How Big of a Carpet Do You Need?

From small, cozy apartments to spacious homes, each living space has its own quirks and special stylistic details. If you’re someone who pays close attention to detail when it comes to the home, choosing the right carpet in your living room or guest room might involve more work than you’d imagine. From choosing the right color and pattern to thinking about how to best place furniture around the space, decorating each room in your home will involve a lot of thoughtful choices. When it comes to choosing the right rug, the first thing to think about is sizing. Going too large in a smaller room could have an adverse effect on the space, while choosing a carpet that’s too small could end up visually cutting the room in half. If you’re looking for some tips on how to choose the right rug size for your living room, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Get Out the Tape Measure

Most rugs will come in a variety of standardized sizing. If you’re picking something out that isn’t customized, you’ll have a few options available. Standard sizes for pre-made area rugs are 3′ x 5′, 4′ x 6′, 5′ x 8′, 7′ x 10, 8′ x 11′, and 9′ x 12′. Depending on the size of the space and how much ground you want your rug to cover. You’ll need to get out some tools to figure out what’s going to look good in your living room and what’s going to look overwhelming. If you’ve taken the time to measure your space beforehand, you’ll already have a good sense of what’s going to fit. Now, you just need to figure out what’s going to look good.

Think About Coverage

At first glance, it might seem like choosing a rug for a communal space like the living room or dining room shouldn’t take too much work. However, when you factor in how you want your space to look and feel from the outside, finding the best rug size actually becomes a more complicated task. The general rule is that you don’t want your rug to overshadow your furniture or crowd the space. That means that larger rooms should have larger rugs and smaller rooms should have centered rugs to draw the eye outward. Depending on the spacing of furniture around the room, your rug should either be installed as a wall-to-wall carpet or placed in the center of the room with furniture on the edges. Whatever you do, don’t buy a rug that’s too small and then crowd it with furniture. You want your rug to be just large enough to tie everything together visually, and small enough not to draw too much attention to itself. If you’re worried about the maintenance for larger rugs, check online beforehand. You’ll find reliable carpet cleaning in Martinsburg WV and create a yearly cleaning budget.

Don’t Be Afraid to Make a Statement

Sometimes the size of your rug will be dictated by its color and pattern. For instance, louder, more visually detailed rugs tend to work better as small accents to a larger room rather than a wide centerpiece. Again, you want your rug to tie everything together without calling too much attention to it. When it comes to styling smaller rooms, using a bunch of smaller “statement” rugs can actually create an interesting visual illusion of color and space. If you’re looking to break up the monotony of a larger room that’s too ‘matchy-matchy,’ using a collection of small to medium-sized rugs can also do the trick.

Let the Space Be Your Guide

While most of us don’t have the luxury of making a costly mistake when it comes to picking the wrong rug size, there’s always a bit of room for error when you’re first figuring out how you want your space to look. Don’t be afraid to try out a few options and see what sticks, especially if you’re working with an irregularly-shaped room, or a room with a lot of different, eye-catching pieces. One of the number one rules of decorating is, if it feels right, go with it. Even if you’re breaking a cardinal rule of home improvement, at the end of the day it’s your space, and it’s up to you to make it beautiful. If you’re still not sure what to do with a certain room, try buying a bunch of differently sized rug options and try your luck. With a bit of creativity and luck, you’re bound to find something that works for you.