Turquoise Rug Sarchi Design

A turquoise rug with a traditional Sarchi, Costa Rica design is an example of taking a traditional design and making it your own.

Sarchi Costa Rica is famous for its brightly colored oxcart wheels. Sarah showed me this example of the design she wanted for the border of her area rug for a hang out area.

Sarah and Julio’s house is called Casa Verde. ( the Green House) They had just closed in what used to be an outdoor garden. The tall windows bring in lots of light and the light turquoise walls make this sunny area a great place to hang out!

Under the benches placed around the wall are beautiful multicolored plants with fuchsia, and pink and white leaves. These became a part of the color palette for the turquoise rug.

The colors selected were

• Shades of turquoise from the same paint swatch used for the house interior.
• Shades of fuchsia and pink to pick up the colors from the plants
• And a pop of purple for further contrast

For the center, I suggested a soft wash with two shades of turquoise. I don’t like to see a solid block of color but rather some delicate texture or pattern. Of course, the client has the last decision, but they liked the wash design idea.

Julio suggested a 2-inch border because he didn’t want the plants to cover the painted design and it was in good proportion for this size of rug.

PRICING ON CUSTOM RUGS

Previously Sarah asked the price for a simple stamped design. After reconsidering she asked how much a hand-painted design on the border would be. My prices are per square foot depending on the design. If the turquoise rug has a hand-painted border, then I charge a higher price for hand-painted designs only in that area. It was only $60 more for the border!

GETTING THE OK on the Turquoise rug design

Before I varnish a rug, I always send a photo for the last ok on the design. We had a clear agreement on the design, the size of the design, and the colors. But then as an artist, I have to use some creativity to decide where the colors go and which areas to shade. Sarah didn’t want too much pink and only “pops” of purple. The original Sarchi Design has many different colors, so I used shading to contrast the 7 colors I had.

Here is the original first finished rug. They asked for more shading on the “trumpet flowers” to give more contrast against the background and some added detail

This is why I always send a photo of the rug BEFORE varnishing, It was so much fun to work with this design in these colors!

Check out the Gallery to see other custom designs.

If you have any ideas you want to consult with me about give a comment below or email me at laurel@laurelsoriginals.com.