A rug can be a stylish addition to a living room. A good choice of a rug can pull the whole room together and give a polished impression to a living space. It works to help define zones in the living room and brings with it a sense of warmth to the space.
Choosing the right rug for the space can be a difficult thing to do. Especially considering the number of options that are available. However, it is your goal, your unending desire to find that one rug that will transform your room; find that rug that you know will accent the room’s furniture and make it look so much better.
We have some handy information and advice that is sure to help you on your journey in picking the right living room rug to create the perfect space. If you follow our advice, you should be able to choose the best rug for any space and give the room an amazing look and finish, which we know you are craving.
Hence, keep reading this word to word as we dive into the good stuff!
Things to Consider When Choosing Living Room Rugs
When you are looking to choose a new rug for your living room, you could find yourself either starting your living room from scratch or adding a rug to an already decorated living room. If you haven’t bought any furniture or even painted the walls yet, it may be a good idea to pick your rug first and match the rest of the living room to the rug.
A rug is often the undernoted centrepiece of a living room, hence, picking it first gives you the upper hand of ensuring that the colours of the living room and the furniture portray the finish that you are seeking to create.
However, if you have already gone ahead and coloured the walls and furnished the space, you should simply pick a rug that matches the colour palette of the room. Try to match the rug to the various tones and hues of the living room and blend or mismatch based on preference. It may be a good idea to blend the rug to the tones and colours of the room. Picking a mismatched rug can provide a statement, however, you run the risk of the colours being too bold to provide a finished look.
Hence, when you are picking the colour and pattern of a rug, take into consideration the various colours and trends. For instance, you may already have a rug that may have fallen out of trend and no longer looks great in your living space. Choosing a new rug can be a great way to give the space a new and fresh feel. You shouldn’t be afraid of choosing hot colours; again, colours can work to accent the living space while providing a bold statement. You can pick from earthy red and shades of pink and even consider playing around with colours such as mustard, tan, navy or teal.
Try to follow the trends of colours and see which colours and patterns are trendy. Colours of brown for instance is considered a neutral and earthy finish which accent most living spaces. You can pick between various tones such as almond, beige or even cognac.
You can allow your rug to showcase a pop of colour and introduce a colour that is not even on the existing palette of the room. Though this is risky, if you get it right, it could provide a beautiful blend of tones and hues which will make your living room a vibrant and trendy space.
Another important thing to consider when picking a rug is taking into consideration what lies beneath. What is your flooring made of? Is it hardwood, is it tile? You have to ensure that the colours of the rug work well with the colours of the floor. For instance, if your flooring is made of warmer toned timber, it is more likely that a warmer shade would work best for your rug, while lighter shades of timber would prefer tones such as grey, navy or white as the base colour of your rug.
A rug is a beautiful and practical addition to the living space. Not only do they make the living room look so much better, they work to soundproof your living space. If you live in an apartment, this provides your living space with more privacy, since your neighbours will not be able to hear your every move. Rugs works really well to absorb noise and can be a great addition to a busy living area.
What You Shouldn’t Do When Choosing Living Room Rugs
When picking a living room rug, one of the biggest things you need to remember and ensure that you don’t do is pick a rug that is too small for the space. The size of the rug determines whether the rug pulls everything together or not.
You may shy away from bigger rugs considering that they are more expensive, however, it is a small price to pay to ensure that you have a great finished look.
You should take into consideration the orientation of the room to consider the direction in which you want to rug to run. If you have a long living room, it is best to allow your rug to run lengthways. A great way to ensure that you have the right size rug for the space is to use painter’s tape.
Use painter’s tape to measure out the space on the floor the rug will take up. This will allow you to visualise the space and understand whether the rug is too small or even too big. It is also a great way to ensure that you have the rug placed for the right spot in the living area. Check the demarkations from all angles to ensure that you have chosen the right space for the rug and that the size of the rug is appropriate to pull the living room together.
When picking colours, you may way to think twice about choosing black or white rugs for the living room. Though the choice of colour is a personal preference, you should avoid complete black or complete white in an area with high traffic. This is especially true if you have young ones or pets. The white can work against you by making it harder to clean, while the black will make the space look too unwelcoming.
You don’t want to spend all your time vacuuming and cleaning your rug, so take that into consideration when you are picking colours for the rug. That being the case, complete black and white can provide a glamourous finish in some quieter spaces.
How to Choose a Rug Colour for Living Room
With so many options available, choosing a rug colour can be the decisive point which either makes or breaks the living room. It can be a difficult thing to do. However, the colour of the rug that you choose will depend on various things such as the ambience that you are trying to create.
You can create a certain mood to the room by picking colours that accent the personality that you are looking to portray. Are you looking for a serene and quiet feel to the living space or are looking for a more busy and lively ambience?
The right rug colour can work to relax you and create a perfectly stress-free environment for you to relax in after a long day. If you are looking for relaxing colours, you can opt for peach-toned wool rugs or a cool blue natural material rug. Based on the type of ambience you want to create, you can even pick an ivory rug with muted gold accents in strips or a grey hand knotted designer rug.
