How to Choose the Right Size Area Rug
Area rugs can sometimes feel like an afterthought. Choosing your furniture typically takes precedence and an area rug is just something you add in later if there’s room in the budget. Yet area rugs serve an important role in a variety of rooms in your home. As you’re going through the design and building process with one of the Minneapolis home builders you’ve chosen, start thinking in advance about choosing the right area rug for the different rooms in your home, even those with carpet.
Area rugs not only pull a room together, adding the finishing touch to a space, but they also provide literal warmth, especially if you have young children or pets. An area rug gives them a warm barrier against the cold floor, especially during cold Minneapolis winters. In addition, they help reduce the echo and reverberation of noise in rooms with wood or tile floors, creating a softer environment in every sense.
Area rugs add so much to a room, but if you choose the wrong size, you can end up detracting from the style of the room. The most common mistake is purchasing a rug that is too small for the space, particularly in living rooms or dining rooms.
When it comes to living rooms, there are various ways to approach the size and overall styling of the room. If you prefer a more traditional look, you’ll need a rug that comfortably fits all of your furniture on it. In most cases, you will need a rug that is 8 x 10 or larger. This approach is particularly useful if your furniture lacks a completely cohesive look. By placing it all on the rug, the rug acts as a unifier.
Alternatively, you can choose a smaller rug so that only the front legs of your sofa and chairs are on the rug. This is as small as you should go, though. You should avoid a rug that doesn’t reach any of the furniture and just “floats” in the center of the room, typically under the coffee table.
In the dining room, you can match the shape of the table to the shape of the rug, ie, a round rug with a round table or rectangular rug with a square or rectangular table. The key, once again, is to make sure it is large enough so that when chairs are pulled out from the table with people seated, the chair legs are still all on the rug.
Finally, even if the Minneapolis home builders you choose offer carpeting in the bedroom, an area rug adds additional visual appeal. You can choose one that fills almost the entire space, encompassing all of the furniture; you can choose a smaller version that just frames the bed; or you can choose a smaller option of runners that fit along each side of the bed.
No matter which room you are adding a rug to, keep the room’s overall dimensions in mind when choosing your rug. You’ll probably need a larger rug than you may initially think, but the way the rug pulls the room together will be worth the extra cost.
