Interior designers can be divided into two camps. There are those who choose rugs as the very last thing in a room, the final flourish that brings together and unifies all the other choices they've made around it. And there are those who pick the rugs first; who start from the ground up; who get one to fit the room exactly and become the base from which all else follows.
Either way, rugs are clearly a very important part of the design process, and that makes picking the perfect one feel overwhelming at times. From how big it should be, what material it should be made from, whether it should be washable or patterned or both or neither, from where to buy rugs to how much to spend on them, there are almost as many decisions to be made as there are rugs to choose from.
"You get taught some principles about rugs at design school that aren't always true in the real world," says Romanos Brihi, co-founder of Studio Vero and a rug aficionado. "Teachers will say a rug needs to be big enough to fit under every piece of furniture... but actually, there are exceptions to that rule."
So let us decode the decrees, bust the myths, and simplify the process of choosing a rug, with advice straight from the minds of the experts who really know.
The executive editor of Livingetc, Pip Rich is a lifestyle journalist of almost 20 years experience working for some of the UK's biggest titles. He regularly attends the world's biggest design fairs and often hosts talks to crowds of up to 200 about his thoughts on design.
When it comes to rugs, he is the authority. Years ago, he designed one himself for his own living room with the luxury brand Stepevi, and since then has interviewed creative leads at rug brands such as The Rug Company and Tai Ping. At a recent London Design Festival he hosted a panel at the Tai Ping showroom about sustainability, particularly in regards to Tai Ping's rug design process.
Pip is a judge on the panel for the Livingetc Style Awards, where he sifts through hundreds of projects with other industry experts to choose the very best in each category. He is interested not just in how something looks, but whether it can improve the life of the user in some way.
He has also published three books - his most recent, A New Leaf, was released in December 2021 and is about the homes of architects who have filled their spaces with houseplants. This project gave him access to many of the world's top creative minds and knowledge of how great architecture can improve a space.
Size
There are certain rug rules that interior designers tend to stick to.
As Romanos from Studio Vero mentioned in the intro, conventional design rules dictate that a rug ought to be big enough for every piece of furniture to sit comfortably on. "I just hate small rugs," says the designer Victoria Hagan. "They feel so mean!" But before you go and buy the largest rug on the market, there are several caveats to that approach.
"In reality, it’s ok if the sofa is only half on the rug, and the rug doesn’t go all the way under and out the back," Romanos says. "But ideally all the other furniture would be able to sit on top of it."
"A rug is one of the most important things in a room, and I start thinking about which rug to go for at the same time as I'm planning furniture placement," says the interior designer Olga Ashby. "So once you know the size of the coffee table, how far away the armchairs will be, and where the sofa will go, you can pick a rug that is just big enough it sits under them all... or at least mostly under the sofa."
Her rug size rule expands to say that if you can see the back of the sofa then the rug needs to be large enough to expand out 10 inches (25cm) more than the sofa's edge (like in the image above, of one of her projects in Paris), whereas if the sofa is against the wall then the rug needs to be just big enough to be placed under the sofa's front feet by about 8-10 inches.
For dining rooms, a rug needs to be large enough for the table and chairs to sit on it in the middle, with at least 10 inches of overlap behind the back of the chairs, while when it comes to bedroom rugs, there are cheats to be had. "I think of people when they first wake up as being like babies who need to be really wrapped up and looked after, and that means the first thing I want them to step on is a really soft rug next to the bed," Olga says. "A bedroom rug need only be big enough to place at the side of the bed, tucking under the edge, but doesn't need to go all the way under. If you have space, then for symmetry I like to repeat the process on the other side."
Style
Rugs can be background players, or main characters.
"I really believe in the power of a rug to transform a room and make it look and feel so much more comfortable in an instant," Olga says. "So I always choose rugs that bring a lot of texture, that are usually wool (which I find the most comfortable), and that have a soft neutral color you can build the rest of the room on top of."
This is different from how Studio Vero approaches rug style. "We always start with a bold rug — either that, or some eye-catching art," says Romanos. "You really need a strong starting point for a room, and there is no better place for that to be than a graphic rug."
