Rugs are far from an afterthought when it comes to finished hardwood flooring and interior design. Whether they’re simple throw rugs or lavish hand-woven Oriental rugs, they can play a major role in getting the look you’re after.
As you think about how rugs accentuate your finished wood floors, keep these five tips in mind.
1. Carefully coordinate colors.
A rug may look great in a showroom or a photo, but when paired with your finished hardwood flooring and the rest of the room, it may not have the color needed to pull the interior design together. This is more than just avoiding colors that obviously clash—it’s about using color to full advantage.
2. Choose the right size.
If you want your finished wood floors to be a central design element of a room, then putting down large rugs that cover up most of the flooring may be a mistake. On the other hand, you may want to feature rugs in particular rooms.
The important thing is to decide what you want and then measure to make sure the rug is covering the appropriate amount of floor.
When considering size, also think about functionality. For example, if you use a rug underneath a dining room table, you need to make the rug large enough for chair legs to still be on the rug when people sit at the table.
3. Think about wear.
For most of our budgets, it’s not practical to put an expensive rug with delicate fibers in a place where the rug will be walked on a lot. Even if the fibers are relatively durable, such as wool, they will still wear with heavy traffic, so be cautious about where you place valuable rugs.
4. Use good backing.
Some backings can damage finished wood floors. For example, popular olefin rugs often have woven backings that will scratch hardwood floors. If you’re not sure whether a backing will damage your floors, talk to the manufacturer or installer of your finished hardwood flooring.
In almost all cases, rug pads are a good idea, especially when the rug isn't being anchored down by a heavy piece of furniture.
5. Move your rugs.
To avoid the most heavily trafficked areas of a rug from wearing sooner than the rest of the rug, rotate the rug on a regular schedule.
Also be aware that if you place a rug in a sunny place in the home and don’t move it for a long time, when you eventually do move it, the flooring under your rug will look a lot different than the part that has been exposed to light. If possible, storing your rugs in the summer and bringing them back out in the winter helps minimize this change.
