The covering of cold, damp, and hard floors with a soft and warm layer is as old as civilisation itself. The first basic rugs were made from woven reeds and straw. They weren’t too great to look at, even though they did do a good job of keeping rooms cosier than otherwise.

As time moved on the need for warmth and comfort became mixed with the desire for decoration and colour, and various peoples started to weave fabrics and create designs with vegetable colours.

There are records dating back 3000 years describing carpet and rug-making, and even earlier accounts from Greek literature attesting to the magnificence of Eastern rugs.

Each rug-making tribe developed its own distinct characteristics which they came to express in their rugs, so we can tell from where a rug originates by studying its patterns, shapes, and colours.

As these nomadic tribes wandered from place to place, they would continually be weaving their rugs and picking vegetables and plants for their colours to use in dyeing fibres.

A good antique rug sold by a knowledgeable dealer paints a fascinating story. By looking at the patterns and variations in colour, a rug expert will be able to give you a good idea where a rug was started, where it was finished, which tribe made it, and when and how long it took to create. Put that information with a map of the area in which you know it was made and you have a fantastic piece of history, as well as a work of art that you can walk on.

Antique rugs (those over 100 years old) are normally best left to the expert dealers and collectors who spend their lives studying them. This area is a bit of a minefield unless you know what you’re looking for and can distinguish an old valuable rug from an old useless one. Don't despair though; a good antique rug bought from a good antique rug dealer can often be bought for less than the cost of a new mass-produced factory example.

Let’s start with an odd piece of advice. One of the best ways to de-dust a rug is to wait till winter and cover the thing in snow! Then, when you brush the snow off the rug, off comes the dust – clever, hey?

When vacuuming, try to be as gentle as you can and work only in the direction of the pile.

To clean a rug, it’s best to leave it to professional, but warm clean water, or cold clean water with a mild detergent, should be fine.

The dreaded liquid spill is best dealt with by quickly placing clean towels above and below the wet area to soak up the liquid. Change the towels before they get overly wet, and when you think you’ve captured most of the liquid, leave another couple of dry towels in position for a few hours to soak up any residue. For something like red wine, one of the most effective stain removers is soda water. Gently blot the spill, then saturation the area with soda water. Then immediately blot up the soda water and hopefully with it the wine! Perrier water works too, but not quite as well.

Heat and light can have terrible effects on all textiles, and rugs are particularly susceptible to this. A bit of common sense is all that is required. Pulling down the blinds or closing the curtains to protect your rug from bright sunlight is an excellent idea.

Lovely, cosy, real fires cause the most problems to rugs, but what is a fire without a rug? So I’m just going to state the obvious: get a fireguard.

I know that rugs are made for walking on, and I don't want to be a killjoy, but a major cause of damage to rugs is from shoes. It’s the high-heeled variety that are the worst culprits, and as I don't know any men who wear stilettos, it’s women I’m going to blame here! So, either remove your high-heel shoes before walking over a rug, or, alternatively, you can keep them on, but you’ll need to crawl over it on all fours!

Unless it’s from a country house sale, where you know the rug has been maintained nicely, or you plan on having the rug cleaned, I don't like the idea of buying a potentially flea-infested nightmare, so don't bother with these.

Antique rug dealers make a living out of selling their expertise and knowledge. For a more intriguing and unique purchase, this is where I would go. They make sure that the piece is in tiptop condition, cleaned, and ready to use. You’ll also get to know all about the rug’s history, which, as long as you can remember it, you will be able to recite and make yourself sound very interesting (or boring) each time you have a new visitor.

There are plenty of decent rug dealers out there working from shops, and many through the Internet. A modern rug is, generally speaking, of no interest to the collector, and is therefore only for decoration. The good thing here is that you will have lots of choice and will be able to buy matching pieces as well as something from all price brackets. Never expect a new rug to be an investment – no matter what they tell you.

A hand-made rug will always be more desirable than a machine-made one, and if it’s an antique rug, it must be hand made. To check, look on the reverse of the rug. On a hand-made rug, you should be able to see the design on the back as well as on the front.

The quality of a rug is measured by the fineness of the knots. Take, for example, an area of about 15 square inches and roughly count the knots. A poor-quality rug has as few as 400 knots, while a fine one might have a few thousand.

David Harper 2006