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Rug Size Guides

Does Your Living Room Need a Rug?

Living rooms are one of the most lived-in rooms of the home. In these rooms, you host friends and family, recount memories, create new ones, and experience life together. A big part of creating a comfortable living room is choosing the appropriate furniture and including comfortable accents. A rug is one of the most popular accents for modern living rooms. However, you may be looking at your living room and wondering if your room would benefit from having a rug or not, or if the rug is even worth the investment.

Learn More About Living Room Rugs

  1. Why You'd Want a Rug in Your Living Room
  2. Practical Benefits of Rugs in Living Rooms
  3. When You Need a Rug in Your Living Room
  4. Enhancing Aesthetics and Style
  5. Do You Need a Rug on Carpet in a Living Room?
  6. Adding Warmth and Comfort
  7. Choosing the Right Size and Placement
  8. Considering Lifestyle and Maintenance
  9. Alternatives to Traditional Rugs
Queen Size Runner Rug

Why You'd Want a Rug in Your Living Room

Living room rugs can dramatically impact the tone and comfort of the room. Their colors, patterns, textures, and shapes can all work together to create a visually appealing living room that conveys your ideal tone. Whether you’re looking to create a sleek modern space or a rustic, homey living room, including a living room rug is a great way to create your desired mood and show off your personal aesthetic.

Practical Benefits of Rugs in Living Rooms

Aside from all the potential rugs have to show off your style, rugs can also practically benefit your room. Rugs can protect the flooring beneath them, add soundproofing to the room, and provide a comfortable and supportive surface to walk on or sit on. When rugs are used with rug pads, you can further increase their comfort and longevity as well.

Round rug for queen size bed
Queen Size Runner Rug

When You Need a Rug in Your Living Room

Living room rugs are beneficial in multiple scenarios. One situation is when you want to define the living room as being separate from other spaces in an open concept style home. A living room rug can create a very distinct space and solidify it as the place to socialize. Living room rugs are also ideally suited to furnish medium and large living rooms as supporting accents or key focal points. Finally, you may use a living room rug if you have a hardwood floor or tile flooring. In these scenarios, a rug can create a softer impression and dramatically change the tone of your living room.

Enhancing Aesthetics and Style

Living room rugs are a great opportunity to highlight your personal style and round out your living room’s overarching design. Your rug can reinforce the room’s color scheme, highlight an accent color used elsewhere in the room, or highlight a bold new color. Patterns can similarly connect to the room’s existing design by carrying similar images and motifs to wall art, pillows, and other accents. Finally, the texture of the rug can add dimension to the room’s design and create a more dynamic, aesthetically pleasing room.

Round rug for queen size bed

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Queen Size Runner Rug

Do You Need a Rug on Carpet in a Living Room?

Many people think that carpet and rugs are incompatible with one another. That couldn’t be further from the truth! You can add a rug to a carpeted living room and use the rug to define your main seating area or highlight a secondary portion of the room. A rug can add even more comfort to the living room floor, show off your style, and add a unique pattern to the room. Plus, rugs can hide any unsightly stains or damage on the carpet beneath it.

Adding Warmth and Comfort

The right size rug will depend on the size of your furniture, the size of the room, and how you have your furniture distributed throughout the space. There are various layouts to choose from that have the rug layered far beneath the furniture or closer to the furniture’s edges. This will impact the size rug you ultimately choose, and so will your goal for the room. Consider if you want your rug to be a large, primary focal point or if you want it to be a more subtle detail that complements other accents in the room. Each room is truly unique in its design and personality, so you can choose a rug size that is perfectly appropriate for your one of a kind space.

Round rug for queen size bed
Queen Size Runner Rug

Choosing the Right Size and Placement

Living rooms are highly unique with their sizing, layouts, and furniture. However, there are some general layouts that are frequently used in living rooms. The most popular layout is to center the rug within your main seating area. If your room is smaller, you may simply set the rug in front of the seats. In medium or large living rooms, you can extend the rug further beneath the chairs by having it under the front legs of the sofa or extending to the back of the chairs. The size of your nearby furniture and the room as a whole will guide you in choosing the best size and layout for your unique space.

Considering Lifestyle and Maintenance

It’s fun to choose rugs just because of their aesthetics, but in the long term, it’s wise to choose a rug that suits your lifestyle. Synthetic rugs are often used in more heavily trafficked living rooms because they are more stain resistant and easy to maintain. However, natural materials like wool and cotton are ideal to create more comfortable, elevated living rooms. In the end, your rug’s material should suit your specific lifestyle and require a level of maintenance that you’re willing to put into it.

Round rug for queen size bed

Alternatives to Traditional Rugs

Your living room may not have enough space for a large rug, or it may benefit from something different. Smaller area rugs and runner rugs are great options for furnishing small living rooms and accenting your key pieces of furniture. Similarly, carpet tiles can be used to create a comfortable living space and can be easily applied to your floor. 

If you are looking for a low maintenance option for your living room, consider a machine washable area rug. These rugs are available in many different styles, color palettes, and designs to suit different types of homes. They are also able to be quickly and easily cleaned with spot cleaning and by the washing machine.


There are many reasons why people ultimately choose to add a rug to their living room. Between the stylistic benefits of adding a rug and all the practical benefits of creating a more comfortable space, it’s easy to see why living room rugs are so beloved. Now, you can study your living room and consider all the possibilities rugs offer for complementing your room’s tone, design, and lifestyle.

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