Does a Living Room Need a Rug?

Rugs bring warmth and cosyness to a room, while visually tying up small pieces of furniture – just as a painting might on the wall.

Choose a rug that is large enough to support all the front legs of your furniture. Anything less could look cramped.

It adds warmth
Rugs warm up a living room if the floor is wooden or other cooler color and they help set up zones for seats or throws of color throughout. From simple cotton or wool runners to colorful kilim rugs, rugs are pretty as well as soft.

Rug trends are organic, as in the beauty of nature, and they have patterns, colors, patterns and materials to suit any palate.

So when shopping for a rug for a living room, consider its size and the sizes of your furniture pieces. If you can, go for one that touches all front legs of large upholstered furniture; this covers most of the room and keeps people from falling over legs. It could also be used painter’s tape to try to see a rug through different windows before purchasing.

It anchors the room
And not just in terms of your room’s appearance, but in terms of its mood and function as well. Carpets may make it easy to bring room in an open plan and draw the lines between space or define nooks of seating.

The rug must be the right size; too little and the furniture in a room will be all over the place, too large and it will engulf the room.

If you want to make the sitting room look comfy and uniform, use a rug large enough to cover all the legs of the furniture in front. This will make visual connections between works and blend together the room. In larger rooms, there may be multiple rugs to coordinate.

It adds some colour.
Even with the same dull living room, a rug can inject color and harmony. Look for patterns or a bold colour such as blue, green or pink for maximum effect. And your accessories will have to be relating to these shades – such as a pillow or artwork, which might pick up blue from your rug and go with red furniture, for instance.

If your living room has furniture that is open plan, put the rug under one big focal point (e.g. fireplace or huge window) to instantly ‘bubble’ up seating arrangements and unify the room. But don’t put it in the middle; place it in line with what you plan to use your space for–this is a crucial part of feng shui, and will keep your rug in harmony with all of the other elements in the room that go with it.

It adds texture
Rugs can help you bring texture and color into a space, and divide rooms by marking seating or creating cohesive visual zones. When purchasing a rug it should be taken precisely and maps drew out; and it should leave at least 18 inches of floor space exposed around the edges for its efficient use.

Perhaps the biggest mistake people do when it comes to rug-buying is buying too small rugs for the room they are in. An unfitted rug will just look odd and out of place in the middle of all your furniture, and that’s awkward to overlook.

Not only do you try out shapes and materials to experiment with depth, rug laying is also an elegant way to add texture and dimension to a room. Sisal or seagrass rugs bring natural style while woven rugs can be used to divide living spaces like reading corners or home offices.