Choosing the right Area Rug for your Space

Nothing quite completes a room like an area rug. Some designers will start the initial design concept based on a rug, while others will consider this item during the process. No matter when this decision is made, it’s pretty safe to say that all designers are in agreement that the area rug is an essential design feature of a space and will play an important role in creating the look that you are trying to achieve.

There are so many options out there which can make this a daunting task, and the fear of making a mistake when investing a great deal of time and money can be overwhelming.

Questions such as size, colour, style, pattern, fiber content and pile all come into play. This post will focus on size and how to choose the correct size for your space.

Size Matters

When selecting an area rug for any room, we will always draw out the furniture layout first. It’s so helpful to have a plan/bird’s eye view of the space showing the location of the walls, furniture placement and any site conditions that may need to be considered. Floor plugs, floor vents, radiators and any other items on the floor will be noted. This plan will give us the overall dimensions of the room and we can now start drawing in different sized area rugs to determine which size works best for the space.

Living Room

When selecting an Area Rug for a living room, we like to have all of the front legs of the furniture sitting on top of the rug and we like the rug to be as large as possible. Sometimes a room is so large that the furniture layout is in the centre of the room and the traffic flow is on the outside of the furniture grouping. In this case, we can have all of the legs of the furniture on top of the rug. Another great look is to layer your carpet with a smaller more decorative rug on top, such as a pony hide. To save on cost, the lower and larger carpet could be a broadloom cut down to size with serged edges, or a decorative band for an edge. You can then layer the smaller area rug on top to introduce a pattern and a pop of colour.

Dining Room

We typically don’t specify an area rug for a dining room and the reason is simply because of all the chairs having to slide to and from the table and there is always going to be accidents at a dinner table with wine and pasta sauce, etc… There are still instances when a carpet is a great choice and we will use them when;

• Client is not bothered by potential accidents at the dining table.
• The room is very monochromatic and the Area Rug brings a great punch of colour and drama to the room.
• You are looking to create warmth and a layered, cozy feeling; a carpet underfoot can achieve this.

If you do decide to use an area rug under your dining table, make sure that the carpet extends at least 24″ past the line of the table ( including any table extensions ), so when you slide a chair out, you are still sitting with your chair fully on top of the area rug.

Dining Room Carpet

Bedroom

The main feature in a bedroom is the actual bed itself and with this bed taking up most of the real estate in the room, it can feel wasteful or pointless to spend money on a great area rug just to cover it up with a massive piece of furniture.  That being said, we still love the feel of stepping on to a cozy and warm rug when waking up, so we will always specify an area rug in the bedroom.

There are a few ways that we can determine the correct carpet size for your bedroom. There are standard sizes such as 8’x10′ or 9’x12′ that work well in most bedrooms so we will start by trying these sizes on the floorplan.  You have the option to have your nightstands sit completely on top of the area rug or you can slide the rug down so there are a few inches of floor ( wood or tile) in-between the nightstand and the area rug.  The area rug should be wide enough on the sides for walking but shouldn’t be so wide that the rug touches your base boards.

Sometimes a bedroom may be of a size or configuration that doesn’t permit us to use a standard size area rug so in this case, we will be looking at a broadloom and having it cut down to our specific needs.  There are so many options for edging the broadloom which can help bring in additional texture or colour to the space.

If you love the look and feel of the floor and you are going for a more minimal aesthetic, then you can simply add a carpet runner to the sides of your bed so you still have a soft surface to walk on and you also have more of your floor showing.

Some Carpet Designs we are loving 🙂

Contact us if you are looking for some assistance with your carpet requirements!