What Size Rug Do I Need?

Most rooms need a rug – a room without a rug can feel bare and unfinished. The right rug will transform a room, creating a sense of luxury, particularly if it is of good quality and suits the space; the colour, pattern and texture of the rug lend a feeling of comfort and personality to your room.

When looking for the right rug, the colours and style are important, but more importantly you need to be conscious of the size. A rug in the wrong size can leave the room looking smaller or even cheaper. Here are our top tips for picking the right sized rug for your home!

Size

Do you want a rug that will be a real statement piece, or a more neutral design which will blend seamlessly into the space, giving an overall tranquil appearance? Do you want it to unify a room or to define a space? If you are attempting to break up a room into different areas, a number of smaller rugs can do so beautifully.

Go for the largest size you can afford as it gives a generous, calming effect to the room. It’s great to be able to place furniture such as the sofa half on a rug, to give a wonderfully luxurious and flowing feel to the space.

Small rugs can look even smaller in the wrong space. A common solution is to have a rug that sits within the furniture, in front of sofas and chairs. In this case, the rug should be slightly longer and wider than the furniture, and not too far from the seating.

If you want to unify a room, a large rug will do this effectively. In this case, leave sufficient extra space around all the furniture so it does not appear ‘perched’ on the edge of the rug.

Furniture around the perimeter of the room, such as sideboards and cupboards, are generally best left completely off the rug.

For a dining room, a large rug under the table will deaden the sound in the room and bring colour, pattern and texture. Ideally, the rug should be in proportion to the table, and larger than it so that there is sufficient space to pull out a chair and sit down without the back legs coming off the rug. The minimum that allows for this is 75cm, so that the ideal size is generally at least 1 metre larger than the table in each direction.

Remember that the centre of the rug will mostly be obscured by the table and chairs, so the most important part of the design becomes the border.

For a bedroom, the rug is best placed underneath the bed, framing it but stopping short of the side tables. This allows for rug underfoot when one gets out of bed.

An alternative option is to have a smaller rug on either side of the bed.

For a hallway, it’s usually best to order a custom piece so that we can create a rug in the precise dimensions, however we do carry stock of some designs as runners.

Staircases & wall-to-wall

With some careful planning, hand-knotted rugs can be used as wall-to-wall carpet and staircase runners, though the installation should only be carried out by a specialist carpet fitter. In such cases, it is essential to order the rug slightly larger than the space, up to 20cm extra in each direction to allow for the fitting. If you are considering a wall-to-wall rug, please contact us.