The living room is often the centerpiece of a home with its high-traffic spaces, resulting in wear and tear on floor coverings. You’ll want to be sure to choose an area rug that fits the space well—and withstands your daily grind. Designer William Haines suggests looking for rugs that “need to hold up under traffic and cleaning and still look good.”
If you’re planning on having pets or small children crawling all over it, consider durability one of your top concerns.
Here are a few ideas to help you get the right rug for your living area from ruggleup.com
The Right Rug Size
“A small area rug can make a room feel larger and open up the space,” says Haines.
Rug size plays a fundamental role in defining the look of a room. If you go too small, your rug will look lost or warp the space and if it’s too big, it might swallow up smaller furniture and elements.
If you want to give your living room a more defined feeling, opt for one that’s large enough to cover 70 percent of the floor with no furniture on top. For those with lots of living room seating, allow plenty of leg-room by making it as large as 18 feet across.
The Right Rug Texture
Rug material and texture are key for enhancing the look and feel of your living room. The rug should be soft and luxurious. Different textures can feel different sizes due to varying hues and light refraction. If you want the rug to feel larger, opt for a fuzzy texture (like wool); go with something more precise like silk or cotton for smaller rooms. It is absolutely need-based. Here are a few textures that you can go for based on your requirement.
Woolen Rugs
A woolen rug adds to the beauty of your living room. It is plush, soft, and luxurious to walk on. Woolen rugs are more costly than other types but you can expect them to last for many years. Woolen rugs are available in various sizes and colors so you don’t have to worry about finding one that matches your living room decor.
Cotton Rugs
Cotton rugs are best for rooms with kids or pets, as they’ll hold up to all types of wear and tear. They tend to be a bit more casual, but cotton rugs can be found in a number of finishes—including velvet, sisal, and microfiber—that make them appropriate for any space.
Cotton rugs come in a vast array of designs including nautical, abstract geometric prints, or simple solid colors.
Patterned Cotton Rugs
A rug with lots of bold shapes and bright colors is best placed at the center of the room so it draws attention from all angles.
Acrylic Rugs
Rugs made of acrylic are great for the living room because they are stain-resistant. If your kids spill their juice on this rug, don’t worry! It will be easy to clean. Just wipe it up with water and some soap.
Jute Rugs
Jute rugs are another type of living room rug that you want to consider if you have children or pets. The jute fiber is very absorbent, so any stains on these rugs will not be nearly as bad as they would be on other types of rugs. This goes for pet accidents too—a little bit of water should remove it without issue. They also come in many different colors, which means that they can easily blend into your existing color scheme for the living room décor.
Rugs Made With Synthetic Materials
Rugs made of synthetic materials, such as polypropylene and polyester, are the most affordable to buy. They come in a variety of colors, which means you can pick up a couple of them along with your couch. In addition, since they’re machine-washable, it makes for an easy clean when a kid spills his drink on the floor yet again.
Rugs With Long Fibers And A Soft Touch
Not all rugs have to be made from natural materials or wool—with their distinctive texture and feel—to work well in the living room. While these qualities make for comfy underfoot, they aren’t always practical for areas where spills happen frequently, like the living room or dining area.
Instead of investing in a natural fiber rug for your space, opt for something with long fibers and a soft touch, like this polypropylene sisal rug. While synthetic materials don’t have the same comfy look and feel like wool or cotton, they tend to be more durable—and require less effort when it comes to upkeep.
Colorful And Patterned Rug
The color of the rug can influence how much light is reflected off of it, which affects surrounding furniture and wall colors. For example, a dark area rug will absorb more light than lighter-hued rugs—and that means darker colored furniture might end up looking closer to black than brown.
Colorful rugs offer a lot of opportunities for fun, but it might be a little too much in the living room. However, if you have a colorful couch or chair, having a colorful rug can help tie everything together. Keep it bold and bright by going with something like an ombre patterned area rug for a different appeal.
Oversized Bright Patterned Rugs
Patterned rugs can elevate the look of any space; however, having too much of a good thing can be overwhelming. Instead of opting for more than one colored/patterned rug in the living room, go with an oversized area rug with a bold pattern or design that isn’t overpowering.
