What Size Area Rug Should Be Used in What Size Room?

Size of the Rug

• If one rug is to be used for an entire room, the standard is to leave 12 to 24 inches of floor exposed around the perimeter of the room. Traditional or classic decor suggests a larger area rug; contemporary decor will accommodate a smaller rug.

The Shape of the Rug

• Area rugs are usually rectangular in shape and are designed in a "portrait" style, with the design running up and down the length of the rug. If the rug is placed in a rectangular area on the floor, the portrait shape matches the shape of the rectangular area.

  If one area rug is to occupy the entire floor space, its shape should mimic the shape of the room so the width of exposed floor around the rug is consistent. If the room is square, the rug should be square. If the room is rectangular, the rug should be rectangular. In a room 20 feet by 20 feet, the area rug should be 16 feet by 16 feet. In a room 20 feet by 18 feet, the area rug should be 16 feet by 14 feet.

More Than One Rug

• Rather than one large rug covering the floor wall to wall, several smaller rugs may be used to define sections of the room; in this instance, one rug should take center stage and be the largest. This would be the rug occupying the most important place in the room: in front of the fireplace or under the master bed, for instance.

Rug Sizes for Defined Areas

• If using more than one area rug in a room, each rug should define a specific space, and all the furniture in that space should be visually anchored to the area rug. The front legs of the sofa should rest on the area rug; the rug should extend the same distance on each side of the sofa as it does underneath the sofa. In a dining room, the area rug should extend past the table and chairs when the chairs are in the pulled-out position.

  In a bedroom, a horizontally placed area rug, or one whose longest edge is placed perpendicular to the long edge of the bed, should extend at least 24 inches on each side and at the foot of the bed; a vertically placed area rug, or one that is placed so that the long edge of the bed is parallel to the long edge of the rug, may have to be balanced with an additional piece of furniture at the end of the bed so that the exposed rug is equal in width all around the bed.