Why Buy a Rug? Many Reasons – Read on for More

There are both practical and decorative reasons for adding a rug to any room.  Here are several suggestions on how to choose.

Rugs can be a piece of art on the floor and add zip to any room.  They can often be the inspiration of the room’s entire design.  This is an easy way to select accessories – choose a rug first and build your colors around the inspiration.  The girls are enjoying their beautiful playroom with soft rug-inspired colors.

Use rugs to add life to solid furniture and warmth in a hard surface room.  Hallways and dining rooms often meet this description.

Rooms with high ceilings are especially helped with rugs.  They bring your eye down to the floor and add warmth and softness to the space. They also create a sound barrier and keep voices from echoing off the walls.

Perhaps the best reason for rugs is to protect your floors.  Hardwoods and even durable wood-look laminates will show less scratching and fading when covered with a rug.  Be sure to use the appropriate rug pad to keep them from slipping around and to further protect your floors.  Many indoor/outdoor rugs work great in kitchens in front of the sink.  They will not fade or absorb spills and are easy to clean  up.

Determining the size for your rug depends on how you will use it.  You can put “blue” painter’s tape or newspaper on the floor to get a good visual on how your rug will fit.  For large, room-size rugs, leave 15 to 18” around the edge.    Popular dining room sizes include: 5’x 8’ (4 chairs), 8’ x 10’ (6 chairs), 9’ x 12’ (8 chairs).  Leave 20” on each end of table to allow chairs to be pulled out.  The rug in this dining room is a good example of that.  In bedrooms, leave 36” around the bed or position your rug so you are stepping on it when getting out of bed – much more comfy than hitting a cold floor in the morning.

In living rooms, good sizes are 5 x 8’ in front of a furniture grouping; 8 x 10’ for front legs of furniture on the rug; 9 x 12’ for all furniture on the rug.  Remember that larger rugs give the illusion of a larger room whereas a  small rug in a large room will get lost.  Note how the rug choice in the picture on the right guided the colors of the pillows on the sofa.  It is much easier to match pillows to rugs than the other way around.

In today’s popular open-concept floor plans, rugs help differentiate one section of the room from another.  Be sure to consider complementary colors when decorating these large spaces.  The all-neutral plan on the right shows how a space can seem larger with minimal color.  The very large room on the left can handle the brilliant blue jewel tones.

All of these beautiful rugs and help to select them are available at Lake Wylie Home Furniture.  Call or text for an appointment and Susan will guide you through the selection process.  704-770-7741