Before you go out and purchase the first zebra rug that you see, you need to arm yourself with some basic information. Only then can you make the best decision regarding what type of rug to buy. When it comes to this rug, there are three categories or types of rugs you should know about.

The first is the zebra skin rug. This as the name suggests uses the real thing that is the skin of a real zebra. As these are made from real zebra skins, only a certain type of zebra is allowed to be used for such a purpose, and that is the Burchells zebra. This skin comes from South Africa and is closely monitored by the South African government, as they need to keep tabs on the importing of such skin. These rugs are made by highly skilled craftsmen, so the fetching price for these rugs is quite high. Expect to fork out a few thousand dollars for such a rug.

The second type of zebra rug is the zebra printed rug.  These rugs are made into the shape of the zebra skin rugs, but are made from other skins such as cow and bull hide, and sheep and goat skin. The sizes of these hide rugs are somewhat similar to the real zebra skin, while those made from goat and sheepskin tend to be a bit smaller. These rugs still cost quite a tidy sum of anywhere between four to five hundred dollars.

The third type of rug is also known as the zebra printed rugs, but these are not made from hide or skin. Instead these rugs are made from wool, acrylic, nylon and polypropylene. They also don’t come in the shape of the skin, but rather as your regularly shaped rugs, rectangle, square, oval and round. There are even zebra runner rugs available today.

A hand tufted wool rug would of course cost more than the machine made synthetic rug. An 8 x 10 wool zebra rug can be anywhere between a few hundred to a thousand dollars, while a synthetic zebra rug can be anywhere between one to three hundred dollars.

Now that you know the various qualities and types of zebra rugs out there, you can make informed decisions on what type of rug to purchase for your home.

Large shag rugs would also be the perfect complimentary piece to use in a retro styled room. The shag refers to the length of the carpet fibers used to construct the piece. These fibers could be two, three or four inches in length and still fall into the category of shag. Depending on the specific material used for the fibers, this could be a course or soft type of carpet to walk on. Most rugs created as area styles will not generally have any padding on the back of them. The underside is usually just the interwoven fibers and threads used to make the entire piece.

For people that may want to use this carpet in a basement, selecting a style that has additional padding will be better more comfortable to walk on. The hard concrete surface does not provide any flexibility in its design that allows for comfort. The padding may also help make the rug more stable and stay in place better than one that has no padding. Selecting a vibrant color for a basement rug will bring some cheer to a dull and dreary basement. No matter where you want to use this larger rug, you will have no trouble finding a style and design to fit your personal décor.