Russians are weird. Weird in their superstitions – don’t throw out trash when leaving the house because you will throw out all your good fortune – and weird in some of the things they do. I know this first hand because I was born to Russian immigrants. However, I didn’t realize how weird some of the things we did appeared until I was older and would visit the homes of friends from different cultures – or they would visit mine. I recently saw a photo of a home in Russia and the first question I asked myself was “Why do Russians hang rugs on walls?”

One of those very weird things that Russians do is hang rugs on a wall. Walk into an old school Russian home and you would find the wall covered in a beautiful rug, instead of framed photos. I never really asked why this was done because it wasn’t something out of the norm for me until I was older, but at that point I didn’t really care either. Now when I look back on it, I am really curious about why it was done. So I googled it, and the amount of information that populated, from questions on forums, to memes and a range of answers returned was surprising. So I did the next best thing – I took to Facebook to ask some friends “Why Do Russians Hang Rugs on Walls?”, and I phoned a Russian – well, an older Russian that likely did this in their home in Russia.

Why Do Russians Hang Rugs on Walls?

Here are the guesses from some Russian – and non-Russian friends…

• Sound-proofing
• Covering imperfections
• Interior design
• Fad – the popular thing to do
• So it stays clean and in shape

Back in the days, the really colds days in Mother Russia, the walls were thin and the cold was brutal. Beds were always placed up against a wall and essentially people would sleep practically side by side with the wall – before the days of full, queen and king sized beds were available. So to keep your home insulated better, and to keep from rubbing up against a cold wall in the middle of the night, Russians took to hanging rugs on the wall. 

The rug told a lot about the families economic status. The nicer the rug, the bigger the rug, the more well off that particular family was. A small, cheap looking, thin rug usually meant the family did not have much by way of financial means. The more money, the bigger your rug was, and could even hang long enough to cover a couch and straight onto the floor. Rugs were also hung as sound-proofing because the walls were so thin that it would be impossible to fall asleep if there was noise coming from another room or apartment even. Eventually, hanging a rug on the wall actually became a popular thing – and continued as a display of economic status.

I could never picture hanging a rug on the wall of my home – even though I have been tempted with a beautiful rug made by needlepoint that had belonged to my mama. My floors are bare, we have no carpet. Instead we use foam alphabet pads for the girls play area but they don’t always play in there and instead enjoy spreading out on the floor in the living room. And we all know you should sit on a bare floor because you can catch a cold – another Russian superstition. While in the garage I came across an old rug that used to hang in my grandmothers home and asked my husband to bring it in.

The rug hadn’t been used in eons, and once we unraveled it I realized we probably should have sent it out for a good cleaning. Too late – the dirt and dust was everywhere. Fortunately I had just partnered with Dyson to test out their the Dyson Small Ball – it’s a multiple floor vacuum, small but mighty, and engineered for hard floors, which we have plenty of.

Dyson Small Ball

I’ve always used stick vacuums because of their space-saving capabilities and their light weight. The Dyson Small Ball is ultra-light, weighing in at just 12.15lbs. Our home is about 2,200 sq ft. That’s a lot of space to cover, and the long cord on allows me to move freely throughout the house, having to only re-plug the vacuum once is incredible. The all-new magnetic lock in the ball makes it a breeze to lock the vacuum into upright position when it’s not in use – no need to lean it against a wall and pray it doesn’t fall. I thought the previously hung rug would look nice in the living room area, and provide some cushioning for the girls. So much dust had We put Jay to work cleaning it, and at about 5’11 you can see he had no issues operating the vacuum cleaner. So if your teen ever tries to say they can’t, show them this.

The attachments, hose and wand have allowed me to finally clean all those cobwebs out of the ceiling corners, and of the dust off the ceiling fans! Even rugs that are hung on walls need cleaning. I vacuum almost daily in the hopes of eliminating all the sand and dirt that gets tracked into the house, but the floor never really feels clean. After running the Dyson Small Ball through the house I realized why. My stick vacuum just doesn’t have the suction power of the Dyson Small Ball, so it was leaving behind so much dirt, dust and sand, that the Small Ball captured and trapped. I couldn’t believe the amount of dirt in the canister when I went to empty it.

Dyson Small Ball* features I love:

• With the cable, wand and hose, you get a 42 ft reach throughout your home. If you currently own a small Dyson upright – that’s 25% longer reaching power
• The Ball™ technology! A Dyson exclusive, this feature allows for maneuverability around furniture, obstacles, and less stress on my back from re-positioning. 
• It’s only 12.5lbs – it weights slightly more than my dog Poochi, and half that of my toddler.
• The machine has been acoustically re-engineered to be 30% quieter than the previous small upright. I think it’s perfect for oversleeping college kids.
• The 2 Tier Radial™ cyclones and HEPA filtration captures over 99% of pollen, mold, and bacteria – keeping the air clean for my family.
• Push button dirt release – no messy, dirty hands. Simply push the button to release the dirt directly into the garbage bin.
• Comes with a 5 year parts and labor warranty – the sign of a company that truly stands behind its product.
• SPACE SAVING! Space is precious – with the handle retracted the machine is just 2.6 ft tall – basically we can squeeze it anywhere the toddler fits.

So now you’ve got the answer to “Why Do Russians Hang Rugs on Walls?”! What are some other unique traditions or customs you’ve heard of?

Disclosure: *This post contains an affiliate link. Today’s story was sponsored by Dyson; I received a product sample to facilitate my review. “Why Do Russians Hang Rugs on Walls” was written entirely by me with no outside influence from the brand sponsoring today’s story. The disclosure is done in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission 10 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.