Southwestern Rugs

How a Southwestern Rug Can Highlight Your Room Decor

A southwestern rug can accent your room’s decor by highlighting earthy tones, unique tribal patterns, and stunning contrasts. Whether your home fits a southwestern style or some other design family that utilizes earthy tones, a southwestern rug can be the perfect accent for your room’s design. 

Decorating with a Southwestern Rug

Because southwestern rugs tend to show off natural earthy tones, these rugs are often paired with neutral or brown furniture and decor. However, a southwestern rug can also work well with boho style, since it incorporates those earth tones and rich colors and conveys a region that may be far from home. It can also work with other styles, like modern homes and eclectic spaces.

Choosing Which Southwestern Rug Is Best For You

Narrowing down your search for a rug can be difficult, but here are some guidelines to help you as you shop for the southwestern area rug you’re been looking for. 

Position: Firstly, you need to think about where you’re placing your southwestern area rug, and how it connects to your other furniture, fixtures, and artwork. 

• Living Rooms: A southwestern area rug can look great centered within your main seating area, whether that be in front of a sofa or in the middle of a “U” formation of furniture. If your living room is smaller, you can always use a southwestern runner rug in front of your sofa, or a round rug to set up a small seating area.
• Dining Room: Rugs are often placed directly beneath the table and share the table’s shape. A southwestern rug looks great in dining rooms that have similar earth tones and a simple table.
• Bedroom: A southwestern rug can also fit well in the bedroom to add in those earth tones and unique patterns. Oftentimes the rugs are placed ? of the way underneath the bed and then extend into the rest of the bedroom, or the rug can be centered in the room itself. Once again, if your room is smaller, you can decorate with a runner next to the bed to add in the flair but not take up a huge part of the room’s footprint. 
• Kitchens and Bathrooms: Kitchens and bathrooms often have set footprints, since a lot of their fixtures are permanent. Choosing a rug that fits in those spaces is easiest when thinking about where you place it. Runners can work well in front of both kitchen and bathroom sinks, or along pathways in the rooms. Larger area rugs can also work if the layout allows it. 

Size: Once the position of the rug is established, confirm the size that works best for your space. The layout affects the size of the rug, since the rug size will differ if it’s underneath furniture or out in front of it. This also plays into scale, which means that everything in the room is balanced size-wise. 

Shape: Southwestern rugs are available in several different shapes, such as rectangular, round, oval, square, and as runners. The shape that you choose can alter the mood of the room, since rugs with rounded shapes and edges can be less formal than rectangular rugs that have more straight lines.

Pattern: One of the perks of choosing a southwestern area rug is that they come in so many different styles and patterns. Some will display large, sprawling patterns while others will have smaller patterns across the rug’s surface. Other southwestern rugs may even have a series of stripes, collections of shapes, and other designs.

Shades/Pairings: While southwestern rugs do highlight naturally earth tones most of the time, there are also some rugs that use brighter colors like blue and green. There are even some rugs that simply use black and white, and so these rugs can also be used in popular design styles like modern decor. Fortunately, many design styles have similar traits, whether it be pattern or color, so even if your home isn’t explicitly southwestern in design, you can still decorate with a southwestern rug in your house.

Frequently Asked Questions about Southwestern Rugs

What is a southwestern rug?

Southwestern style is a design style that incorporates earthy tones and textures to reflect the beauty of desert landscapes and the 'wild west' country feel.

Are southwestern rugs in style?

Yes, southwestern rugs are a popular style for those looking to build a country aesthetic even in metropolis areas!

Where should you place a southwestern rug?

Southwestern rugs will make an eye catching impact on anyone who views them! With their unique tribal patterns, and contrasts it's best to place them in rooms that'll get the most traffic.

Ideas and Advice

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