diverse selection of washable and custom-size rugs for making your home look like it received the professional home decorator treatment. We’re partial to the brand’s unique takes on natural material rugs, such as the striped jute number above, but don’t forget to scope out its collaborations with designers such as Prabal Gurung and its earthy, sophisticated geometric rugs as well.