How Much Is "www.Rug.com" Worth?

How much would you pay to buy "www.Rug.com"? Would it bring you a lot of business if you had such a domain name and web site? Interested? Then read this:

Top 10 Most Expensive Domain Names!

Khosrow Sobhe
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Rug Cleaning, Rug Cleaners Los Angeles

Today, I was busy making a video on rug cleaning, rug cleaners in Los Angeles.

Khosrow Sobhe

Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)

www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com

310-770-9085

Carpet Concert and Persian Rugs in Los Angeles: A Sold Out Event

A second sold out Carpet Concert was held at Craft & Folk Art Museum here in Los Angeles last night. Rowan Storm performed vocal and played dayereh and Daff (framed drum). Morteza Yadollahi played Persian tar and tanbur and Faraz Minooei played santur. It was a lovely evening. It was read on the flyer:

Leave your shoes and cares at the door ... Lounge on beautiful handmade carpets ... Be transported into the mystical realm of Persian music!

At the beginning, Maryna Hrushetska the Director of the Museum welcomed every body and then Rowan briefly talked about the program. The event began at 7:00 pm after the reception of Persian sweet, tea and appetizers which were provided downstairs in the front yard of the museum.

Rowan sang few songs and several poems of Khayam, a very famous Iranian poet. This lady is full of energy and love.

Holly Jerger worked tirelessly on the past and this program. Several other staff and volunteers also worked hard to make this event a success. We thank them all. By providing the carpets, I played a very small and tiny part in this wonderful event. I had many guests probably around 20, all of whom enjoyed the concert.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

A Busy Day at My Rug Gallery in Los Angeles

It was Wednesday today and I was very busy at work. I sold a couple of rugs and received few rugs for cleaning and repair. I got home at 7:00 pm and had a small dinner then went to gym.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Nowruz Persian New Year

Today is March 20, 2009 the first day of Spring and beginning of Persian new year. We celebrate Nowruz which means "new day" and go to family and friends' homes to visit them and spend some time with them. We have lots of tea, sweet and fruits.

I came to work at 12:00 pm and am going home now at 5:15 pm to visit few friends. It was a quiet day at work.



Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Bijar Bidjar Rugs Los Angeles

In our latest rug shipment from Tehran, we received a unique small Bijar rug with a very unusual design. The size is 25 by 32 inches and the design is dragon and phoenix.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Largest Sand carpet in the World

Several Iranian artists made the biggest sand carpet in the world on the beach of Hormoz Island on the Persian Gulf.

Source: http://www.carpetour.net/fa/index.asp

Khosrow Sobhe
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Silk Rug From Qum Iran and Online Help

A gentleman contacted me by e-mail and said he had a silk rug and needed some information on this rug. Below, you can read what I wrote to him and what he wrote back.

"The foundation and pile of this rug is natural silk. The inscription reads "Qum, Naami". Qum is the name of a city in Iran very famous for fine silk rugs. The history of rug making in Qum does not go over a century. Naami is the name of the weaver. It is worth between $3,500 to $4,000. Its value will appreciate by the passage of time if you keep this rug.

Regards,
Khosrow Sobhe"

"Dr. Sobhe

I don't know how to thank you for your kind gesture. That was very very generous of you to help me with this.

It seems like I should keep it, based on your email, being that it will appreciate.
You seem to be a man of great knowledge in this industry.

Again my deepest thanks go out to you.

Kareem"

I did what I am supposed to do.
Khosrow Sobhe
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Rug Cleaning Los Angeles

Rug cleaning in Los Angeles is very competitive. The customers are also very diverse. Some look for deals, while others look for quality rug cleaning in Los Angeles. There are number of customers who look for both good quality of carpet cleaning and reasonable prices.

What we do is maintaining a balance between these three types. If the customer is a repeat customer or if the rug needs repair or color restoration, then we make a deal and give the customer a discount so he/she can easily pay for the cost.

