5 Tips to Pick the Best Area Rug for Your Living Room
Ahhhh area rugs. A great topic and one that tends to be overlooked. Area rugs are a great way to help define a large space such as your living room and make it cozier and more welcoming. They are easier to maintain and replace than carpet and they participate in the entire design of the room.
But how to pick the best area rug for your living room when there are so many choices available for you? Here are our top 5 tips:
Better bigger than smaller
One mistake to avoid is to pick a rug that is too small for the room. Oh how we dread seeing a rug that’s not under the furniture.
An area rug isn’t supposed to go from wall to wall but if it is too small for the room it will not make as much of a visual effect. A rug is at the very bottom of all the beautiful layers - it “grounds” the space. By extending the rug under the furniture of the room, it will help define and anchor the seating arrangement.
So when in doubt, go bigger and make sure to tuck it under at least the first two legs of your sofa. That’s right - GO BIG OR GO HOME!
Image courtesy of Brick and Beam Studio
Get a rug that fits your lifestyle
Trying to match your lifestyle to your furniture only works in the first two weeks. Instead, ask yourself what kind of furniture and rug you need to support your lifestyle.
Do you have kids that may spill on it often?
Do you have pets that shed heavily? Or worse, scratch?!
Do you live by the beach and often end up with sand at home? (My worst nightmare.)
By better understanding and being honest about your lifestyle, you will get to pick a rug that will require the amount of maintenance that you are able and willing to provide. For instance, a 100% wool rug is very durable and it’s made from natural materials. While a wool rug may be a bit more expensive up front, it’s worth the cost as you won’t be replacing it in a few years!
Rugs come in different piles, low, medium, high. The lower the pile the easier it is to maintain - and the tighter the weave the better for animals who might potentially scratch. The higher the pile, the softer and more comfortable it is.
Knowing your priority is important! Would you rather have a rug that is easy to maintain and that stays clean longer or that is softer and cozier?
Get on the layering trend
Layering rugs is a great way to make your room extra cozy and unique, especially in a living room where you have sufficient space to work with. Put together two different rugs: pick them of different sizes, different colors, different patterns, different textures! A sisal under a traditional with a pattern would be stunning!
You can go as bold as you want or stay on the more neutral side.
Have fun with it and test it out! Move the furniture around, rotate it, and let it surprise you!
Understand your room first
Your rug is one of the final touches of the room and can really enhance the entire space. Take a second first to understand the room you are working in so you can best pick a rug that will complement the entire room. If your room already has a lot of colors and patterns, go for a more neutral tone. If on the opposite, your room is more neutral and you want to add a touch of peps, pick a more bold color or pattern.
Another way to do it is to pick the rug first and let that dictate the design of the space. That’s what we did below - the client had a beautiful and colorful rug, so we designed the entire room around it!
Don’t forget about the tone of the floor
When picking the right rugs, we often think about the current furniture, soft furnishings of the room, and the colors of the walls but we tend to forget to take into consideration the actual tone of the floor. Ask yourself if you are want to have a rug that pops up or blind in the decor and pick accordingly.
Get yourself a new rug and let’s make your living room cozier! If you want additional tips, check out our other articles or contact our team of experts.