Area rugs do much more than add coziness and comfort to bare feet. They also serve fundamental interior design functions. Area rugs contain furniture by creating subtle outlines that distinguish and define individual living areas. On top of this, they can also provide added color, pattern and texture. The right rug, therefore, can have a significant impact in completing the look and feel of a room.
Choosing an area rug for your home requires careful consideration of “pile, durability, size, shape, patterns, textures, weight, cost, dye, practicality, manufacturing processes and, last but not least, beauty,” as one design writer notes. But be careful not to get hung up on area rug “rules.” After all, there are no real rules in interior design.
One rule is that you must leave a significant amount of bare floor around the rug. In this elegant design, however, I placed the rug quite close to the hearth to help soften the expansive stonewall.
Another area rug rule is that either all furniture legs must be on the rug or at least all front legs. But in this luxurious log cabin, some of the front legs fall on the area rug, while the couch sits back with no legs on the rug. This way, the rusted brown color of the couch and the gorgeous pattern of the rug do not override each other.
In this stunning contemporary design, I happened to follow the previously mentioned “rule.” I love the way this looks because it highlights the subtle trim of the rug.
While I left plenty of inches around the edges of this table, I decided to let the rug extend out farther on one end in order to create slight asymmetry, which adds to the eclecticism.
Rather then simply placing area rugs in the hallways, I added a beautiful area rug to complement and help draw attention to the stunning stone accent wall.
To learn more about my work, browse my portfolio, and then contact Paula Berg Design Associates in Park City or Scottsdale.
