As you're shopping for area rugs, you may have noticed that there's a pretty wide range of price points for them. Why is that?

Well, there are three factors that will have a dramatic impact on the price of an area rug, and they all make a lot of sense when you think about them.

The first is going to be the material that's used in the construction of the rug. So a rug that's made from polypropylene is going to be at a lower price point than a rug that's made from a premium natural material like a wool or silk. Those materials just cost more, and that is going to increase the price point for that rug.

The second major factor is how the rug has been constructed. A rug that's power loomed is made on a machine, it doesn't require as much labor, and it's relatively quick to make. So that's going to be at a lower price point.

Moving up from that, you'll find handwoven rugs, hand tufted rugs, and finally hand knotted rugs as you kind of ascend the price ladder.

A hand knotted rug, in contrast to a power loomed rug, is going to require often hundreds of hours of manual labor to make that. And that is skilled labor, somebody who's an artisan, who's been training for years to weave these kinds of rugs.

The third factor is the level of detail that the rug has. So the more colors that it has, the more ornate the design, those impact the price point. And most importantly in that is KPI, or the knots per inch. That's what I would consider the resolution of a rug. So if you look at a rug that has a lower KPI, it will not have as ornate of a design because there's just not as many knots in it. A high KPI rug is going to be incredibly ornate. And in fact, if you look at the underside of the rug, it almost looks the same as the top of the rug. It is much more detailed, it requires a tremendous amount of work, and that impacts price point.

So those three factors really are going to drive where the price of that rug ends up. Does it make a difference? Yes. Is it worth investing in a higher end rug? Oftentimes, yes, because they tend to also be more durable. And of course, these are more heirloom quality products.

So depending on the use case, you might be looking at something in more of a budget point. You might be wanting something that's a little bit more premium, more luxurious, better feel to it. And those are the factors that are going to be the primary drivers in the price.