You should take into consideration what the living room is intended for. Is it going to be a space where you entertain a lot of guests? Or is it going to be a space where the family gets together every day? If the living room is susceptible to stains and spills, you should consider a colourful rug. You would also benefit from picking a durable material such as wool or jute.
Colour patterns work well for living spaces with walls in softer shades and furniture, while you should be able to mix and match colours to create an experimental vibe.
Various rugs have a variety of colours in them which is known as the colour tone. Hence, when you speak of the colour of the rug that you are looking to choose, you primarily speak of the colour tone. The colour tones denote the visual effect of the shades and colours and can work to either complement or contrast the other colours of the space. This completely depends on the other decor elements that you have in the space such as furniture, wall colour, paintings, etc.
Multi-coloured rugs can be overwhelming. Hence be sure to blend instead of a clash, especially if you are working with many colours. If the walls in the room have a bold colour, do not choose a bold colour for the rug. Instead, pick a more neutral colour. It’s about balance and balancing the colours. Though you may be inclined to think this means matching the colours, a balance can be had through a contrast of colours too.
Look at the whole space at large and try to understand which colour balances each other. Take a picture of the rug and try to look at the picture in the living space. Try to visualise the tones and colours blending and balancing each other. Do the colours work well together? You are the judge.
How to Choose a Rug Size for Living Room
The main furniture of the room, such as the sofa will determine the size of the rug that you should choose. The typical living room rug comes in 8′ x 10′ and 9′ x 12′. You should make sure that your rug is at least 6″ wider than the sofa on both sides. The rug should be bigger than the sofa and should run the length.
When picking the right size rug for the living space, you want to ensure that you don’t pick a rug that is too small for the space. You want it to cover the centre table, the sofa set and maybe even an accent chair that you have.
The size depends on the decor of the room and the furniture held within. You don’t want too small of a rug and in general, the bigger the rug, the better. Can you end up with a too big rug? Well, it is possible. You don’t want your rug to be so big that it breaks the flow of the doorways. For instance, you don’t want your rug only covering a portion of the doorway. This would make it look out of place.
To be sure you have the right size rug for the living area, we recommend that you use painter’s tape and demarcate the area which will be covered by the rug. This will give you a good idea as to what furniture will then be placed on the rug and what will be left on the floor. You would be able to better visualise the space and ensure that you have a size of rug that fits the space.
For a large living space, you would ideally want all the conversational pieces of furniture on the rug. This would include your sofa, coffee table, accent chairs, etc. Allow sufficient room between the legs of your furniture and the end of the rug. Ideally, you should have about 8″ of rug space from the edge of any furniture. This will allow everything to be set out in a perfect manner on the rug.
You can also centre the rug into the living area and allow only the front legs of the sofa to be on the rug. This works well too. At the end of the day, you want to consider all parameters before you pick the right size rug.
Use the painter’s tape technique and you are sure to be able to source the right size rug which will accent your living area.
Choosing Rugs for Small Living Room
Rectangular rugs work really well for small spaces, however, circular rugs are just as fashionable. With a small living area, you wouldn’t want to choose a rug that is too small for the space. Using a rug that is too small can make the space look smaller than it already is. Rugs with bold patterns such as flowers or bold colours can make a small living room appear larger.
In order to open up the room and make the room feel spacious, you would want to choose neutral and lighter colours. Choosing darker tones and hues will only make the room feel smaller and enclosed. You can choose a simple rug that will unify the space and expand the area into a small yet beautiful lounge.
When working with a small living room, you don’t need all the furniture resting on the rug. In fact, you don’t even need the sofa to rest on the rug. Oftentimes, it can even look better to allow the rug to take up the centre space and only set the coffee table as the centrepiece on it.
Once again, size matters. You don’t want too small of a rug for it will make the space look smaller. When working with a small living space, think about the layout of the furniture to help you decide on the size of the rug. It is again a good idea to use painter’s tape to demarcate the space of the rug and visualise prior to considering a purchase.
When Choosing a Living Room Rug
When choosing a living room rug, you want to ensure that the tones of colour and the size of the rug is perfectly in line with the internal decor of the room. It must accent the furniture and the colour of the walls and should work well to bring all elements of the room together.
Picking a living room rug can be an exciting endeavour. It doesn’t have to be hard and can be a really fun thing to add to your living room to give the decor a vibrant and beautiful charm.
Take into consideration everything we have informed you herewith and you should be well on your way to ensuring that you have the right rug for your living space. Remember, don’t be stingy and pick a rug that is too small; use painter’s tape to ensure you have a rug that is of the ideal size for the space.
Consider the various patterns and materials for rugs and do your research before you make your purchase. At the end of the day, there are various parameters you have to consider and we have tried to cover most of them herewith.
We hope that you found this article useful and that reading this word to word has helped you figure out how to go about choosing a living room rug.
Happy Decorating!
