THE ANSWER /ðiː ˈɑːnsə/ n. Straight answers to the questions everyone Googles.
HOW BIG SHOULD A RUG BE?
Too small is the most common mistake in British sitting rooms.
A rug that is one size down does not look thrifty. It looks like a mistake, and it makes the whole room feel smaller.
Your rug should be large enough for at least the front legs of the sofa and every chair to sit on it. In a larger room, putting all the furniture fully on the rug creates a more generous, cohesive look. As a starting point, most UK sitting rooms need 200 x 290cm rather than the 160 x 230cm people usually buy.
A rug is not decoration. It is a boundary. It tells the eye where the seating area begins and ends, and it holds the furniture together as one arrangement rather than several separate objects pushed against walls.
When the rug is too small, the furniture sits outside it and the connection breaks. Each piece reads on its own, the floor becomes the dominant surface, and the room feels both busier and emptier at once. Getting the front legs on is what closes the circuit.
Front legs on, or all legs on. Never all legs off.
And leave roughly 20 to 45cm of bare floor between the edge of the rug and the walls. A rug that runs wall to wall is a carpet, and a rug that floats in the middle is a bath mat.
160 x 230cm — small rooms only, and only with a two-seater
200 x 290cm — the default for most UK sitting rooms
240 x 340cm — larger rooms, or all legs on
Under a dining table — add 60cm to every side of the table, so chairs stay on the rug when pulled out
Beside a bed — the rug should extend at least 45cm beyond each side
You have a genuinely beautiful floor. Original boards, encaustic tiles or good parquet are worth showing, and a smaller rug used deliberately as an island reads as a choice rather than an error. The trick is to make it obviously smaller, not almost big enough.
You are layering. A small, characterful rug on top of a large plain jute one breaks every sizing rule and looks wonderful.
The room is tiny. In a very small space, a large rug can swallow the floor entirely and make it feel like a fitted carpet. Go smaller and accept that the furniture will sit off it.
Measure the seating arrangement rather than the room. Lay masking tape on the floor at the size you are considering and live with it for a day. Almost everyone goes up a size after doing this.
If the right size is beyond the budget, a large plain natural-fibre rug will always look better than a small patterned one. Scale beats pattern every time.
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Should a rug be wider than the sofa?
Yes. Aim for the rug to extend at least 15cm beyond each end of the sofa, so the arrangement reads as one block.
Can a rug be the same size as the room?
Leave 20 to 45cm of floor showing at the edges. Wall to wall reads as carpet and loses the definition a rug is there to provide.
What size rug goes under a dining table?
Add 60cm on every side of the table, so chairs stay on the rug when pulled out.
Do you need a rug on carpet?
You can, and in a large carpeted room it helps define a seating area. Choose a contrasting texture rather than a contrasting colour.
What shape rug should I choose?
Match the shape of the arrangement, not the room. Round rugs suit round tables and small square rooms; everything else is usually rectangular.
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