Before you buy a new carpet or place one that you already own, let’s take a look at a few rules for determining the right rug for you.
You can easily decide whether you like the carpet or not while still in the store. There you will also understand whether the carpet you like fits into your budget. But there are a number of points that would be good to find out for yourself in advance, before going to the store.
- Should the carpet insulate the floor or will it simply decorate the room (as in the example in the photo)? The material, the density of the pile, and even the type of weaving depend on this.
- What furniture will go on the carpet? The size of the intended carpet depends on this.
- How often will people walk on the carpet (the intensity of traffic in the hallway, kitchen, and bedroom varies)?
Our tips will help you decide on the location and size of the carpet in relation to the decor of a particular room.
Carpet for the living room
Let’s start with the most common way of placing the carpet on the floor relative to the furniture. In this case, the carpet plays a zoning role, that is, it visually serves as an “island” for furniture.
It is better to place a sofa, armchairs, and side tables on the carpet not entirely, but about half or two-thirds. The carpet will unite all the objects around it, the interior will not “scatter”.
Carpet for a small room
All the furniture will end up on the carpet if the carpet takes up the entire area of the room. In this case, as a rule, it is customary to leave approximately 40 cm between the edge of the carpet and the wall. Furniture (sofas, armchairs, tables, dining rooms) can be placed on a carpet of this size in any way.
A room-sized rug is historically the oldest option, primarily because rugs have been used for insulation for many centuries. Nowadays a carpet of this size is not very popular. However, it is good if you need stylization for a certain historical era.
Rug under a rectangular table
In modern design, large-format carpets are used when it is necessary to isolate a dining room in a huge room. In this case, the correct size of the carpet is significantly wider than the table and chairs attached. How much wider? Traditionally, it is advised to look for a carpet that is 60–80 cm larger on each side than the furniture group. This is enough to prevent the chairs’ legs from clinging to the edge of the carpet (and not wrapping it up) when pulled out. By the way, if the carpet is one meter wider than the table, no one will judge you.
Rug under a round table
The carpet itself can be square (and then we follow the rule + 60 cm for extension) or round, but then we add 60 cm not to the furniture area of the table + chairs, but only to the diameter of the tabletop. A situation should occur in which the chairs pulled out from the table stand on the carpet with only their front legs. A round carpet with a diameter of 160 cm larger than the diagonal of the table (based on the full extension of the chair along the carpet) will look excessively gigantic.
Furniture with thick legs
The legs will inevitably leave marks that will be difficult to eliminate later; Dents in the carpet always look untidy.
Tip: Long-pile carpet allows you to place lightweight items on thin legs. Traces from them will not be noticeable.
Carpet with an active pattern
You need to leave a significant gap between the carpet and the furniture if you are talking about a carpet with a bright large pattern. The greater the contrast between the color of the carpet and the color of the furniture, the greater the distance should be. Otherwise, the colors will clash too much: imagine a colorful scarf on a bright, patterned shirt.
In general, try to always leave a gap between furniture and rugs with a distinct geometric pattern. Even if the shades of this picture are from approximately the same range. This carpet and furniture look better if there is at least 15–20 cm between them.
Carpet to match the floor covering
Other rules apply if the color and pattern of the carpet are close in tone to the floor covering – parquet, stone, or laminate. In this case, the most free versions of the arrangement of furniture on the carpet are allowed, since it will be perceived as part of the floor, and not as an independent decorative unit. Well, in such cases, furniture is most often chosen in a single color.
Carpet in the Bedroom
It is wise to choose a carpet of such a size that there is still 40–50 cm, or even more, left on each side of the bed. In this case, the carpet should partially (but not completely – only with the back legs) go under the bed. It can start approximately at the place where you place your bare feet on the floor when getting up from the mattress – this will be enough.
About half a meter from the pillow you usually sit on the bed (the carpet in this part of the floor may end).
Tip: If you are selecting a rug to fit an existing bed, it is quite easy to determine the required dimensions of the rug using sheets of newspaper.
Sometimes designers say that the carpet should form a kind of “warm path” around the entire bed. In this case, its dimensions will be much larger than sufficient.
By the way: it is acceptable for the carpet to protrude more on one side of the bed than on the other. This solution is justified if the bedroom is located in a spacious room with an open plan. It may turn out that most of the carpet will be located not only on the bedside but also in the passage area and will be located close to the window.
If the size of the room does not allow you to have a giant rug that protrudes beyond the bed, it is better to limit yourself to small rugs on both sides.
If the bedroom is very elongated in plan, you can try to use a carpet of a non-standard shape and place only a small part of it under the legs. The optimal shape of the carpet is round or asymmetrical (like skins).