Our new carpets

Last night we bought authentic Turkish carpets! Well actually they were made in Afghanistan... but they are of Turkish origin. The ones we bought are called Ushak carpets, and they used to be made in Turkey just south of Istanbul. Nowadays it is very rare to find carpets that are made here in Turkey. Most of them are made in other Middle Eastern countries, such as Afghanistan or Iran. There are several different types of carpets, named for the region where they are made. I like the Ushak style. Shane's favorite is the Bukhara, which is a traditional Turkish carpet that uses a deep red fabric. For some reason, it seems to be a popular rug amongst the men. I guess because it appears so rich and dignified. One of our friends last night saw a Bukhara and said, "Oh man, imagine that in front of a big executive desk, sitting there smoking a cigar." That would be Shane's dream. :)

Our purchase last night was somewhat spontaneous. We did not set out to buy carpets. We went out to dinner with our friends and afterwards we walked down the street to a carpet store where Brandon & Logan (neighbors who live across the street) had purchased their carpet. Well the guy there started unrolling carpets for us, which is what every Turkish carpet-seller does. We've been to so many carpet stores now, and have seen rug after rug... after awhile they all start to look the same. The Turks are all about their carpets, and they have "carpet parties" to try to get us silly Americans to buy their merchandise. So there we were last night, just looking at the carpets as usual with no intention of buying any. But then we saw these two brown rugs that were absolutely beautiful!! And I said to Shane, "Let's get them." So we did! They are real handmade Turkish carpets so they are quite pricey.... but fortunately this store allows you to put them on "layaway" and make payments a little bit at a time. And he let us take them home! It was a big purchase, but we are very happy with our carpets and we know that they will last a long time. Yay!!