How Big a Rug Do You Need?

There is a perfect area rug size…

but it depends on what you are trying to accomplish.  Do you want to:

1. Add a pop of color or focal point?
2. Bring the furniture & accents together?
3. Define a space?
4. Finish a room?
5. Soften a traffic pattern?

I’m not trying to waffle here.  You need to think of the different rug sizes as different tools available to you.  Many rooms need at least an 8 x 10 rug to ground the room.  However, we have mostly 5 x 8’s on our floor — because they are easier to work around when we are doing room arrangements.  Luckily, your room isn’t a store.

This picture shows what a nice, big rug does for the furniture.  It dresses it up.  A smaller rug in this case wouldn’t quite balance the scale of the sectional.  The 8 x 10 is much better… for this room.  This is an example of using the area rug to unify the design.

We love rugs big and small.  It just depends on your goals.  Here is a great article in by Janell Beals on Houzz.com.  In it she explains eleven different “rules” for sizing an area rug and shows great illustrations of each:  Area rug rules… and why you should break them

Bonita Clark