The Dos and Don’ts of Area Rugs
Area rugs are important to home decorating because of their ability to ground a space and make it more interesting. Their influence on a room is considerable, so you need to be intentional when choosing one. Here are some dos and don’ts of area rugs.
Do Find the Right Size
The rug should be an appropriate size for the room in which you’re placing it. It should be big enough that you can place all key pieces of furniture on top of it. In the living room, the rug should extend underneath the coffee table and at least to the front legs of your sofa and any armchairs. Likewise, a dining room rug should cover the floor where the table and chairs sit, even when the chairs are pulled out. The right size rug will make any room feel larger and united.
Don’t Place It to the Side
Area rugs finish off the furnishings and draw attention to the whole ensemble. As we mentioned above, you shouldn’t obtain a too-small rug and then just set it off to the side of your furniture or underneath just one small piece. Doing so will split the viewer’s attention between the rug and the other furnishings, creating a disordered vibe. A small rug on the side can also throw off proportions. For example, if you want a rug to step onto when you get out of bed, you shouldn’t place a small rug right next to your bed. It’ll end up looking like an odd floor mat more than anything else. Instead, follow the above principles and use one large rug to encompass the bed and some of the surrounding area.
Do Consider Harmony
Your rooms can feel better thought-out if you consider how the pattern of a rug will play with your furniture. If your rug has a design that contains a focal point, you don’t want to cover that up and obscure its attractiveness. By placing a more transparent piece of furniture on top of it, such as a glass coffee table with a thin wire frame, you won’t detract from the image. If your rug has a repetitive pattern on it though, you can afford to block parts of it from view, since no visual component will be missed.
Don’t Make an Exact Match
You want all the components of a room to work well together, but you shouldn’t match patterns 100%. Having a rug with the exact same pattern or color of a chair or curtain will only blend the individual pieces together into an amorphous blob. However, you can enhance the room if you differentiate your rug from other elements by varying the size of the repeating pattern, using different colors, or bringing in a new pattern. You should still have an overall theme and color scheme in mind, but that doesn’t mean making everything indistinguishable.
If you want to acquire great area rugs online, look no further than our offerings here at Boutique Rugs. With so many styles to choose from, you’re sure to find one that will work well with your furniture.
