I bloody love a good rug.

Every opportunity I get, you can bet I’ll be chucking one into the mix! In fierce combination with other decorative textiles like cushions and throws, they provide the ultimate finishing touch; adding warmth, colour and texture. Not to mention they feel great underfoot!

Practically, they are also a great tool to help with defining spaces. This is especially useful when it comes to open-plan living! Without them things can feel a little disjointed- particularly in lounges where the bulk of our furniture tends to cling to the edges of the room. A rug in this instance helps to bring everything together and grounds the space.

One of the most common mistakes I see made, is people buying the wrong size for their space, in order for it to work well both practically and aesthetically. If a rug is too small, it will look like it’s just ‘floating’ in the room. If it’s too large it can overpower and make the room appear smaller than it is.

Here are a few simple tips for picking the right size rug for your room:

LIVING ROOM

In a lounge, your rug should ground the furniture by being large enough that at least the front two legs of your sofa (and chairs if you have them!) can sit comfortably on it. It should run wider than your couch on both ends. The longest side of your rug should run parallel to your widest seating option.

DINING ROOM

In a dining room, your rug should extend beyond the table and chairs on all sides. It must do this both when the chairs are ‘put away’ and when they are pulled out and away from the table for use. Sidenote: You should be careful to pick a lower / flatter style pile for this area, or be conscientious with your chair legs, to avoid getting feet stuck and damaging your furniture or causing an accident!

BEDROOM

In the bedroom, your rug should run under at least the bottom third (most-ideally two thirds!) of the bed and extend outwards on either side. It should be wide enough so that you step straight onto to it when you roll out of bed. A big rug in a bedroom can make the room feel much larger and look far grander!

ROUND RUGS

Round rugs can be used in all of the above rooms, though are definitely the more common style to get wrong size-wise! A round rug can help to soften a space and make it feel less structured which is especially useful if you are dealing with a room that has lots of hard angles. They are fun to play with placement-wise and can be off-set rather than centred, to achieve different results.

That said, most of the above principles do still apply. Always try and keep the area larger rather than too small (remembering that without corners, round rugs can appear much smaller!) and always aim to anchor the rug by placing front furniture feet directly on it, or the furniture item ‘over’ the top of the curve. Warning: round rugs won’t work well in every room / with every shape of furniture!

Remember!

A rug is one of the easiest ways to finish off a room with colour, warmth and texture. Picking the wrong size can throw the room off-balance and even make a space look cheap (especially if it’s too small!) If you’d like some assistance with picking the perfect one for your space, I’d love to help you get it right first time!

How to pick the right size rug for your space