In May, Husband and I took an amazing two-week vacation to Turkey. While planning our itinerary we thought it best to end our trip in Istanbul so we wouldn’t have to schlep our Grand Bazaar purchases all over the country in our suitcases. I was secretly hoping to snag a gorgeous Turkish rug for the dining room, so this seemed like a genius idea! However, our genius idea wasn’t as brilliant as we touted. Strangely, and surprisingly, we didn’t buy one single thing at the Bazaar. No Turkish rug, no Turkish towels, no leather pouf. Such disappointment. I’m not saying we didn’t see loads of incredible wares, because we did. But by the time we arrived at the Grand Bazaar, whether it was because we were overly exhausted, over stimulated, or over budget, our grand plan just didn’t come to fruition.
Despite coming home empty handed, my memory of seeing the rug making process will last just as long as any rug we would have brought home. Here are some photos to illustrate the process:
Removing silk thread from silkworm cocoons.
Dyed silk yarn for the REALLY expensive rugs.
Wool yarn is spun by hand…
and colored with organic dyes.
Rugs are hand knotted, one piece of thread at a time.
The pattern is attached at the top of the loom for guidance.
It’s a long process.
Some rugs cost more than $50,000.
Shoes off!
Husband and I already plan to return to Turkey some day, so maybe that will be the time to find a special rug for our home. Until then, I will never look at a rug the same way again!
Weekend Decorator 
Love this!!