Oriental Stair Treads

I simply love the look of Oriental and Oriental Style rugs, perhaps in part as I've traveled extensively in the area.

The term Oriental Stair Treads refers to using Oriental (and oriental Style) rugs on your stairs. They are beautiful especially in my opinion on hardwood stairs with plenty of wood exposed on both sides. The type of rug used is commonly called a "runner" and is main characteristic is long and thin, in other words ideal for a hallway or stairs.

Originally, oriental rugs were all handmade and either woven or knotted with pile. Most people consider these authentic or traditional Oriental Rugs. They are beautiful, can verge on being shockingly expensive, and seem to last forever. At least my friends and relatives have a few that have been in continuous use longer than I've been alive, which to me is forever!

Of course they need to come from the Orient as well, which for rug purposes is defined as broadly to include everything between Turkey and Cyprus to the West to China and Vietnam to the East. They are often described by where they came from, for example as Persian rugs, Indian rugs, Azerbaijani rugs, Tibetian rugs, Kurdish rugs, etc.

Oriental design or Oriental Style rugs machine made and might even be made down the rod from you. Most experts consider handmade rugs from the Orient that are not woven or knotted to not be authentic Oriental rugs. For example, hand tufted rugs, which are not as durable, but far faster to produce and hence cheaper, are clearly inferior although they appear very similar to the untrained eye.

Oriental rug runners need to be attached to the stairs somehow, and although this is usually left to professionals, it can be a do it yourself project for those so inclined. The runners are usually attached with upholstery staples or tackless strips. In the old days carpet tacks were used. When removed they left a somewhat visible hole in the underlying tread whereas stapless leave a nearly invisible hole.

Carpet rods were traditionally used to hold runners in place, and still can be, although today these are primarily decorative and staples or tackless strips are still recommended by professionals.

If you need to join two or more runners together, do not attempt to use sticky tape, seam tape or hot melt seam them together. Needle and thread will do the job however, just as they always have.

So that's the quick rundown on oriental stair treads. I'm a fan of Oriental rugs as you can probably tell. And someday, after the kids are gone, I'll have more authentic Oriental rugs and fewer toys on my stairs and floors!