Where it comes to the rugs in your home, you may not have thought much about their size or how they are placed in the room. Concentrating on these elements can make all of the difference, however. Read on to find out how appropriate rug placement can transform every room in your home.
In the Living Room
If you want to make your living room look bigger, the trick is to use a large rug. Which size is best? The most intense effect will occur when you use a rug that’s large enough to place a couch, chair and coffee table on. Using a tiny rug that only goes under your coffee table, for example, will only enhance the table.
This doesn’t mean that you have to try and pile everything in your living room onto your large rug, however. The trick is to place just the right number of items to draw the eye, but not so many as to make it look cluttered.
When placing furniture, ensure that at least the two front legs are on the rug. Ideally, all furniture legs should be resting on it, but this depends on whether the rug is large enough to accommodate them or not.
If the living room is a busy area of your home, consider a rug made from wool. This material is not only durable, but long-lasting, and is naturally stain and spill resistant as well.
In the Bedroom
Believe it or not, where you place your rug in the bedroom will also make a big difference. Your rug should be like a picture frame for whatever is placed on top of it, and so it’s important to ensure that you’ve left a gap between the outer wall and your rug of around a half metre. This gap, as well as the amount of visible carpet should be the same all the way round your bed and other furniture. Uneven amounts will throw off the room’s visual balance.
Your bedroom rug is best placed in such a way as to extend underneath your bedside tables, or so that the rug ends just before them. If your bedroom is a standard size, the most important thing is to create the illusion of more space. And this can be accomplished by ensuring that your bedroom rug disappears under the bed. If you have a queen-sized bed in a room of standard size, then an 8×10 rug will accomplish this nicely.
In the Dining Room
The size of rug you choose for the dining room is another important decision. One good rule of thumb is to ensure that your dining room rug is large enough that your dining chairs can rest comfortably on it, even when they are pulled out. You can ensure the right size of dining room rug by measuring your dining table, and then adding 60 centimetres to each of its sides.
Of course, you can go larger if you wish. If you decide on a very large rug for your dining room, the same rule applies here as in other rooms: your rug should act like a frame for whatever is placed on it. Therefore, you must ensure there is some space between your rug’s outer border and the floor.
The style of rug will be important as well, because the dining room is another area where spills can occur. These little accidents can be far more easily dealt with if there is a flat rug as opposed to a high pile rug on the floor, because flat rugs are generally easier to clean. And if you need to move quickly, your chairs will be far easier to move on a flat rug. Finally, flat rugs won’t show furniture marks as readily as higher piles.
When placed correctly, the right rug can do wonders not only for the spatial illusions it creates, but also for the furniture that rests on it.
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