Design At Home: All About Rugs with Oyster Creek Studios

Happy Monday! Today’s post is a highly requested one for our Design at Home series: all about rugs! Aryn Guillory, interior designer and founder of her design firm, Oyster Creek Studios, is going to tell us all about how to pick the right rug for your space.

I love rugs so much and now that our entire home is hardwood, we’re adding more rugs to our spaces. We have the antelope rug from Ballard in our living room (10 x 14) and this striped rug in our game room (9 x 12). I’m also actively looking for rugs for our kid’s rooms.

I’ve made the mistake of having “postage stamp” rugs (rugs that are too small) in previous homes but have learned along the way that bigger is almost always better! 

In our last home, we had jute rugs to define our open-concept living space.

RUGS 101 BY OYSTER CREEK STUDIOS

We LOVE rugs!  Rugs make everything in the room more cozy! There’s nothing like having a soft place to walk on to bring the room together. However, determining the proper size rug for your space can be tricky. It’s even tricky for us sometimes! We see rugs that are too small in the space and some rugs that are just too big for the space.  Let us help guide you in selecting the proper size rug for your space. 

Below are a few tips: 

RUGS & FURNITURE PLACEMENT:

• For a more formal look (and our preference), we prefer to have all of the furniture completely on the rug in the room (not talking about bedrooms here). If the space allows, we actually prefer the rug to go 6” – 12” beyond the furniture in the space.  Leave at least 1 foot of floor around the perimeter of the room.
• At a minimum, make sure at least 2 legs of the furniture is on the rug.  That placement helps the rug feel like a solid foundation for your floor plan.
• Your furniture should not sit on the perimeter of the rug and your rug be like an “island” in front of all the furniture. 
• For rugs under a dining or kitchen table, make sure the chairs are all on the rug around the entire table and chairs, extending at least 8” – 12” past the table and chairs. 

LARYERING RUGS:

• We love to layer rugs!  When layering rugs make sure the layered rug is close to 2/3 the size of the first rug.  We prefer to use a natural fiber rug on the bottom and a Turkish rug on top. 
• Put end tables completely on or completely off the rug to avoid stability issues.  Tables are wobbly if they are partially on the rug.

THE RIGHT RUG FOR THE RIGHT SPACE:

• We prefer to use indoor/outdoor rugs in breakfast rooms for ease of spills and care.  However, we don’t always use rugs in a breakfast room or dining room. It just depends on the space and the client’s lifestyle. 
• For bedrooms, leave at least 8” of space from the nightstands to the beginning of the rug. Do not put your nightstands on the rug.  The rug should be in front of the nightstand. 
• Make sure the rug extends the bed by at least 12” – 18” past the foot of the bed.
• Typical rug size for a king bed is 9×12 and for a queen bed, 8×10. Don’t be afraid to layer a Turkish rug in your bedroom too! 
• We love to use Turkish runners in the kitchen! Just make sure the length of the runner doesn’t go far beyond the length of your cabinets or island. 
• Use a rug pad under all your rugs.  This will help keep the rug in place and your are less likely to trip on the corners of the rug if you have a rug pad.

Have a wonderful week!