Rug Sizing And Styling Guide
When purchasing a rug, we often hear from customers that the most intimidating part is trying to figure out the sizing, placement, and styling for a specific room. One of our goals is to offer resources to ease the potential stress that comes with shopping and decorating spaces. While one option we have created is to book a TUCK IN consultation service with our team for support, another option is to read the August release of TUCK IN magazine for free decor advice. Inside this month's edition, The Roll Out, we’ve included numerous lists, tips, and tricks to make you feel more comfortable about picking out and styling the right rug for the right space!
Consider Before Rug Shopping:
1. Decide on the goal.
Think of a rug like a piece of art: a home investment that can work to either be cohesive with the rest of a room's design, or be used to add bold patterns or pops of color. In this vein, decide what you want to achieve with a rug in your space. Are you aiming for something with more subdued tones to blend in with your other furnishings, or are you hoping instead to get a rug that stands out and works as an eye-catching centerpiece for the room? Whichever way you lean, make sure that while rug shopping you keep that purpose in the back of your head.
2. Keep scale in mind.
Choose a rug that matches the scale of your furniture and room. A rug that is too small can make the room feel disjointed, while a rug that is too large can overwhelm the space. Also, play around with the rug proportions by trying to match the rug size to your ceiling height. For example, have tall ceilings? Aim for a big rug to ground the space. Have a shorter ceiling? Then keep the rug smaller to maintain the feeling of light and open space. When it comes to scale, typically the rug should give enough coverage to bring all of the room’s furnishings and décor together.
3. Prioritize functionality
At the end of the day, the purpose of a rug is to add comfort and warmth to a space. Some things to consider that affect a rug’s quality and comfort are the thickness, materials, and fiber durability. Also consider getting a rug underlay to keep the rug in one place.
Large Area Rugs: Living & Dining Rooms
- Create zones: Use your rug to define different zones within your living room. For open floor plans, a well-placed area rug can delineate the seating area, separate it from the dining space, or create a cozy nook for reading. This adds structure and visual interest to the room.
- Anchor sitting corners: Ensure the rug is large enough to fit the furniture pieces within a room, aiming to have at least the front legs of the furniture on the rug. For dining tables, we suggest choosing a rug that extends at least 2' on either side of your table. This way there's room to pull chairs out.
Medium Area Rugs: Kitchens, Offices, & Nook Areas
- Sizing and configuration: Shopping for medium area rugs is similar to shopping for large area rugs. Mainly focus on pairing the size and shape of your rug to that of the room.
Small Area Rugs: Bathrooms, Entryways, & Closets
- Elevate any space: Small area rugs are perfect for elevating boring corners and spots around your home that might otherwise be bland. They can be great in front of a closet, kitchen sink or bathroom vanity to liven up the space.
Runners: Hallways
- Measure your space: It is particularly important with runners to measure the space beforehand. Since they are often used to fill long and narrow spaces, it can be easy to overestimate the size of rug needed to fit a hallway.
- It's also good to know that runners can shift if they don't have anything holding them in place. If you need a custom rug pad with the perfect dimensions to pair with your rug or runner, then we can help by placing a custom order for you!
- Cohesion: Runners in hallways work to connect rooms, meaning they work to help transition one room to the next. To achieve a smooth transition, focus on cohesion by picking a runner with colours and patterns that will offer a good blend between spaces.
To learn some more TUCK tips about rug styling or to see more of the one-of-a-kind Tuck Rug collection styled in Judith Mackin’s home and photographed by Kelly Lawson, be sure to read through The Roll Out August 2024 TUCK IN magazine. Also, subscribe to our mailing list and follow us on social media to stay up to date on any new magazine releases or fun blog posts!
