Knowing how a rug should fit in your living room can be a bit of a challenge. Whether you're moving into a new house or going through a renovation, you're going to need to figure out where all of your furniture is going to go—and one of the most important steps in arranging your furniture is figuring out the correct placement of any area rugs you plan on putting down. Let's be honest: finding the perfect rug for your space can be quite the challenge, both in style (it's the base for your whole room, so you need to find one you really love!) and in size, no matter how many times you measure. The good news? Knowing where it will live in your space and how you plan to arrange your furniture on top of it will help you get the size right every time. To help guide you, Hossein Yazdani, principal at Tapissima, share some of his best tips for placing a rug at your house.
Dining Room
Placing a rug in the dining room is essentially all about the experience of sitting at the dining table. You'll want to center the rug under your dining table to stand out and frame the room, and then make sure it's big enough to accommodate all of the chairs. "The key is to make sure the chairs still sit comfortably on the rug when pulled out and away from the table for someone to sit in them," Yazdani says. "You don’t want chairs half on, half off a rug when it's pulled out."
If you're not sure what size to buy, pull out the chairs around your table, then measure the space, so you know your rug will fit perfectly underneath.
Reception Gallery Living Rooms
Yazdani suggests getting a monumental rug (like a '500 x 700 cm') and using it to frame your space. Then, place all the furniture completely on the rug. "Just be sure there is still room around the outside of the rug for walking, so you aren't partially on and off the rug, it shall frame the interior and enhance it" Yazdani says. Alternately, if you're trying to divide the room up into different spaces (like various seating arrangements, or an open concept with dining, library and multiple seating areas), use different rugs to define each of these spaces.
Even if the suggested rug sizes above don't quite work with the dimensions of your home, you can still follow the same principles of placement and buy a rug based on the dimensions of your living room and your furniture.
Bedroom
When it comes to the bedroom, sizing really depends on the size of your bed. Yazdani explains that the ideal size for a king bed is a '300 by 200 cm', while a king would look better with a 400' by 300' rug (and that same size works for two twin beds in a kids' room). For a queen bed, a '200 by 100' rug should suffice.
In terms of placing the rug, you have a lot of options, but the most preferred way is to place the rug partially under the bed. In this case, you'll want to lay the rug perpendicular to the bed and pull it under, stopping a few cm before your night stands so it's around halfway under the bed, with the bed centered on top. "This maximizes the amount of useable rug space, and gives you a soft surface to step onto when getting out of bed besides the tremendous aesthetical visual added value you'll get," Yazdani says. In a smaller room, you can also try just placing a rug in the middle of the room either, or at the foot of the bed to add interest and help pull decor together, Yazdani adds.
Dressing Room
Dressing room rugs are an essential element of any luxurious walk-in closet. A big luxurious closet, it's every woman's dream. It has lots of storage space to place every pair of shoes and every kind of fashion accessories is something quite important for the perfect design of a dreamy closet. From mid-century modern design to classic and contemporary style, choosing the best dressing room rugs comes down to your interior's size. ''Smaller carpets work better as they allow hosting centered furniture and frame the space harmoniously'' says Yazdani. However, one thing to keep in mind no matter what room you're putting a rug in, "remember that rugs can create an optical illusion, so make this work in your favor," Yazdani adds, whenever in the dining room or an intimate space such as choosing the perfect carpet for the dressing room. "Too small of a rug can make any space look disconnected and too large can stifle the space. When in doubt, for this area, go for the smaller rug—it will unify the furniture and make the room look bigger than it is."