Naked Floors, Naked Summers
The beauty of rugs, seasonal décor changes, and what this signifies for the Greeks.
“In summer, rugs are removed, floors are undressed, and with this comes the underestimated pleasure of walking barefoot on the cool floor, embracing the carelessness and freedom of the season.”
-Andriana, Creator of ARONIA living
Rugs are more than just decorative elements for the home. They add warmth, style, and comfort, offering a soft landing for your feet, creating visual interest, and helping to define separate areas within a room.
MY LOVE FOR PERSIAN RUGS
From a young age, I learned to appreciate rugs as an essential luxury for the home. My family and I spent three years in Tehran, Iran when I was little, and it was then that I started appreciating the art of rug making. Iran is a country with the most majestic carpets of Eastern style, so it was impossible not to be influenced by their textiles, symbolic patterns, and magical colours.
The influence of Persian rugs is evident in my home, and I have quite a few pieces in my flat as part of my family heritage, with the main one being the rug underneath my dining table. Originally used as the main carpet for my old lounge, this mixture of dusty pink, olive green, and a little burgundy red creates a very characteristic piece, which I feel complements the colour and style of my Japanese paintings décor and breaks the monotony of the minimal neutral style of the rest of the flat.
Above, my Persian rug decorating my current dinning room and my lounge in my old flat.
RUGS IN THE ARONIA FLAT
When I moved here, I knew straight away that I wanted to get the Alanda coffee table for the new living room so I decided to go with a very neutral woollen rug that would enhance the geometric metallic base of the coffee table. After a lot of searching, I finally fell in love with this gorgeous sand-coloured rug from Nordic Knots. From the colour to the texture, it matched perfectly with my velvet green and white sofas and acted as a neutral canvas for the decoration of my coffee table
When I reflect on the uniqueness of this flat’s décor, I realize it's largely due to my effort to combine a purely minimalistic style with traditional vintage elements. This contrast between the monochromatic Scandi rug and the vintage Eastern-style rug adds coziness and character during the colder months, separating the two spaces while also bringing them harmoniously together as one.
The Grand rug in sand colour from Nordic Knots.
NAKED FLOORS AND WHAT THEY SIGNIFY FOR THE GREEKS
No matter how much I love the rugs in the house, I eventually had to store them away as the days get warmer. Adapting the home décor to the seasons is very usual in this part of the world, where we experience extremely hot summers, especially in the city centre of Athens. Rugs are removed, floors are left naked, and with this comes the underestimated pleasure of walking barefoot on the cool floor, feeling grounded as you step on natural materials and embrace the carelessness and freedom of the season. These changes signify the coming of summer and, for us Greeks, the holiday season, probably somewhere in our magical Greek islands.
For now, the rugs can rest in storage until their grand return around November. Meanwhile, I am ready for my naked floors in dark chocolate brown and even more for a ‘naked’ summer in the Cycladic islands, which is just around the corner.
BEFORE | AFTER
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