How to Choose Area Rugs to Complement Your Home's Decorating Style

Use a faded Oriental (from a fine antique Persian to a kilim or dhurrie) or Aubusson, a plain sisal, or a flowery hooked Victorian in an English country style room.

Go with a flowery hooked rug or an Oriental rug for a Victorian interior; shop for a faded Oriental or an Aubusson in a French country style room.

Find an Oriental or Aubusson for an Old World-style room.

Keep the rug plain and spare in a minimalism-style room. Options include a solid-color sisal or solid-color chenille over a hard-surface floor.

Put an obviously manmade rug in a high-tech room. A shag style, sisal or a flat commercial-style carpet work well.

Use a hooked rug, rag rug or painted canvas floor cloth (florals, trompe l'oeil or a motif matching another textile in the room) in cottage, American country and garden-style rooms.

Look for a William Morris-style rug, perhaps with an essentially abstract design, for arts and crafts style rooms, including Mission.

Select a fun faux zebra, leopard or tiger rug for a striking option in eclectic-ethnic decor. Sisal, coir and flat-woven, nubby dhurries work well, too.

Go with a nubby, handwoven geometric (possibly a stripe) or a sisal or coir rug for Mexican country style rooms.