How to place a rug in every room of your house

I am a huge fan of a rug. I think these simple soft furnishings can help to zone a room, add depth, add colour, add pattern and so much more. They can be moved to another place when you’re fed up of them (something you cannot do with other types of flooring) and really make a room feel complete.

Whether you’re planning to redecorate, or you’ve moved into a new home and have no idea where to put a rug, I hope my guide to rug placement can help. Having a colourful sofa or lots of artwork on the walls might not be enough, but a rug could help to tie your whole space together.

Below you can find where to place your rugs for different rooms, including the living, dining and bedroom.

Choosing the right rugs for your home

First things first, how do you choose the right rug?

The most important thing about rugs, that many people get wrong, is size. They tend to make the mistake of buying too small, but I’d always, ALWAYS, size up your rug. The bigger the better in my opinion (as long as it fits).

For rugs that are going underneath a dining table, I’d ensure that the chairs can be pulled out and still remain on the rug, so you need a good clearance of at least a metre from where the table ends to the edge of the rug.

   

For rugs going in a living room, they should go partly under the sofa and cover the whole coffee table area, too. In bedrooms, the rug should go partly under the bed and stick out by a couple of metres on each side. If the rug goes all the way under the bed, your bedside tables should sit on it too, so it must be wide enough for this.

You will also need to think about style and design. The rug should complement the rest of your decor and furniture, so don’t buy something in a rush.

You can use social media, like Pinterest and Instagram, to find styles you like and save them. You could also Google ‘rug decorating ideas’. There are tons of them out there.

You can choose the minimalist approach and choose a neutral rug with little to no pattern, or you could go bold and choose something that will stand out a bit. For example, the houndstooth rug has a great subtle pattern, comes in easily blended colours and the material offers warmth and muffles sounds. 

 

Choosing the right placement for your rug

Below, I’ve had a look at each individual room and explained how you can choose the perfect rug for the space.

How to place a rug in a dining room 

The main pieces of furniture in the dining room are the dining table and the chairs. The rug of your choice should be placed beneath them, to offer the ultimate comfort while you’re eating your delicious meals as a family.

There are a couple of important things that you should remember here, though.

Never put your most expensive rug in the dining room. It would be a shame if you splattered some food on it and it could start to look old and dirty. While rugs are fairly easy to clean, some stains might not come out.

You might also want to choose something with a bit more colour/pattern so any spillages will be far less noticeable.

If you’re not sure what size to buy, go into the dining room and pull the chairs away from the table as if you were going to sit down. Now, measure the distances from the back of one chair to the back of the one opposite it. Do this both width and length ways so you are left with two minimum measurements the new rug should be.

It might also be useful to use tape to mark out where the rug will go once you’ve found one you like. This will give you a proper idea of where it will come to and how it will look.

The most important thing here is for the chairs to sit comfortably on the rug, without rocking or being uncomfortable to sit at.

How to place a rug in a living room

Unlike a dining room, where the rug can really only go in one place, you have multiple choices in the living room.

First, the rug could just go under the coffee table. However, this option might be best avoided as it can make the room feel smaller, like this:

   

Generally, the room is nice and the decor is nice, but the rug doesn’t work for me.

You want to make the room feel bigger, and the best way to do this is with a bigger rug. It could either go slightly under the front legs of the sofa and extend past the coffee table like this:

   

But something that goes under all four legs of the sofa and extends far out is even better:

   

For a relatively small living room, look how much bigger and wider the space feels.

Investing in a rug that will go beneath the coffee table and the legs of the furniture is the best option. Bigger rooms require bigger carpets, so think about investing in a rug that will extend beneath the main pieces of furniture and a bit beyond them, on all sides.

How to place a rug in a bedroom 

As with the living room, a bedroom rug will likely only go under your bed and bedside tables, but placement is so important. So where do you put a rug in a bedroom?

The most common way is to put it partially under the bed (about halfway) and have the rest sticking out. It tends to give the illusion of a bigger room.

   

You should be able to stand on the rug as you get out of bed, not half on the rug and half on the floor. This is a good measurement to go off when deciding on a new bedroom rug.

Another interesting idea is to use runners on each side of the bed. Runners can be cheaper than buying a full rug, and they still come in amazing colours and patterns. Secure them with double-sided tape so that they don’t move around.

Rug placement summary 

• Dining room rugs should extend all the way past the dining chairs
• Living room rugs should go under the sofa and the coffee table
• Bedroom rugs should go half under the bed and stretch out enough on the sides to stand on.

The placement of rugs in your home can change the way the rooms look. You can make a room feel longer, shorter, smaller, or bigger, just by adding a smaller or bigger rug than normal.