Rugs in home decor: how to get the best out of one

Louis de Poortere Atlantic Ocean Blue Waves Rug

Louis De Poortere Vintage Patchwork Rug - AzurRugs have been a staple of interior design for centuries. They supply depth and texture to a space and add a welcome zing of colour.

But getting it right can prove tricky. Add too much colour and elements in the room jar against each other, but choose the wrong shade or hue, and the impact of the rug is lost.

If you want to add a bold-coloured rug to any room, this is the guide you need.

Start with the Rug

Louis De Poortere Spring Leaves Green Rug

If you are redecorating a room, buy the coloured rug first and work the rest of the room around it. This means you will spend less time trying to make a rug work with the painted or papered walls – nigh on impossible – but it is much easier to mix paint to match a new bold green or red modern rugs.

Size IS Everything

Louis De Poortere Vintage Patchwork Yellow Rug

When it comes to rugs, getting the right size means having the correct sense of dimension in a room – in other words, it means the rug looks like it belongs in the room.

A small rug can work in a space, it just depends on what you want it to do.

If you are using the rug as a central feature, it needs to make a statement. As well as bold design and colour, size plays a part too. Use it to frame furniture such as being the centrepiece between two sofas on which the coffee table sits. Or, if you are opting for a very large rug, it shouldn’t cover the whole room but leave a gap around the edge; this frames the room.

For patches of colour and interest, why not use a small rug under a side table? Small rugs also work well to bring an armchair and side table together. Again, this is because a rug frames the space.

ALWAYS measure the space so that when you order a rug, it is neither too big nor too small.

Material

There is no doubting that a rug is an investment and when you get the right investment – colour, size and material – it will last a long time.

Wool rugs are some of the most robust rugs money can buy, perfect for any busy home and ideal for the living room, hallway runners, bedrooms and more. It will take some quite serious use over many, many years before a wool rug looks jaded and tired.

For luxury and decadence, for the bedroom consider the soft pile of a sheepskin rug.

Pattern

Louis de Poortere Atlantic Ocean Blue Waves Rug

Colour doesn’t have to be added with a plain block colour. Consider adding detail with a pattern such as this delightful striped blue rug or this vibrant, but lightly patterned red rug.

You may be wary of adding too much detail because you feel it limits your future redecoration choices but this isn’t always the case. With a clever pattern and bold colours, vintage rugs are simply stunning, and certainly versatile to work with a range of interior design styles and colours.

Be Different

Rugs are floor coverings, but they can make stunning wall effects too. Why not be different and hang a beautiful ornate rug on the wall, adding more detail and a dashing focal point to your room?