Flying Carpet Oriental Rugs: A family business for more than 35 years

The Flying Carpet began in 1972 as an addition to The Cabin Antiques in Florence, Alabama. “The Cabin,” as it was known, was owned and operated by Inez Scharnagel Wright. She had taken over the shop from her mother, who had been selling antique furniture and oriental rugs in Florence since the 1920’s. “The Cabin” was closed shortly after Mrs Wright’s death in 1978 and The Flying Carpet began an independent life under Inez’s son, Bill. Since that time Bill, and his sons Paul and Neal, have grown the business from that one-room beginning to a 5000 square foot warehouse with more than 3,000 hand-knotted oriental rugs!

A point of pride for us is that we only sell “real” oriental rugs. By that we mean rugs constructed by human hands, on looms in the East. All but a very few are constructed with a wool pile knotted onto a cotton base foundation. We do not sell machine-made rugs or “tufted” rugs, which we believe are inferior in quality and appearance.

Who we are:

The Flying Carpet is owned by the Wright family; Bill and his sons Paul and Neal. Teresa Linville has been with the Florence store for more than 20 years, and ASID Decorators Lacy Kennemer and Julie Gargis are just two professionals who have been using Flying Carpet rugs for their clients and can provide assistance when requested. We are more than happy to work with any decorator or designer.