HOW TO USE AND PLACE RUGS IN YOUR HOME
Rugs are game changers
I love using rugs in my room designs, they add so much to a room: colour, texture, pattern, cosiness, warmth and character.
As rugs are in general quite an investment, it is important to get it right the first time you buy a rug. In this post I will focus on the size and placement for a rug in each room. The living room and an open plan space are the places where the most improvement can be made.

Most common mistakes with rugs
In all the years I have been designing interiors, the wrong rug size must be the most common mistake people in make. I would dare to say in 90% of the houses I come to the rug is too small. When a rug is too small it feels like the furniture is ‘floating’. Most people have a rug under the coffee table, but is isn’t placed under the sofa and chairs as well, here is where it goes wrong.
When the rug is too small in size, the sofa, chair and coffee table are not connected as one seating area, they are all loose items and appear to be floating. You are better off without a rug than a rug too small in my opinion.
So what is the right size? It all depends on the room it is in and the size of your furniture, but you can bet it needs to be larger than you might think.
Living room rugs


A rug should be at least under the front feet of the sofa(s) and or chair(s) and be at minimum the length of your sofa.
When you have furniture like your sofa against the wall and the front feet are on the rug, the size of the rug is correct. The chairs and other sofas on opposite sides should also have their front feet on the rug.

Rugs in an open space
When you have een open living space and the seating area is in the middle of the space, ideally you want the rug to be bigger than the complete sitting area. So both front and back feet should be on the rug, this counts for all the seating and coffee and side tables. Before you go out shopping for a rug, make sure you measure your sofa(s) and know what size you need to look for.

Bedroom rugs
A rug in the bedroom can add a lot of character, there are many ways you can place the rug. Depending on the size of your bedroom and size bed, you can have these variations drawn out below.


Hallway rugs
Most hallways are long and narrow, therefor a runner is perfect for this space. The runner should be 10-30 cm off the wall. It will give a nice welcoming feel and immediately feels like coming home.
When you have a large hallway like the picture below, you have great opportunity to place a rug.
In this hallway I placed a natural rug with a black pattern. The natural colour pulls in the wooden floor from the adjacent room and the wooden parts of the stairs. There are black accents everywhere in the house, which makes the space more interesting to put that back in the rug as well.

Rugs placed on top of carpets
In all honesty, I am not a big fan of rugs on carpets. I would rather pick a nice quality textured carpet and leave the rug out. But as there are always exceptions in some cases it does work.
If your carpet is a very plain short pile carpet you can get away with a flat weave rug in the bedroom, this way you can add some more colour and cosiness.
Or when you can’t afford a new carpet and you basically want to hide the carpet with a rug, you can also pull it off.
Dining room rugs
For a dining room rug there are 3 main things you need to take into account.
The first thing is the size. The width needs to be 60-90 cm extra on each side of the table, so you have enough space to pull a chair out, without the chair coming off the rug. Otherwise you are with one leg off the carpet and end up wobbling on the chair during your dinner.
The second is that the rug cannot move, it needs to be sturdy. I would also advise it to be stuck to the floor, with some rug tape or rug place holders.
The last thing to keep in mind is spillings; ideally you want a rug that is easy to clean or wipe, with a low or woven pile.

Help with rug choices
If you need advice on colours and style, please contact me. I can help you choose the right rugs for the right rooms. You can hire me for a 2 hour consultation at your home, or send me photos and measurements for me to help from a distance.
If you need more advise and guidance on sizing, measurements and placing of products, Interior Motifs, developed a downloadable Measurement Guide, you can purchase in the online shop for just £7.50
