• Uses of the Area Rug
  • What do you look for in an area rug? Is it perhaps something stylish with the sole purpose of enhancing the décor of the room? Or is it simply there, because, well, otherwise there would just be some empty floor space? Below we’ll look at a couple of uses for area rugs which could help you make your choices a little bit more informed – thereby making a good buy a great buy.
  • Choosing an area rug depends not only on the room it will be placed in, but strangely enough also on the personality of the person who makes the choice, which brings us to our first use of an area rug: the focal point.
  • A focal point, in terms of home décor, is an item – be it ornamental or practical – that has the ability to immediately draw on the attention of an observer entering a room for the first time. Now when using an area rug to achieve this purpose, its design will more often than not be striking, while the rest of the room will be more or less neutral.
  • In contrast to the above, the area rug can also be used to serve as an accessory to aid in the enhancement of a different object intended to be the focal point of a room. Where the focal point is usually big and showy, these rugs are more subdued, perhaps in neutral tones with minimal yet elegant patterns.
  • Last in the list of area rug uses we encounter one that is perhaps more adequately suited to those with a functional approach to life: the practical rug. These rugs are placed somewhere to achieve a certain aim: to supply a room with a bit of warmth or, to make an otherwise dark room seem brighter. As you can imagine, rugs with a darker color will serve the purposes of the former, while lighter hues will achieve the latter.
  • Is that all there is to it? No, not quite. In addition to the uses of the various rugs, one question that is often asked is “What size does it need to be?”
  • Consider the intended purpose of the rug – for each of the above a different size will be appropriate, sometimes regardless of the size of the room it is placed in. For places like corporate or even residential foyers, a small yet brightly colored rug could be just the thing to achieve that focal point effect. Alternatively, to use the rug as an accessory to support a different focal point, the rug can be bigger, though in more neutral tones as stated above. And when it comes to the practical application of the rug, it entirely depends on the size of the room it will be placed in.
  • And finally we come to the use of two or more rugs in any particular room. A good rule of thumb here is to use area rugs of varying sizes. Why? Quite simply because same-sized rugs, in a normal-sized room, will divide the room whereas two different-sized rugs will leave the area looking like a seamless work of art.
  • Give your room an instant face lift; buy area rugs to give your room new appeal.
  • Uses of the Area Rug
    By Sarah Crosset