One of the first rooms that many people style with rugs and carpets is the living room, helping to add to its warm and comfortable aesthetic. But the choice of carpets for the living room can be overwhelming and you might be finding it difficult to know what to look for.

In this article, we’ll share with you some of the factors that should go into choosing living room rugs and how to style your space so that it makes an impression.

The chicken or the egg?

Is it best to choose your living room rug before or after you’ve selected your furnishings? If you want your rug to be a real statement piece in your living room, then we recommend you select it first and purchase furnishings to complement it. 

But for most people, they are adding a rug to an existing living room and it needs to be a supporting element for what is already there. That being said, there is also a middle ground where you might be redecorating a living room and getting rid of some of the old furnishings and
retaining others. In this case, we recommend making your rug purchase a priority!

Select a rug to suit your lifestyle

One of the most important factors to consider when purchasing carpets for the home is the space they will occupy and the demands of its use. For example, if you’re selecting carpets for living rooms that are predominantly for entertaining, then you might want something different from a living room that is solely for family use. 

Durability also factors into this. It is important that your rug can withstand the rough and tumble of everyday use if it is in a living room that experiences a lot of foot traffic. We recommend investing in a high-quality rug made from a natural material, such as wool, which will not only be
soft underfoot but will last for many years to come.

Selecting a rug based on size

Another important factor to consider is the ideal size of your living room rug and how it will bring the room together. If you want a rug that will cover the majority of the room, then take the room’s dimensions and look for rugs that are just a bit smaller. If it’s just the seating area you want to
define, consider a rug that will fit neatly under the sofa legs or just in front of them.

In some cases, a living room may have two different seating areas, which can either be brought together with a single, large carpet or separated with the help of two smaller carpets. You might even want to consider something less conventional than the standard rectangular rug, such as a circular or square rug.

Selecting a rug based on your flooring

Don’t forget to consider the existing flooring you have when purchasing your living room rug. Different colours suit the varying tones in wood, wall-to-wall carpets and polished concrete, so you want to look for rugs that will complement what you already have. As a general rule of thumb, warm colours suit warm toned timber floorboards while grey, navy and white work best with lighter shades.

Colours to avoid

While the final decision ultimately comes down to your colour preferences, we’d recommend avoiding pure black or pure white rugs if you’re living with small children or pets. Yes, they can make incredible statement pieces but they do require a lot of upkeep (ie. vacuuming) to keep them looking their best. One of the advantages of patterned rugs is that they are more forgiving of small spills, footprints and fur.

Selecting a design

One of the harder decisions to make is selecting the design of your living room rug, with so many options on the market. Do you want something modern and minimalistic or classic and highly decorative? Perhaps you want it to be the room’s statement piece or maybe you want it to play a secondary role to the existing living room furnishings. 

Take the time to consider what your living room currently looks like or how you envision it in the future. In the interior design world, contrasting colours and patterns are used to enhance spaces that are neutrally coloured while softly coloured rugs are preferable in living rooms that are
already “busy”. At the end of the day, you want to select a design that YOU love and will appreciate for many years to come.

Mixing the old with the new

If you have a contemporary-styled home, you might think that you should keep your search confined to modern living room rugs. But the truth is, classic and antique rugs make striking centrepiece features, particularly when juxtaposed against straight-line contemporary furnishings. As most modern sofas, sideboards and coffee tables are minimalistic in their design, the richly coloured motifs and decorations of antique and classic rugs can really shine.

Layered rugs

A modern trend in styling carpets for the home is layering, which sees two or more rugs placed so that they overlap one another. It’s an easy way of adding texture and character to your space while also helping to anchor furnishings in large spaces. 

When considering layered rugs, it’s best to combine solid coloured rugs with patterned carpets or choose two patterned rugs that feature similar colours. Remember, you want the rugs to be contrasting but also to connect with one another through shared elements.