Design 101 | Rugs

October 2016, By Nicole Langelier.

Rugs are a fabulous, magical tool when it comes to styling. They can make a room look bigger or smaller, they can cover imperfections, they can provide warmth, they can define space and most importantly they can bring your furniture down to earth and stop it from floating aimlessly in your space.

Rugs provide a foundation for your furniture and can ground it in a way that feels welcoming and inviting. However, when used improperly they can have the opposite effect. Just because your rug has a perimeter, doesn’t mean all of your furniture needs to be within it. You can sit your furniture on, partially on or a little bit off your rug. You will be amazed how your space just opens up as soon as you allow your furniture some room to breathe. That being said, being too far away from your furniture can have the opposite effect and make a room look smaller. Your living room furniture shouldn’t be more than a hands width away from your rug or else it will make the space look small.

Rugs are great for delineating spaces, and if you have an open plan space I recommend using rugs to separate living from dining. If your open plan space and your sofa is enormous and you can’t get a rug large enough, consider layering rugs. Cow hides are great for layering on top of other rectangle or round rugs because they are free formed and can work in just about any combo. The same rules apply for rugs under dining tables as they do in a living space – a big rug makes a space look bigger, a small rug smaller. Simple. When in doubt go larger.

Rugs under beds are a good thing if the room is very large or if there are wood floors, as again, the rug will ground the bed to the floor and warm up the space. In the case of bedrooms, you don’t need quite such a large rug and they look best positioned 1/3 of the way under the bed.

Rugs on carpet is a subject of great debate. I do use rugs on carpet when the space is large or open plan and the furniture needs to come back down to earth.

The best bit about rugs is that they are easy to move around and play with therefore can transform a space in minutes. Give it a go – mix it up, mix and match and move em’ around for a style quick fix.