There have been some customers who Google rug cleaning in Los Angeles and found us and gave us the cleaning job. They were happy with the quality of the work and the service and bought rugs from our gallery as well. The reverse has been also true; we have had customers who bought rugs from our Los Angeles rug gallery and gave us rug cleaning jobs.

There are a number of wall to wall carpet cleaners who claim that they do rug cleaning in Los Angeles. It may be cheaper to hire them but since they do not know rugs and they use so many strong chemicals to only steam clean the rugs, they make the customers unhappy. Often these unhappy customers then come to us for a professional rug cleaning.

Khosrow Sobhe
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
310-770-9085

My Most Favorite Rugs

What are my least favorite rugs? Tufted rugs. What are my most favorite rugs? Tribal and rural (village) rugs. Tribal rugs are the type of rugs made by nomads and tribes who may migrate during winters and summers such as the Qashqai's. There are other Iranian tribes such as Balouhch, Turkmen, Lors, Kurds, Shahsevans and etc. All these tribes have excellent woven rugs and kilims.

Village rugs are made by the weavers in rural places in individual homes. Some of these pieces are utilitarian rugs or kilims made for their internal and household use and not necessarily for the market. They have so much beauty, originality and authenticity in them.

I believe these two groups of rugs, tribal and village rugs are the rugs of the next generation and the rugs of the future. City workshop rugs which have elaborated complex and detailed designs are beautiful, but to me they look like more fine commercial items compare with the rugs which have culture, art and history behind them.

Khosrow Sobhe
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Cosmetic Hook Rug Repair

We received a damaged hook rug few days ago. We did a cosmetic rug repair. When the customer stopped by to pick up his rug he looked at it and said "my wife would not believe this. You guys did a great job"!!

He left our store with a big smile on his face. He made our day!

Khosrow Sobhe
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
310-770-9085

In Rug Cleaning , Lower Price Does Not Mean A Great Deal!

Some customers ask their wall to wall carpet cleaners to do the cleaning of their valuable rugs at home. Carpet cleaners usually do not say "No" to these customers. Carpet cleaners do not know rugs. On the other hand they use different chemicals to get rid of the dirt and stains on carpets which are made of different petrochemicals and synthetics. Persian and Oriental rugs have silk or wool pile and it is not recommended at all to use harsh, strong or unknown chemicals to do the cleaning. This will damage the fiber without giving us the clean, shiny and soft pile we want to see and have on our rugs. It maybe cheaper, but this is not the type of saving we should be looking for!

Khosrow Sobhe
Cerified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
310-770-9085

Designing a Rug Cartoon: The Labor of Love

In weaving most of the detailed city rugs, we need to follow a design depicted on a graph paper. This is called cartoon. It needs expertise, patience and love. Here, I am posting few very interesting pictures of designers in Iran. I found them on an Iranian carpet web site called Carpetour.

There has been a huge controversy in Iran in the past few years weather they should computers for designing or not. Some people argue that computer is a tool and should be employed in drawing cartoons. Other conservatives argue that this is a very artistic aspect of rug production cycle and should not be left to computers. It should be done by hand and by artists who care about rugs.



Khosrow Sobhe
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
310-770-9085

My Least Favorite Rugs

What is my least favorite Rug? It is not area rug which is also called machine made rug or even hard to clean shag or flokati rugs. It is rather tufted rugs. Why? Because when they're new, they look fine, but after a while, most of them look like a piece of felt with depressed pile. Many of them have cleaning issues. The backing and the backing border strips fell off and dismantle. They get wrinkles in many instances. Many of them smell bad because of the latex backing.

I prefer a medium quality area rug over a good tufted rug. Some dealers or manufacturers call them hand tufted rugs so the customers get the notion and feeling of owning a hand knotted rug. Not very much so.

