We're no strangers to placing an area rug on top of the drab and boring wall to wall carpet in our apartment. Afterall, we are renters and it is a great way to spice up your living space. But whether you have wall-to-wall carpet or hard woods (lucky!) or you are a renter or homeowner, you can use an area rug to complete your design vision for a room. Tie in paintings, fabrics, wall colors--add interest. You can do it!
Let's take a look at the area rug in our current living room:
Obviously, this baby is making a major design statement. It's not trying to be too subtle, although the zebra print is more muted than the classic black and stark white--which was on purpose. It adds interest, but doesn't overpower the other things happening in the room. It's placed on a diagonal so the chairs and couch in the weird shape of our front room feel more connected. Without that area rug, placed just so, our living room would feel incomplete.
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| Removed the rug with photoshop--aka the worst photoshop job you'll ever see. |
See? Something is missing. Things feel disconnected. The rug has gotta stay. And thank goodness, because we love that thing.
Now, let me show you where an are rug in our house wasn't working:
When we added in
the wardrobe and designated the far space of our room for things besides sleeping, we put the area rug that
used to be in front of our bed, in that nook. And then last night, around 10:30--I told Chris that we gotta move that thing. And by "we" of course I meant, "I"...this morning. :)
The area rug was not right for this space for a couple reasons. First, the space is fairly cluttered and adding a rug doesn't help that cause. (Hopefully, our plan to add some panel curtains from Ikea to hide the wardrobe and elliptical will.) Second, the pattern on the rug is larger and the space is smaller so it visually takes up more space--no bueno. Lastly, it puts emphasis where we don't want it. Our bed is the star of this room, not the desk/wardrobe/elliptical. Doesn't it feel a lot less crowded without the rug? You may be wondering where I moved the area rug to; well there was one room in our house that was in desperate need:
The most adorable "before" ever, right? (Pretty sure she is scouting out a pacifier.) Greta's room is big and the floor was bare and boring. Ripe for an area rug.
Luckily, I had an extra. The space is big enough to hold its own with the large pattern and it doesn't overpower the other decor, in fact, it compliments those
pomanders I made perfectly!
*Sigh* All is right in the world again. So, is it okay to put an area rug over carpet? Mostly. Just follow the guidelines: it is definitely acceptable to put an area rug over carpet as long as it is the right size, design, orientation and it unifies the room. If you can check off all of those things, then stop looking at your boring, bare floors and add some carpet flare, will ya!?
DEFINITELY having Ryan read this post!! Ryan is definitely more modern and clean lines than I thought. In order for us to get a rug on carpet, it has to be PERFECT.
Just found your blog! Nice work! I am your newest follower!
Just found your blog! Nice work! I am your newest follower!
you are a design genius!!!
and I would LOVE an invite to read miss greta's blog- [email protected]
Can I send you some blank walls in our house to see what you can brainstorm? I'm sure I can execute any design you suggest, I'm just BLANK!
DEFINITELY having Ryan read this post!! Ryan is definitely more modern and clean lines than I thought. In order for us to get a rug on carpet, it has to be PERFECT.