The Easiest Way to Choose a Perfect Area Rug Size

A perfect area rug size can dramatically transform and anchor your space’s overall effect. Besides, measuring and picking your rugs ideally ensures that they add warmth to the space, pull the furniture together, and make the room appear bigger.

For multipurpose and open-concept spaces, well-sized rugs help define the sections by separating them. When a rug becomes too small for your area, it gives off uninviting vibes.

On the other hand, a rug that is too big for the space interestingly makes the space feel smaller.

There are numerous standard rug sizes available for buyers today. In this guide, we will take you through steps on how to select the right rug size for your home, regardless of furniture arrangement, room size, and shape.

Ultimately, you will enjoy greater warmth, balance, and an excellent finishing touch. Read on to learn more.

How to Identify a Suitable Area Rug Size For Your Needs

There are numerous area rug sizes you can choose from when shopping for rugs. It is important to pay attention to the right rug size as there is no one-size-fits-all rug for all your needs.

Every room in your home has special considerations you should put in mind during rug shopping – size, shape, furniture arrangement, and rug placement.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when buying area rugs is choosing one too small for your space or a standard one, assuming that it will serve effectively in every room. You should take time to study the space you would like to cover from its size, shape, and furniture arrangement before selecting the right rug.

Standard Area Rug Sizes

Standard area rug sizes come in various measurements, designed for different uses. The table below highlights these options and how you can apply them in your home.

Rug Type	Suitable Use	Common Sizes
Room Rug	Defining the entire spaces	9′ x 12′, 10′ x 14′, and 12′ x 15′
Area Rug	Separating spaces in rooms, especially among apartment dwellers	3′ x 5′, 5′ x 7′, 6′ x 9′, and 8′ x 10′
Runner Rug	Defining hallways or providing treads on the staircase	Widths of 2′, 2.5′, and 3′ paired with lengths of 6′, 8′, and 10′
Round Rug	Used as accent rugs for some areas in the home, such as under round dining tables	8′ round, 10′ round

While all the above area rug sizes are standard, they are perfect for different uses. They also vary by several inches, which explains why they range from small area rug sizes to medium area rug sizes and large area rug sizes.

The purpose of the rug and the size and shape of the room determine the most suitable option for your needs, whether small, medium, or large.

Area Rug Size Tips for Your Space

Size is a crucial consideration to make when buying rugs for your home – dining, living room, bedroom, kitchen, and transitional areas. Perfect sizing ensures that the rug serves its intended purpose effectively without giving off uninviting vibes or making the space look smaller.

Below are some general rug sizing tips for your home:

• The rug should be large enough for the furniture to be comfortably placed on, with some allowance on the surrounding area.
• In case of some doubts, consider larger rugs than smaller ones, for thoughtfully designed rooms.

Bigger is better

A few inches can go a long way in making or breaking the room. It is thus advisable to go for larger area rug sizes, as they carry a huge ability to pull the room together and create the desired outcome.

Read the room

When looking for the right rug size and orientation, ensure that it is proportional to the available space. You should pick larger area rug sizes for larger rooms, smaller area rug sizes for smaller rooms, and medium area rug sizes for medium rooms.

The rugs should also be placed concerning the room dimensions – a long room requires an orient lengthwise.

Visualize the outcome

Before buying a rug, it is advisable to mock the rug placement using painter’s tape. This is one of the easiest and most effective ways of checking and ensuring that you have an accurate rug fit from every vantage angle.

How to Measure For the Right Area Rug Size

You can only pick a perfect-sized area rug when you know the measurements of the area to be covered. So, before you go rug shopping, ensure that you measure the intended area to determine its accurate size.

Here are a few tips and guidelines on how to measure an area for a rug:

1. Grab your measuring tape and a notebook

You should record the area measurements for reference during shopping time. While plastic tape measures work fine, steel tape measures serve better when measuring for straight and long distances.

2. Use room-to-room layouts to determine how the furniture would look in specific settings

This gives you an idea of how you would like to arrange the rugs and furniture in the space before picking the size.

3. Measure the length and width of the space

Getting a well-sized rug requires you to have area measurements – length and width – of the intended area. If you are dealing with the living room, for instance, you can measure the entire area or start with a seating section.

For living rooms with open-concept ideas, it is advisable to narrow down to specific zones such as dining or seating areas.

4. Make key notes such as vents and doors that impact how the rug might lay

If you intend to place the rug underneath any door ensure that there is adequate space between the bottom of the door and the floor. You should also check the rug pile height to ensure smooth opening and closing of the door with the rug installed.

Wrapping Up

While the room size may affect the rug size you choose, it is often advisable to select an area rug depending on the room’s furniture configuration. Some layouts may look great exposing a certain floor amount around the edge while others don’t.

For this reason, furniture placement becomes a major guideline when selecting a suitable rug size, especially in the dining, living room, and bedroom.

An area rug can only serve its intended purpose when you pick the right size. Getting an overly big or small rug makes the space seem smaller or uninviting, thereby compromising its purpose.

However, with this guide, you should effortlessly find the area rug size for any space in your home – kitchen, living room, dining, bedroom, foyer, and hallway. Besides, you can always break rules to create something that works for you, as long as you don’t compromise the outcome.

Your home is unique and you understand it best; find what works for you and showcase your taste and personality to the world in the most stylistic way possible.