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At the same time Leanne Ford was beginning to work with Loloi on her debut rug collection, the interior designer and her daughter, Ever, were reading The Secret Garden. “All the names of the characters and how they describe the garden was so beautiful,” recalls Ford. When she sat down to sketch out ideas for her rug collaboration, she started with shades of green and pink that were fresh in her mind from story time. There aren’t any literal illustrations of flowers or intricate trellis motifs on the pieces Ford ended up creating, but rather earthy hues and organic patterns that have a calming, slightly whimsical feel to them. “I don’t want a rug to take away from the overall room. I want the room to do the talking,” shares Ford.
Out today, the collection spans 25 rugs, with most starting under $400 for 5’x7′ sizing. While some products will be sold just to the trade, many of them (throw pillows included) can be found on Amazon, Wayfair, and Rugs Direct. Ahead, we asked Ford to pinpoint the standouts in the line and, along the way, she shared her takes on rug placement and styling.
Her Rebellious Hit of Color
Ford is known for her love of crisp white interiors. With this launch, she stepped into the world of dusty pink and terracotta. “I have a daughter obsessed with pink, so I’m on a never-ending search for a shade that we both love,” says the designer. The faded rose-y hues of the hand-tufted Craven (above) and checkerboard Sowerby rugs felt like a good compromise, and “a slight rebellion against myself,” adds Ford.
Her Nod to the Past
Growing up, the designer remembers her mom purposefully leaving vacuum marks in the formal living room carpet. “It was like a bragging right,” she says. Ford’s flex? The super-plush Bracken rugs (available to the trade through Loloi), which feature organic, linear patterns (similar to ones a cleaner might make) and a flatweave border that emphasizes the depth of the pile.
Her Twist on a Classic Pattern
Any piece of decor or furniture that Ford puts out into the world always starts with a freehand drawing, hence the varying stripes in the Weatherstaff rugs. The low-pile jutes are the most affordable options in the bunch because the designer wants you to wear them down—particularly in high-traffic areas like the kitchen and family room. Not to mention, the espresso and moss green tones play nicely in houses with dark wood floors (they’re currently in the living room, library, and entry of her own 125-year-old Pennsylvania home). “They’re beautiful in my house from the 1900s but we’re also putting them in my new Texas project with Grace Mitchell and they look great in a ranch setting, too,” says the designer.
Her Rug Placement Rule
Great news: If your open-concept living space is awkwardly big, you don’t have to splurge on an XXL rug to fill the room. Ford’s advice: use multiple smaller rugs to create different hangout zones. In her very own living area, she has three rugs that work way harder than a single big one. Just remember: “your rug should be centered in your seating area,” she notes.
Her Hot Take on Runners
Hallways and kitchens are really the only two spots you might think to lay down a runner, but for Ford, cool things happen when you put a long, narrow rug in a place people won’t expect. “I used a runner in front of my sofa and it looked very, very cool,” the designer shares. She loved it so much she situated one of the Weatherstaff runners partly under her desk and sofa. “It seems unnatural but I love how they can either connect or differentiate space,” she says. Consider the rulebook tossed.
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