Natasha Lyon, founder of design studio Appreciation Project, has an approach that lies somewhere between the two. "People come to me because they really love color and texture and print but they don’t know where to start, and it’s wonderful showing them how good a room can be if you lean into all those things," she says. "And actually, the rug is what can make or break a space — it’s one of the most important decisions as it’s what pulls everything together and ensures the space is elegant or cozy or whatever mood it is you’re trying to evoke. I always choose the rug last, once everything else is in place, and I can see the colors in the room and how they look in the light. I’ll seek out something that exists already — perhaps it’s a hint of tobacco in a stripe or a touch of green in the background of a wallpaper - and use that as the main color for the rug. In that way, even if it’s bold and daring, it still feels connected to the scheme."
She says that in one project, above, with a contemporary floral Josef Frank wallpaper on the ceiling, she wanted something equally modern for the design of the rug. "And so I chose a big, geometric one from Nordic Knots. Even though it’s very different, it doesn’t clash because it has the same citrus tones, and a softness in the negative space of the big square pattern that allows the flowers to really stand out."
It seems that the key factors to consider when picking a rug's style are its material and colors — that you want something that feels good underfoot and that ties in to the hues already in the room (or that you plan to use elsewhere).
Materials Explained
The materials you choose underfoot will have a fundamental effect on how you live in a space.
In this section, we're breaking down the different qualities of common rug materials in terms of how they contribute to the style and the practicality of your rug design. However, not every rug is a single material. Blends often have a practical or budgetary benefit. Wool and cotton blend rugs, take this Betula flatweave rug from John Lewis as an example, combine qualities. It's more durable and plush than a cotton rug, but cheaper than a pure wool rug.
Wool blended with polyester or Nylon will again retain that plush, hard-wearing quality of wool, but again cheaper, and often with the added benefit of reduced stain resistance and 'easy clean' qualities, as those manmade fibers don't absorb liquids as wool does.
Wool
Wool rugs hit the sweet spot between durability and feeling plush underfoot, and in terms of style, they bring an opportunity to bring an organic quality to the floor through texture.
"When I visited rug brand Tai Ping's Milan showroom earlier this year, it really struck home how versatile a material wool is," Livingetc.com's editor Hugh Metcalf tells me. "Seeing the variety of shades it naturally comes in is a neutral scheme-lovers' dream, but it takes color so well that the resulting rugs are vibrant, but never have that 'artificial' feel."
"Wool rugs are amazing," echoes Hannah Sher, co-founder of Heritage Threads and a professional rug restorer. "We work with some from the 1800s, and they wear really well."
It's one of designers' favorite choices too, but there are some drawbacks to this natural material. "The biggest culprit for ruining them is moths or carpet beetles, though," Hannah explains.
If you're worried about that possibility, that's where knowing where to put them is all important. "Wool is actually best for high-traffic areas that get disturbed a lot," Hannah says. "What these pests like best is the area under sofas, those dark, undisturbed places they can feast without being noticed."
"Just keep them vacuumed and put pheromone traps down to get rid of any moths," she adds.
Wool also tends to shed, but only temporarily.
Wool rugs tend to be the most expensive styles, but you'll still find larger options starting from £500 or so.
Hannah Sher is one of the co-founders of Heritage Threads, a premium rug restorer who works mostly with vintage rugs but also with modern ones that need some TLC. She has cared for rugs that are over 200 years old, and knows which materials will stand the test of time and which won't. "[Rugs] all have stories. It may be that people have been walking on them for centuries, or it could be that a puppy chewed it last week!'
Cotton
Cotton is easier to wash than wool — many cotton rugs can actually go straight into the washing machine, though do check if the backing specifically allows this before you try. That makes it the best for entryways, kitchens, anywhere that mess is likely to be made. The trouble with cotton is that colors tend to fade fast, especially when walked upon, so they are not a long-lasting, durable rug. "And as a result they're not a material we tend to see — they're not really worth restoring," Hannah says.
