3 Ways to Use an Area Rug
Why Do You Need An Area Rug?
You've just spent loads of money on new hardwood floors or just had your old wood floors refinished and you want to show them off! But let’s consider how you might protect your newly finished floors while at the same time define your living space and bring color and design into your room.
Protect
Area rugs provide a colorful way to protect and preserve your hardwood floors. Always wait two weeks to 30 days before putting your new rug down on newly finished hardwood floors to protect the finish. But after the waiting period and the new finish has had a chance to cure, find a colorful rug to accent the room. When placing your rugs, think of high traffic areas and where furniture might be placed. My dog loves to run around the living room ottoman or dining table with his rubber toy in his mouth then drops down sprawled out the next few minutes catching a quick nap. My area rugs provide great protection to my hardwood floors against his nails and constant running around the furniture.
Define
Utilizing an area rug can help you define spaces in a room and separate areas of the house. If you’re having trouble making a grouping of furniture work, place an area rug beneath the grouping. Always remember to extend the rug out from underneath the furniture slightly. The furniture area is defined with an area rug and makes the furniture look more grounded. When placing furniture on an area rug, make sure to keep the front legs of the furniture on the rug and the back legs on the hardwood. This adds color and design to the lowest level of your room’s palate while helping define the space even more. In a bedroom, the best placement of a rug is beneath the bottom two-thirds of the length of the bed with an area to step on to when you get out of bed and an extended area beyond the foot of the bed.
Beautify
By using an area rug in a room, you have an opportunity to bring colors or patterns that coordinate with the rest of your furnishings. Consider using a colorful area rug then add pillows or chairs in coordinating print fabrics. Using similar fabrics, colors and patterns will bring the whole area together and give the room better coordination. An area rug is one of those details that makes your room’s decor feel “finished.” It can also help warm up or soften hard surfaces like hardwood, which can come off looking and feeling cold underfoot.
If you need help selecting an area rug and furniture for your own home, Chastain Interiors can help! Contact us here and we can discuss the details of your project.