Statement Rugs
If you have a favorite piece of furniture that you want to show off, upgrade your living room by using statement pieces like chairs and rugs. Statement pieces are perfect for creating focal points in the living room because they can either tie together or contrast everything else in the space. A popular choice is getting large-scale geometric rugs for this purpose because not only does it create a statement without being too loud, but you have plenty of wiggle room to place other pieces around it. It’s a win-win for people who don’t want too many patterns in their living room.
Pillow Shaped Rugs
Almost all homeowners agree that they need at least one or two accent furniture pieces in the living room and that most often means a rug. An ideal choice is getting a pillow-shaped area rug because it can be used as an ottoman, side table, extra seating area, etc., making it versatile enough for both function and aesthetics. Plus with so many different colors and designs being offered by retailers, you have plenty of options to choose from!
The Rug That Feels Right
Your living space is where you welcome guests into your home, so it should feel comfortable and inviting. For that reason, don’t limit yourself to rugs in cold hues like gray or beige. The rug also doesn’t need to match the furniture.
Rugs give rooms more warmth and depth. If you move the furniture around—which I recommend doing often—the rug may not look as nice with everything arranged all together at once. It works better if pieces are swapped out every six months or year, which keeps things feeling fresh.
Let the rug do all of the talking. A rug is a statement piece that pulls together colors and finishes in the room, so if you already have a lot of patterns on your furniture or wallpaper, find something simple for the floor.
Adjusting for Kids
It’s not just adults who need rugs to anchor their furniture; kids do too! The key difference between kids’ rooms and adult spaces is that children’s areas are designed to be child-friendly, with babies in mind. With this in mind, there are some considerations about the types of rugs to use in these rooms.
Rug placement is important because kids can fall off of chairs and tables when they stand up against a wall—and during any other time, for that matter! Areas rugs help to minimize the risk of falls. The rug should be placed at least two feet away from any wall or furniture where kids like to climb.
Large rugs are attractive to children because they feel so soft underfoot, but what feels good for adults may not be suitable for babies and toddlers. It’s best to keep flooring materials under 1/4 inch so that there isn’t anything sharp or tall enough for kids to grab onto or stub their toes on.
Keep them clean. Floors take a beating with kids around, but it helps if you can hide stains behind an area rug—and give yourself some extra time when cleaning them! This is especially important if you have pets or kids who are still in diapers.
The Art Of Layering
Creating focus points in your living room doesn’t have to be difficult. Layering your rugs is a great way to build visual interest, so it’s important not to overlap patterns or colors. Instead, arrange different shapes and sizes of area rugs in separate areas of the floor, allowing enough space between each piece for a definition.
This layered look also works excellently with Oriental rugs because they are extremely versatile. If you have an open floor plan that separates your living room from other rooms, consider using the same rug pattern and color as a connecting thread running throughout the house.
Make your living room visually appealing by layering different types of rugs. If you’re looking for warmth, choose an area with plush pile carpets that can be used as a place to sit and relax. For the most versatile rug choice, select a traditional flat weave rug with classic block prints or traditional patterns.
Traditional homes often have several kinds of floor coverings at work in their living rooms, so it’s not unusual to find colorful handwoven flatweaves layered over richly hued hardwood floors. But perhaps the only way to make this more luxurious is by adding layer upon layer of pashmina shag throw blankets on top!
As a concluding tip, rugs are the choice of many homeowners for their living room because it gives an unparalleled sense of warmth and luxury to a space. If you’re looking for something different, however, there are plenty of options that can still give your living room an elegant look.
For example, if your flooring is predominantly dark hardwoods or tiled surfaces but you want to introduce more texture into your living room, go with neutral area rugs to bring out the best in your chosen aesthetic. If color isn’t what you need right now, take advantage of design classics by investing in exquisite silk-acrylic blend rugs. Regardless of which route you choose, make sure to keep all other elements carefully considered and in balance to make your living room both comfortable and stylish.