Cotton rugs are flatter, both visually and underfoot, too. They give a light, breezy effect, but not an expensive, plush look. They're often affordable, too, with larger sizes costing as little as £100 in some instances.
Jute
"This is one of the most hard-wearing materials you can have for a rug," Hannah says. "Jute will withstand pretty much any normal thing you can throw at it."
Jute is best for both budget-friendly and eco-conscious shopping — not only will a jute rug last and last (so you only have to buy once), but they are often not very expensive to start with. You can expect to find a decent-sized one for around £200.
They're made from sustainable plant fibers; they are fully biodegradable, meaning jute rugs won't sit in landfill forever once you're finally done with them. But what they have in affordability, they lack in real 'comfort' — jute tends to be slightly scratchy to walk on. This can be part of its charm — think rustic, think French vacation, think a Greek terrace — but it doesn't make for the most sumptuous living room.
Sisal
Similar to jute, sisal is just as eco-conscious (made from the fibers of agave plants) but tends to be more expensive than its counterpart. It is, however, best for pets — in my own living room, I have a large sisal rug that has withstood two puppies (now large dogs) and one cat whose favorite pastime is scratching threads out of the furniture and accessories.
However, sisal is not water-resistant and so doesn't do well with easy cleaning techniques. You can't shampoo it to get out a spot stain, and scrubbing will ruin the fibers, so don't choose sisal if you're prone to spillages.
Synthetic fibers
"Recycled plastic is becoming a very popular choice for modern rugs, as it is hardwearing and so is great for contemporary life," Hannah Sher says.
The best rug choice for a busy modern family: synthetic fibers are easy to clean, will last and last, and advances in technology have seen them become softer and softer. However, they are never really 'plush' (though recent design developments may soon see them become so), and they flatten fast, so if you're craving the feeling of sinking into a soft rug, it's better to go natural. Some synthetic materials can also cause static build-ups, too.
Brands like Ruggable are known for its Polyester rugs, which you're able to just throw in the washing machine, also.
How Are Rugs Made?
The secrets to their durability and design possibilities come from how rugs are crafted.
Depending on budget, rugs are either made by hand on looms, often in countries such as India and Nepal, which have been experts in the art of rug-making for centuries, or they're made by machine in a factory, mass-produced to larger scales and quantities. The latter tend to be more affordable, but the nuance of color you might get when a person is weaving each thread is likely to be less great.
Hand-knotted rugs made by individually tying thousands of knots onto a vertical loom may take many months and should last for many years. Hand-tufted rugs are faster to create and are made by a handheld tufting gun which punches yarn through a canvas - a little like a sewing machine crossed with a laser gun.
Handknotted vs Handtufted vs Machine-Made Rugs
"Hand-knotted rugs are more cleanable than hand-tufted rugs," says designer Olga Ashby. The reason for this? There is no glue used in the hand-knotting process, whereas in hand-tufting, it's a glue that holds the tufts together, and this can't withstand much water. Machine-made rugs tend to be tougher than any handmade ones, often with synthetic fibers, so they are even easier to keep clean. "But they lack the loop pile of a handmade rug, which is always just so beautiful to look at," Olga says.
Flatweave vs Pile
The pile is an important part of what to think about when wondering how to choose a rug — flatweave or with a thick, luscious pile? Both have their places in the home. "I love both," says the interior designer Alex Dauley. "It really depends on the scheme you're trying to create. For a more relaxed room I tend to go for a flatweave, while for a more luxe space I like a pile. If it's really luxe, I will look for a wool pile that has some silk in it too."
Flatweave, she says, is better for family life. "They are easier to maintain," Alex adds. "I put them in high-traffic areas like open-plan kitchen, living, dining spaces, or I will often see them as runners in entryways. Piles are what I would save for the principal bedroom or a really grown-up living room."
What's Trending in Rugs?
Irregular shapes are a growing design trend.