Khosrow Sobhe
Certified Rug specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
310-770-9085

Turkomen Horse Saddle Cover

In a recent acquisition we received a beautiful Turkomen horse saddle cover rug. It is dated 1968 and there are two holes in it for the handles of the saddle to pass through. There are some Russian scripts woven onto this pieces that might be the name of the horse this cover was made for. We should find someone who can read Russian to see what these words are. I am posting the photos of this unique piece.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Rug Cleaning Rug Repair Beverly Hills Los Angeles and Early Spring

Rug Cleaning and Rug Repair Beverly Hills Los Angeles and Early Spring. We picked up few rugs for repair and cleaning from Beverly Hills this morning. I saw several trees blossoming in one of the streets. I am posting the pictures. While there is cold weather and snow in several other states, it is nice and sunny in southern California and Beverly Hills.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

My Son's Birthday and His Help in My Rug Gallery

In an earlier post I mentioned that it was my younger son's birthday yesterday. Last night we went to Chili's Restaurant on Westwood Blvd. here in Los Angeles. The food was good and so was the atmosphere. My son Kash received several gifts from the family and friends. We went home and had another birthday and home made cake prepared by my wife.

Kash came to my work to day. He helped me and also did some home work. Kash is a good salesman and asks me not to interfere with his sales when he is in my rug gallery and we have customers. In many instances he has been able to close the deals and sell rugs.

Khosrow Sobhe
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Sunny Saturday and My Rug Gallery in Los Angeles

It is a beautiful sunny Saturday and I am in our rug gallery in Los Angeles. I had an appointment with a client who showed up. We are expecting two more customers to stop by today.

It is my younger son's birthday today. He is turning 17. His name is Khashaiar (Xerxes, The Persian king who lived around 480 B.C.) but his friends call him Kash. He is a junior at the eleventh grade in Beverly Hills High School. This semester he is taking several college-level AP courses. Like his older brother Ashkan, he wants to study Information Technology and Information Systems. He is a very dedicated, hard working and ambitious young man. He has designed a web site called: www.ShareSchoolNotes.com
Students can upload their homework on this web site and share them with other students and work on their homework and assignments from anywhere they go. We are supposed to go out for dinner tonight. Kash is supposed to choose the place. He is more like to go to a younger generation type of restaurant such as In-N-Out or Chillie's compared with traditional Italian or Persian cuisins. It is his birthday and he should decide where to eat (only today!)

Khosrow Sobhe
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
319-770-9085

How We Thrive in a Bad Rug Market in Los Angeles

Let me share some secrets with you, but please do not read it loud. I do not want everybody to know what I am doing to make it in this difficult time!

1-As a courtesy when we clean a customer's rug, we do minor fringe or selvage repairs at no charge.
2-We go extra miles and get out of our comfort box to make our customers happy. We do more for less. This pays off.
3- We finance some of our customers. This means if they want to buy a rug and cannot afford it, we ask them to buy the rug if they like it and pay us by 2-3 payments. This has been working with us.
4-We try to learn more about rugs and share our knowledge with our customers. They appreciate this.
5- Our hours is flexible. If our customers want to stop by and cannot make it, we come to work earlier or leave later. We are open seven-days a week. Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 to 5:00 pm. When needed we stretch our hours for the convenience of our customers. They like this kind of personalized service.

Khosrow Sobhe
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
310-770-9085

A Very Fine Persian Varamin Kilim and Pile Rug

For a few years we produced many good rugs in the area of Varamin some 30 miles south east of Tehran. These pieces were produced with very fine quality hand spun wool and natural dye. The dyeing process took place in Abbas Sayahi's dyeing facility in the suburb of Shiraz. Abbas is an excellent dyer and a master in this field. He is around 75 now but he is full of energy.

I sold several pieces from this Persian Varamin Collection here in my rug gallery in Los Angeles and still have few more pieces. Here I am posting few photos from a Varamin flate weave with some piled parts. Three ladies made this piece. One lady was the expert in making kilim, the flat weave part and the other two ladies made the plied parts. The size of this square piece is 6' 6" x 6' 9" and the retail price is $3,300.

Khosrow Sobhe
Certifeid Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085