How to Pair Rugs in your Great Room

I totally get it-you may know what you like, “Oh, I like that rug, but I don’t know what other rugs that will go with it in the same room”. I hear yah, sister. Keep reading for helpful rug tips and my best ways to coordinate rugs in a large open space.

Rugs are the anchor to a room and rug success ultimately comes down to choosing the perfect one in each room that has a perfect combination of color, size and pattern. If a rug is too small, it’s guaranteed to drive you NUTS. Do not go small because the rug is out of your budget and you want to save some money. This my friend, will not work.

Runners: If you can make sure the runner leaves about 2-3 feet of space from the ends before it hits a wall or a door, then that would be perfect.

Area Rugs: Living Room rugs should be expansive where at least 12″ of the front of your furniture (sofas) sit on top of it. I will typically find a rug thats large enough where the entire sofa, coffee table and accent chairs fit onto. However, it’s OK when the back legs or the back of accent chairs do not fit on the rug, but you do want at least 12″ of the front of the sofa or chair to be on the rug. For bedrooms, you’ll want the rug to be about 3 feet wider than the width of your bed and a bit longer than the width of your nightstands. I aim to have at least 3 feet extending from the front of the bed. The back of the rug doesn’t have to touch the front legs of your bedside table, but if it does, make sure it sits beneath the back legs too so that the tables are even.

Here are my general guidelines for choosing rugs in a great room, where you typically have a living, dining and kitchen area all in one large space. This is very common in newer homes.

1. Typical living room rug sizes are 8’x10′ and 9’x12′ or even 10×14′. For me, the bigger the better!
2. Make sure your rug is at least 6″ wider (8″ is ideal) than your sofa on both sides.
3. Typically run the rug the length of the sofa so that the longer side of the rug is parallel to the sofa.
4. Give 30″ to 36″ of a walkway between large pieces of furniture. At the very least, 24″.

Here are my tips to combining rugs in a room:

1. If one rug is patterned, maybe the other is more textural or one with less pattern.
2. One has more of a bold or larger, busier pattern, and one has a less busy of a pattern with the same colors or undertones.
3. I really want to ensure that they have the same undertone and 1 color that is similar, so maybe 2 out of 3 of the rugs have a similar undertone of blue (or green) for example.

Here are some of my top picks and examples for you to shop of rug pairings that would work well together in a great room-whether it is a living, dining or sitting area all in one large space. I hope this has helped you in your decorating journey!

Take a look at some of our favorite rugs that coordinate with each other!

1. Amber Lewis x Loloi Billie Rug

2. Sweater Wool Rug

3. Terrain Rug

 

1. Graduated Dot Rug

2. Plaid Woven Rug

3. Handmade Fiber Rug

1. Bethany Rug

2. Terrain Rug

3. Avin Area Rug

1. Amber x Loloi Zuma Rug

2. Amber x Loloi Layla Rug

3. Handmade Jute Rug