"I'm definitely seeing a lot more bold rugs now," Alex says when I ask her about rug trends. "There is a shift towards pattern and color, and not being afraid to use both. This plays into a general move towards a mood of exuberance, and being daring in our homes because we want them to be uplifting spaces full of joy. Because of that, I am also seeing a rise in custom rugs, usually handmade. People want to have autonomy over the colors in their rugs, and this is the best way to ensure that."
As for shapes, Alex is noticing that the classic rectangle isn't quite so common as it once was. "There is definitely a trend for irregularly shaped rugs," she says. "Some curves, some asymmetric edges. Again, this plays into people wanting their homes to feel really individual and personal to them."
Budget
There are a lot of factors that affect the overall cost of a rug.
Are Expensive Rugs Actually Worth It?
"Rugs can cost a lot, but they are worth every penny, for sure," says the designer Tatjana von Stein. "A rug is where you get a bit of drama, the comfort in a room, the feeling of the space. You want to step from something cool like a hardwood floor onto something warm, and you get a different sensation from a really well-made, hand-crafted rug."
Like with most pieces for the home, rug prices run the whole range. You can spend barely anything or several thousand per square inch. But as Tatjana points out, if you can afford it, you really do get what you pay for. An expensive rug usually comes with that price tag because of the hours, or weeks even, that have gone into making it, and the artistry that entails, and the sheer beauty and physical feeling you will get from it.
How Much Should You Spend?
"My favorite rug brand is Nordic Knots, as I love its colors and how durable they are," says Amber Pan, co-founder of the design studio Studio UMA. "I have suggested to many of my clients that we use this brand for it’s a heavy traffic areas, and the budget I'd expect to allow is between £3000 and £5000 for a medium-sized rug."
That is not the most she has ever spent, however. "In contrast, I have also used The Rug Company's artist collab rugs and Tan Carpet collectible ranges, which are usually on the higher end of thee price scale," Amber adds, noting a Rug Company rug can be several thousand pounds per square foot), "but they do amazing work together with artists. Because these are more expensive, I'd save them for use in a study, or hanging on a wall even. Definitely not in high traffic areas."
For a bedroom, it's worth spending more on a rug — to Olga's point earlier on how comforted you want to be first thing in the morning, the more luxe you can afford, the nicer it will feel. Because they don't have a lot of foot traffic, they will have a longer lifespan, so you might be able to justify them on a cost-per-year-of-ownership ratio. "I would often use silk in a bedroom, but only in a bedroom," says Tiffany Duggan of Studio Duggan, because it's too expensive to risk elsewhere. For living spaces, especially if you have kids and pets, it may be more sensible to keep the rug budget to under £1,000.
For under £1,000, you can afford a large, highly durable machine-made rug. Washable brands such as Hug Rug and Ruggable start at under £100 for smaller rugs and go up to around £ 1,200 for the largest and most expensive varieties. Meanwhile, jute rugs are available at brands like La Redoute for well under £100.
For between £1,000 and £10,000, you can afford a machine-made rug from a trend-led, designer favorite like Nordic Knots, while even luxe atelier Tai Ping starts at £ 1,200 for its ready-made wool rugs.
With a budget of over £10,000 you can afford to get a super-luxe brand like Deirdre Dyson, Tai Ping or The Rug Company to design a hand-made rug to your exact specifications, altering the size, color and shape to suit your precise needs.
Repair and Conservation
Depending on what sort of issue you have a rug, repair costs will vary massively. Dry cleaning a rug can be around £100-£200 to remove any stains, while holes, tears, and patching can cost anywhere from £100 to £1,500 at a company like Hannah Sher's Heritage Threads. If you have a handwoven rug and it needs to be sent back to makers overseas for repair, then the cost can usually start at around £700, all of which is worth factoring in when deciding how much to spend on a rug.
Practicalities
As well as how busy a room is, it's worth factoring in your home's residents into the equation.
Stain Resistance
"Pups tend to love natural materials and do their accidents on purpose when it’s a new natural rug," Amber says, which is as good a reason as any not to lay an expensive rug in a living space. "It's important to accept that accidents happen, whatever your living situation, and to make choices on materials for rugs according to how accident-prone you are likely to be."
