August 16, 2015

People with taste! Rescue me please!

I am many things, but talented at home decor / interior design I am not. I don't have a natural eye for it, I don't know how to use a space properly, I don't know how to bring textures and colors together... basically none of it.

But so many of YOU are excellent at it! Please help me!

We've been thinking (for like, four years) that we should get an area rug for our general living space. I've been paralyzed by the variety of colors, patterns, styles, and shapes available every time I've looked so far, and my brain more or less short circuits and I shut down the browser and give up. However I'm determined this time! I don't know why! But a rug will happen! Maybe!

The current issue is that I realized I don't even know what size rug I need.

Here is my living room, with tape measures on the floor to approximate a 5x8' rug:


(Also some cats, both cat and dog toys, and pillows I maybe should have arranged on the couch first. OH WELL, no going back now!)

I know you're supposed to put the edge of the rug under the legs of furniture (...right?) so I assume I need to start there, by having two edges fully under the couch.

But then! With that narrow little sort-of-hallway section leading to the deck door, do I... leave that clear? Will it look weird to have the rug just sticking out like 2 inches past the sofa edge next to the door?

OR do I make it less of an area rug, and more of a ROOM rug, by extending out toward the fireplace?


That is about 7x8', which now that I type that out, I am thinking is probably not actually a common rug size. Drat.

OK, *this* is now 7x9' since that is a normal size:


(I have no idea why my phone colored this one dramatically differently, despite being taken just 5 minutes later. Whatever, phone.)

That is giant! Is that really the way to go?

Or maybe just a wee 4x6 rug, just in the nook of the couch?


As you can see, I NEED HELP. Please help meeeeeeeeee.

8 comments:

  1. I am not that great at this sort of thing. At all. BUT I will say that Matt and I have picked out a color first then looked at different rugs online. We then even bought one, tried it and found it didn't fit well and actually returned it. It wasn't until this year that we found the perfect one (for outside I should say).

    So basically I have been of zero help. Gah sorry!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I always go back to Emily Henderson and her "rules" for this: http://stylebyemilyhenderson.com/blog/video/tips-to-choosing-the-right-rug-size

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would go with the bigger 7 x 9!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I would go with either the big 7 x 9 or the small 4 x 6. We have a large sectional like yours with a small 4 x 6 rug just in the nook, and I like the way it looks!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am anxious for you to receive all sorts of sage advice. I have a similar problem under my kitchen table. WANT a rug so badly, but, yes, paralyzed is a good word to describe what happens when I try to think about sizes/colors/options.

    My extremely uneducated vote is for the 5x7 or the 4x6. Clever of you to lay the measuring tape out that way!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I wrote a comment last night but the internet ate it :(. I would do a 7x9 but more it back 6 inches under the sofa. Imagine the rug as a picture frame that the furniture sits on. As for color and style it really depends on whatcha like and what works for you. I bet those sweet kitties shed so the pile (the length of the rug hairs) would be important so that you don't have to vacuum as vigorously.

    As for color and style it really depends on what you like. You have a lot of tan and brown going on in the room so maybe a rug with some color? But if browns are your jam then stick with that.

    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I would help if I could, but I know about as much as you do! Best of luck.

    ReplyDelete
  8. These comments are alarming me because we don't keep our rug under the furniture and also it's probably too small for the space and and and FAIL. Alas.

    ReplyDelete