The Art of Designing with Area Rugs

The Art of Designing with Area Rugs

There is an art to designing with area rugs. The right area rug can add style, color, texture, and pattern to any room. Placing an area rug in the correct position adds dimension, proportion, emphasis, and harmony. Design is all about accenting the strengths of a room and detracting from a room’s flaws, while creating a functional living space that evokes a particular feeling, like calm or awe.

The key is finding a balance between your budget, your style, and the appropriate pattern and color for your room. Sometimes it is perfect. Sometimes the minute you put it down, you know it was a mistake. Something about the rug is just wrong. It might be the placement. But more than likely it is the fabrication, texture, or design. Maybe all three.

Here are a few designer tips on how to make sure you have the best area rug for the job, and that you have it located where it will add to the form and function of the room.

An area rug grounds your furniture.
The general rule is that a room goes from dark or heavier on the bottom to light at the top. This means finding a rug that has a color or texture that pulls your eye down while bringing all the colors of the room together.

The right sized area rug defines a space.

Rugs help pull furniture together. In a large open space, use of multiple area rugs can help to create conversation areas. Seating should all sit on the rug, or sit just off the rug.

Area rugs create a focal point.

Under a bed or in a sitting area, an area rug can bring the eye to the focus of a room.

Use an area rug to pull a room together.

Multiple colors or patterns in a room can be pulled together with an area rug that adds the perfect touch. Sometimes it means toning down multiple patterns with something simple. A room full of bright colors can be pulled together with a rug that employs them in just the right balance. A monochromatic room could use a textured rug to give depth.  

Define a color scheme with an area rug.

If you’re starting from scratch, find the rug you love first and then design your room around the color scheme your rug sets for you.

Design style shines through with the choice of an area rug.
Pick a rug that shows off your personal style. There is the perfect rug for any interior design concept – from traditional to bohemian, from modern to farmhouse. Just make sure that the rug and the rest of the room all blend together. And that it feels perfectly you by the time you’re done.

For more ideas about how to work with area rugs in your home, check out some of our other blogs, like Dockside Duramax by Mannington and Finding the Perfect Custom Area Rug.