Low-pile options or flatweaves are the most likely to be stain-resistant as liquids and dirt can't soak and sink into them in the way they can for deep piles. And while jute and sisal are hard to clean with water, the most stain-resistant rugs are going to be washable rugs made with man-made fibers.
Loop Pile and Pet Claws
As someone who has owned many styles of rugs and one very claw-y cat, there is no getting away from it. Pet claws will ruin a rug. It's been the tighter weaves and lower piles that have suffered the most - the areas she has pulled out are most immediately noticeable. On our shaggier rugs, with looser, deeper piles, it's harder to tell as the overall effect is bigger and more abundant anyway. Our jute rug has survived pet claws the very best, with no noticeable damage at all.
Darker Colors vs Patterns
"I am not the sort of person who could ever have a white rug," says the designer Minnie Kemp. "So I go for a jute and wool mix in at least two or more different colors. if you have a few colors in a pattern, it's harder to spot the mess. I feel like darker hues show up flecks of dust, while lighter rugs show up stains. Go for a pattern as your safest best for a really practical rug. It's why we use them in hotel projects."
Washable rugs vs Wool
I have an issue with my large washable rug — it's too big to fit in the machine. So while it seemed great in theory, I've been taking it to the specialist laundromat with the large washers, and then struggling to get it dry before it begins to smell. So don't assume a washable rug is the cure for all your woes. That said, the smaller washable rug we use in the entryway folds perfectly into our home machine and comes up like new every time — you'd never know that muddy dogs trample over it on the daily.
Meanwhile, our wool rug was the home of a pet accident recently, and a spot clean with some regular carpet cleaner was all it needed to bring it back to life. So choose a washable rug for a smaller area if you think it will need regular laundering, while a wool rug is fine for larger spaces if marks are likely to be contained.
Low Pile vs High Pile
"Low pile rugs are easier to keep clean," says Minnie Kemp. "You can dab them with a cloth and get a stain out really quickly. The trouble with high pile rugs is that your wine of coffee always manages to soak into them, and take a lot more care and time to make good as new again."
Low pile rugs are therefore better for family areas, and high pile rugs are better for spaces where food isn't eaten and kids are not sipping drinks.
FAQs
Why Do Rugs Shed?
Think of a rug as your favorite sweater — both can shed from time to time as fibers get loose through wear and tear. A new rug will tend to shed a lot early on, losing loose fibers trapped in its weave during the manufacturing process, something that tends to settle down over time and after the first three or four vacuums. High foot traffic can also cause rugs to shed, as people trample fibers loose within the weave.
"The best way to avoid rugs shedding is to have them vacuumed regularly, especially at the beginning of their life," says Minnie Kemp. "You shouldn't think of shedding as being part of a problem; it's usually just a natural part of having a handmade design." Machine-made rugs tend to shed less, as their creation process is more precise.
How Long Should a Good Rug Last?
"A good rug can last years, especially if you look after it well," says designer Olga Ashby. "I actually buy rugs that are treated to be stain-resistant, and then get them re-treated every year, a process that involves a spray by a professional. This does cost money, yes, but it prolongs the life of the rug, and means it can be something you pass down for generations."
A general rule is that the more expensive and better made a rug is, the longer it will last — often because people tend to treat these better. A budget rug in a house with pets or children can reasonably be expected to last between three and five years before starting to look tired and need replacing.
Are Washable Rugs Worth It?
Yes, washable rugs are worth it, especially if you want to lay a rug in a high traffic area, or have pets and kids or are prone to spillages yourself. A regular-sized rug can fit in a home washing machine and be dry by the next morning, ready to be replaced back in its position. Washable rugs tend to be cheaper than handmade designs, and are more resistant for stains (which can be washed right out of them with ease), meaning they are definitely worth it.
Where washable rugs fall down is if you have a large space and large washable rug, which will be too big to fit in your at-home machine and take so long to dry it will often start to smell before it does.