SELECTING A RUG

Selecting the right color, pattern and texture of your rug is a personal matter. Karastan offers practical design and decorating advice to help you through the process of how to choose a rug.

You might begin by considering a few questions:

Room

Is your room formal or informal?

Application

Do you want an area rug that defines your decorating scheme, or one that supports the décor?

Shade

Are you looking for bright or subdued colors?

Shape

What shape best fits your space?

With those thoughts in mind, let’s dig a little deeper to explore color, pattern, and texture, along with room-by-room measuring tips.

Color

Did you know that floorcovering accounts for almost thirty percent of a room’s color? If your area rug is going to be the dominant element in your space, choose a patterned rug with distinctive color combinations. Use shades from the rug to select paints and accessories, and carry those color themes into adjacent rooms with coordinating Karastan rugs. If your rug is going to play a secondary role, keep the color fairly neutral to complement other furnishings in the room.

Pattern

What matters most about pattern is how it makes you feel. Whether you tend to favor traditional or contemporary patterns, the best decorating always reflects the personality of its owner. Use patterns to create conversation areas in large rooms, or to separate a dining area from a living area in an open concept floor plan. Patterned rugs also work well under tables, where spills are likely to occur.

Texture

Texture is all about how something feels when you touch it. In fact, everything in your home, whether rough, soft, nubby, or smooth, makes a textural contribution. Texture can be enhanced in a space by layering rugs, selecting a rug with a shaggy, plush pile, or by selecting a rug that plays on existing patterns in your artwork, curtains, pillows and other decorations and accessories.

Measuring for a Rug

Determining the proper size for a rug is just as important as finding the right color and pattern. To start, measure your room and then follow our room-by-room measuring guide to find the best fit.

Many Karastan rugs can be custom sized. Rugs within our Axminster collection can be custom sized to virtually any length and width in our hand-seaming workshop by skilled artisans. The result is an incredibly strong seam that lasts for decades and carries the same 20-year warranty as the original rug. In addition, the Design Concepts collection features a custom size option. Designs within this collection range in style, pattern and color, providing an array of solutions for any space.

Under the Coffee Table

  • Depending upon the size of your coffee table and accompanying furniture, choose a rug that accommodates all 4 legs of the table.
  • Area rugs should approximate the same length and width of the furniture within the space.
  • You can either leave some space between the furniture and area rug or place the front legs of the furniture on the rug. Use furniture coasters under the back legs to adjust for height.

Dining Rooms

  • An 8’ wide rug can accommodate most dining tables, but add at least 4’ to the length and width of your table measurements to be sure.
  • Rugs should extend beyond the chairs in the pulled out posit

Living Room / Great Room

  • Balance the area you are trying to define by leaving an equal amount of rug around the furniture grouping.
  • An equal amount of exposed flooring around your rug can also give balance to your room.

Bedrooms

  • In bedrooms, one large rug is luxurious, but the bed will cover most of it. Smaller equal-sized rugs used around the bed are another option. The soft comfort of a rug is most appreciated when stepping in and out of bed.