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"Young people are decorating their houses with the feeling of Mies van der Rohe," he says, mentioning the architect who forwarded a concentration on the straight line. "For that, the simple area rug is a great, great look."

The founder of weisshouse in East Liberty is quite aware of how the traditional, Persian-carpet look that long dominated the rug industry is being edged aside by snappy, contemporary designs.

And, he says, his daughter, the company's current president, Stacy Weiss, is in Milan examining then at a rug and furniture show.

Marlene Pagano, showroom manager at Penn Carpet in Ross, says the use of muted colors and designs is one of the biggest aspects in the choice of a contemporary rug.

"It's an idea of no fuss and frills," she says.

Some are simple while others are sprouting fields of giant flowers and clouds of bubbles and swirls. They're boasting kinetic grids and stripes; colors range from the muted to a palette of candy colors guaranteed to wake up a room.

"More than half of our business is contemporary now," says Austin Craley, vice president of sales for New York City's Momeni Inc., whose rugs supply thousands of retailers across the country. "Historically, they used to be about 5 percent, but in the past five years, contemporary rug sales have expanded dramatically."

For instance, San Francisco designer Linda Belden offers a variety of influences, including mid-century modern European designs and Japanese architecture. Just as varied is the look of the many lines that make up the burgeoning contemporary-rug category, from the abstract-art-inspired patterns of Momeni's popular New Wave collection, to the groovy 1960s retro-style designs created by Angela Adams, one of the first to jump on the trend when she launched her rug line in 1997.

There is another route into the modern look, too.

Mark Evangeliste, from Lowry Wall to Wall Carpeting in Jeannette, sells carpeting and often runs into a client who wants a rug, but can't find it. He says he then can suggest taking carpeting, trimming it to size, and adding braid, borders or fringe to create an area rug.

"One woman wanted a 10-by-19 rug for the living room and a 6-by-9 for under the dining room table," he says. "When she saw what we did, she added some of the same design going up the steps and into the hall. Man, it was totally coordinated.

"You get into a custom concept, but very simply."

Because the carpeting he uses for those projects is contemporary, most of the colors are of the modern style, too.

Color is the key selling point for rugs today, Craley says.

"When I first started in the rug industry 21 years ago, people asked, 'How long will this rug last?"' he says. "Now, if you tell them it's going to last for two generations, they don't see that as a positive. They know the colors are not going to be what they want 10 years from now, much less 30 years from now."

Weiss says some designs are able to blend the two approaches well. For instance, there are older Russian rugs built around the modern designs of that country's avant-garde artists. The look, then, is modern, but the color scheme is brighter, as it is in Orientals.

Sometimes, expense figures into the decision as well as color choice.

Richard Walker, owner of Walker Rugs in Mt. Lebanon, suggests much of the drift toward simpler-styled rugs is a matter of cost-savings. After a homeowner has entered into a hefty mortgage agreement, he or she may not want to throw money on the floor.

"That's why they go to some household-supply store and buy whatever they find," he says.

Or it could be just a matter of the throw-away society creating another bundle of trash, Pagano says.

She says some homeowners might get a cheaper rug -- with a simpler, less vibrant design -- because they know they are not going to keep it long.

"This generation just does not want to keep anything," she says.

In the Pittsburgh area, though, Oriental rugs still have a home.

"Pittsburgh always has been, and always will be, a traditional area," says Walker. "People here love the classic feel of the Oriental rug."

That, he says, is even true within the more angular, Bauhaus-influenced architecture dominating current home and apartment design. While the fresher designs generally would fit modern architectural demands, some rug dealers see the classic look being used to warm up a room with parquet or hardwood floors,

Walker suggests the use of an Oriental rug in a modern home provides a "classic, rich feel."

Frank Essig, from Riverview Carpet in Verona, says Oriental rugs "are making a comeback" in modern homes for just that reason.

"It's a matter of taste, really," he says. "But Orientals are still the big seller."

A blend of styles happens elsewhere, too.

Patty Huang, a rug buyer for Macy's East Coast stores, sees customers combining the more formal look of an Oriental in a dining room with eye-catching contemporary rugs in dens, family rooms and foyers.

"People are getting bolder and more eclectic," she says. "But I think the trend ... in the home is toward a more casual and relaxed lifestyle. You're seeing it in all areas of home, and it's trickling down to area rugs."

Design tips

Designing a room around the patterns and colors of an area rug is the ideal way to go, most interior decorators say. But for many of us, the typical challenge is finding a rug that will work with what we already have.

Here are a few suggestions from the experts:

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