You’re looking at your space. Maybe it’s your bedroom, your living room, maybe even an office space. It feels empty, lacking, or just like it isn’t well tied together and you’ve decided that you need a rug to bring it together. With so many types of rugs, different colors and patterns to choose from, you’re not sure how to find the best floor rugs pattern for your space. What material do you want, what shapes are you looking for, what kind of style will make this space feel right? While there is no perfect methodology for finding the best pattern, here are 5 tips to find the best rug pattern for your space.
1. Know Your Space
Know your space! Just because you like the way a pattern on a rug looks in your shopping cart, or in the store does not mean that it will fit your space. Always look at your rug texture and pattern in the context of your space. If you have a number of rigid angles in your furniture and room and you bring in a rug that has a lot of right angles, you may end up achieving the opposite of your goal. In the same vein, if you have a lot of dark-colored furniture and get a dark-colored pattern, you may find that your space feels constricting or depressing.
Know your space, and make your purchasing decisions based upon your room context.
2. Size Matters
When it comes to selecting a rug, and a rug pattern, size matters. First and foremost, the size of your rug matters. Are you supplying a small rug for an end table, or a desk? Or are you looking for a large area rug to cover the majority of your living room? Each of these will have a different effect on your space, and their pattern can have an effect based on their size.
For instance, a large rug with a tight pattern can make a space feel smaller or more filled. Conversely, an open pattern with large shapes can help a space feel bigger. Depending on what you are trying to achieve, the size of both your rug and your pattern can have a significant effect on the feel, or “vibe” of a space.
3. How Does it Feel?
While this is a purely personal piece of the selection process, how does the rug pattern make you feel? While there is some consistency among how shapes make us feel or behave in a space, some textures make people stressed, some textures calm people down. Depending on how you want to feel in your space, you may want to select a different texture in your rug. As you embark upon your rug shopping and selection process, ask yourself with each pattern, “how does this make me feel?”
It is not strange or bad to spend a significant amount of time gazing at the rug pattern you are looking at and asking yourself this question. This will be a staple of your space or home, and how it makes you feel is an incredibly important factor.
4. Passive or Active?
Is your rug the focus of the space, or is it a passive piece? This is hugely important when you are selecting the rug pattern for your space.
A bold rug pattern, wherein the texture and colors both possess their own vibrance, may draw most of the attention within your space. Of course, it still needs to tie together furniture within the space, but if you want your rug to be the focus, you may want to consider choosing your furnishings around your rug.
Alternatively, a passive, or “soft” rug pattern allows the rug to go virtually unnoticed. It serves to expand the space and tie everything together for your desired feel, but the room, or furnishings is the focus.
5. Leading the Eye
How do you want to lead the eye of your guests, or yourself whilst in your room? The pattern of your rug will have this effect. If you utilize a rug with a linear pattern, it will draw the eye in the direction of the lines. If you want to pull attention to a specific furnishing, piece of artwork, or area, this is a great option.
If you are simply trying to make a space more full, something like a Persian rug, or a circle or diamond pattern will help lead the eye around the space, supplying a more relaxed environment.
Lastly, a rug without any pattern allows you to use your furnishings to guide the eye.
There are so many patterns of rugs to choose from, and many more ways to find the best rug for your space. But with these five tips, you will be set up for success as you begin your rug search!
