Follow These Decorating Tips to Beautify Your Home
Although your wood floors are beautiful on their own, you may want to add an area rug. Keep reading to learn how to choose the right size rug for your home.
Why Cover Your Wood Flooring With an Area Rug?
First, an area rug can reduce echo in your home. If you have tall ceilings, solid-surface floors, and prefer minimalist decor, your house probably echoes.
Second, an area rug can make your home feel warmer. Walking on a rug is much more comfortable than bare feet on a hard floor, and a rug adds a layer of insulation, so you don’t immediately regret not putting on your slippers.
But ultimately, most people use area rugs to tie their decor together and to create the feeling of separate living spaces, especially in an open-concept home.
Rug Sizes By Room
These rooms are more likely to have hardwood flooring in them that you may want to partially cover with a rug:
- Living room
- Dining room
- Bedroom
The arrangement of the room and how much furniture in them will dictate the right area rug size.
Living Room Rugs
In the living room, consider both the room shape and furniture arrangement when choosing the right rug size.
Depending on your furniture layout preference, you may end up with a vastly different sized rug.
For example, if you want all furniture legs on the rug, you’ll need a larger rug than if only your coffee table is on a rug. The “all-legs” method anchors the room and furniture grouping. Your rug should extend at least 6” past all sides of your furniture.
If you want only your furniture’s front legs on the rug, then you’ll simply need to measure your furniture layout. Choose the size of rug that allows the front legs of each piece of furniture to be on the rug.
The smallest living room rugs are used when you only want your coffee table on the rug. This is great for narrow or small spaces, or in households where you want to be able to quickly clean your hardwood floors without spending a lot of time removing stains or vacuuming. Base the rug size on the interior dimensions of your seating area to fill the negative space between the coffee table, sofa, and chairs.
Dining Room Rugs
In the dining room, your rug should be large enough that all furniture legs stay on it, even with the chairs pulled out. This means choosing a rug with dimensions that are at least 28 inches longer and wider than your dining table.
A two-seater dining table likely needs at least a 4’x6’ rug. A four-seater needs at least an 8’x8’ rug, and a six-seater calls for at least an 8’x10’ rug.
To find out which size is right for your dining room, tape off the floor around your table, then measure the length of each piece of tape. Choose the rug size that is closest – but not smaller than – this size.
Bedroom Rugs
In the bedroom, rugs feel cozy over hardwood flooring and help quiet footsteps in the middle of the night. There are a few schools of thought on bedroom rug sizes. Choose the one that you like the most.
You can opt to have all your furniture legs on the rug. This means your area rug will need to be larger than your bed, as well as extend to your nightstands. It does not, however, need to extend to your dressers or other furnishings.
Some people prefer to have only two-thirds of their bed on the rug. This frames the bed and allows for about 18” to 24” of rug past the foot of the bed. Queen beds require a minimum of an 8’x10’ rug, while king beds require a 9’x12’ rug.
It can be physically demanding to situate a large bed onto an area rug, which is why some people choose to use runner rugs on each side of their bed instead. The runner should be the same length as your bed, and slightly wider than your nightstand. You can put two bed legs on the runner to hold it in place if needed.
This runner placement keeps your bare feet off of chilled hardwood floors in the early morning, but still anchors your bedroom decor.
A Note On Rug Backers For Hardwood Floors
A rug pad or backer can help keep your rug in place on your wood floor and add cushion and comfort. Rug pads come in a variety of materials, but only certain kinds are best for your hardwood flooring.
Bona, a hardwood floor cleaning and refinishing supply manufacturer, recommends using felt or natural rubber pads only. PVC or man-made rubber pads can damage floors by off-gassing plasticizers that eat into the finish.
You might not even realize this is happening until you move your rug and find parts of the pad have stuck to the floor. Removing the rug pad may require time-consuming clean-up from a flooring professional.
So, Do I NEED a Rug On My Hardwood Floors?
No, your hardwood floors don’t require the use of an area rug. However, you can use one if it is your preference. Otherwise, your wood flooring should be durable and beautiful for years, as long as you take good care of it.
