After many, many hours of shopping for a rug for our eat-in, rustic kitchen area (and after returning one rug already), I crossed my fingers and bought this rug. It is absolutely gorgeous and of high quality. Our home is rustic (post and beam in parts) yet with clean lines, so somewhat "transitional" in style. I was worried the rug might be too southwestern or North African in style, but it really does not come across that way. It is going under a farmhouse table with a wood bench and black ladder-back chairs. Although the description says "hand tufted," it is a LOOPED/HOOKED rug. The red (the primary color) is what I would call a ruby, but there is variation to the color. The rug is the perfect color balance between vivid and muted -- I'd say the "washed" descriptor is correct. I am extremely happy with all aspects of this rug, and to add to my happiness, this rug was $350-$550 less expensive than on any other site I found! As another reviewer noted, if you put "tangier hand-hooked red rug" into your search engine, you should be able to come up with the manufacturer and find many more detailed photos (Overstock won't allow the actual manufacturer name, but it is a high quality brand). Trust me ... this is a steal.