How to Choose the Right Rug for Your Space

March 31, 2024

Big cozy rug in a living room with a coffee table and sofa. All legs of the furniture are on the rug

hroughout the last six years, I've learned - through trial and error - about the impact a rug can make in your space. It can completely transform a room for better or worse. If the transformation happens to be in the "worse" category, you're luckily not bound to them for life. A quick return or FBM sale can fix things up. I've had my fair share of rug-whoopsies - and because I love you all - I'll share them with you. I'll also share how I fixed those mishaps and the steps I take now to ensure my rug changes will be positive. You know what that means?! You'll come away from this post with the confidence you need to execute a new rug purchase and minimize any mishaps you might have in the future!

Lovely grey rug under a king sized bed and fitted nicely in a bedroom

Rug Size Matters

The biggest rug regret I’ve had throughout my home is size. I’ve pulled several “this will work fine for now” moments. Don’t do what I did. You’ll eventually have to spend the money to upgrade your size, and you may as well do it off the bat to avoid unnecessary spending.
So how does sizing work? Let’s say your rug is going in your living room – at a bare minimum, you want the front legs of all of your furniture to fit on it. If you can’t achieve that your rug is far too small. For a cozier vibe, you can also have all the furniture legs fit onto the rug. Picking a size is not always cut and dry. Room sizes and layouts vary as do rug sizes. A lot of the time you need to get creative to make something work.

My living room is a good example of this. I was hoping to get all my furniture legs onto my future rug for that cozy vibe, however, the sizing available wouldn’t allow me to do so. So, I opted for just the front legs of my sofa on the rug and all of the legs of the rest of the furniture. I can get away with this because the sofa is next to the window, so the short, uneven rug side is hidden.

So, get creative, and problem-solve, but always remember, bigger is better than smaller.

My original family room is on the left below – where the rug is far too small for the space. My upgraded family room is on the right – where the rug fills out the space and all front legs of the furniture fit on it.

Rug Pattern and Aesthetic

Rug patterns and aesthetics are other areas in which I’ve made mistakes in our home. I recognize patterns and aesthetics are subjective, but will go off of my experiences. My brain needs clean and tidy spaces to feel calm and relaxed. For some reason, when we first moved into our home, I opted for rugs that didn’t feel clean and tidy but instead felt busy and dizzying. Admittedly, I was not looking in the right places for rugs (it took me too long to find RugsUSA – my latest review is here – and Loloi) but I should have never gone for such busy patterns that would spike my anxiety. Right now, I go for low contrast and muted colours for busier patterns. These are more likely to have longevity in my spaces; I’ll be less likely to be sick of them and move to something different.

Other Considerations

Rugs make for some magical home decor pieces. They hold a ton of power. They can define rooms in an open floor plan and add a cool factor you didn’t know your room needed, but they can also completely break a space. No pressure, right?! Some other simple considerations when choosing a rug:

Generally speaking, rugs should be about a foot away from other walls (in my family room, one side of the rug is snug against the wall because that is where the sofa sits).
You don’t always have to opt for a traditional rectangular shape – some rooms flourish off of a round rug, others oval.
Finally, stay true to you and your style or how you want your style to evolve. The most important things to remember are:
- You’re the one living with it
- Your gut is usually right.

Those are my tips for you today – you’ve graduated. Now find yourself a winning rug!