Rug Shopping Tips
Rugs come in various shapes. Most shapes are rectangle, round, and runners. To find out which area rug is right for your space, it’s recommended to measure the size of your room first, and if there are furniture in your room, measure their length too. As a general rule, you should leave at least a foot border of your floor to be exposed to set off your rug. If there is no furniture, your area rugs are put in the center of the room.
While this guide walks you through all that you need to know when buying a rug, you should also learn how to take care a rug and the tips for rug care so that it lasts as long as possible.
Rugs for Living Room
In living rooms, it’s better to have about 6” of the rug under the sofa. If the sofa is a sectional, one section of the sofa would be more on the rug than the other section, and because of that a larger rug is required for a room with a sectional couch. For small living rooms, a rug in size 8×10 or 8×11 is the standard size. However, for larger living rooms, any larger size rug such as 9×12, 10×14, or even a 12×15 would be used. In cases of super large rooms or big open spaces, an oversize rug such as 13×18 is used.
Rugs for Dining Room
For dining rooms, it’s recommended to choose a rug that goes under all chairs, making sure that the back legs of chairs are also on the rug with small space to push back. For a table with 6 chairs, a rug in size 8×0 or 8×11 would work the best. Although you can use the same size for some tables with 8 chairs, depending on the width and the length of the dining set, the best size of the rug would be 9×12 or 10×14. This is to make sure the entire set is on the rug, allowing the host chairs to sit on the rug when they’re pushed back. For round tables with 4 or 6 chairs, a rug in size 6×9 or 8×10 could be used depending on how small or big the set is. For a wider table with more chairs, a 9×12 rug is used. For round tables, a round rug could be used too. Round rugs, too, come in standard sizes of 8, 10, or 12 feet.
Rugs for Bedroom
For bedrooms, depending on your room set, there is an option to choose either a small rug to cover some of the floor in front of your bed, or choose a rug that covers the majority of the space, covering 3/4 th of the space under your bed and large enough to cover around the bed for at least 2 feet, so you’ll have only the front legs of the bed frame on the rug and not all four legs. For rooms already covered with carpet, a smaller rug could be used in front of the bed or in some cases, two smaller rugs, ideally runners, could be used on the right and left side of the bed. The standard size for a quine bed or a smaller bed is 8×10 or 8×11, and for a king bed a 9×12 or 10×14 rug is a good size. In some rare cases, for narrow king frames, a rug in 8×11 could be used too.
Rugs for Hallway
Runners are the best used rugs for hallways, since they’re narrow enough to cover the walkways. The standard width is 2.6’, but wider runners are up to 3’ are also available. The standard lengths for runner are 8, 10, or 12. Longer runners up to 24 are also available, but rarely found. For long hallways, multiple runners are used.
Rugs for Kitchen
For kitchen floor, several options are available. A runner, typically 8’ long, or rugs in small sizes would be used. The standard sizes for small rugs are 2×3, 3×5, 4×6, 5×7 or 5×8. Rugs for Bathrooms For bathroom floors, similar to kitchen floors, small rugs or runners are used.
Rugs for Entry
For kitchen floor, several options are available. A runner, typically 8’ long, or rugs in small sizes would be used. The standard sizes for small rugs are 2×3, 3×5, 4×6, 5×7 or 5×8.
Colors
Choosing the right color is another key factor, when it comes to buy a rug. You need to choose a rug that will blend well with your floor and your home décor. Having some contrast between the floor and your rug will create a nice set. You don’t need to have the perfect colors to match with your sofas or walls, because you could always add an accent color to them to match your rug, something like pillows or throws with matching colors would be ideal. However, you do need to pick the right colors that will complement each other and create a harmony in your home.
Patterns
Another key element is the pattern of the rug that you should pay attention to. You need to know if your home design is contemporary or traditional, and choose a rug that will complement that design. Rugs have either traditional design with repetitive floral patterns or contemporary with geometric or abstract patterns, and sometimes they have transitional patterns that have elements of both traditional and contemporary.