Burning Question: Rug On Rug Action?
We wanted to take your pulse on this always controversial subject. Do you guys like the area rug over wall-to-wall carpet look? Or do you prefer not to layer the two (and only endorse accent rugs on harder surfaces, like hardwood or tile floors)?
We’re itching to hear where you stand on the issue. In fact, we whipped up this handy little poll to keep everything tabulated:
[poll id="15"]
We’d love to hear more about why you voted the way you did, so feel free to comment away with more details.
Image courtesy of PointClickHome.
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I once saw Nate Berkus (on Oprah) tell a woman to NEVER layer rugs (with a horrified expression), so I was kind of a snob about the layering for a while..but then I’ve seen it done really well, so I think it just depends on the space (as is the case with every design decision it seems).
(Also, glad little Clara is cooperating :)
Like others have said, the photo shown makes it look great, but I usually prefer nice area rugs over hard woods…but what I’m really staring at are those windows! So glad to hear everything is going so smoothly with your sweet girl!
Here’s my question concerning rug on carpet action: How in the heck do you get the rug (and whatever’s on it) to stay in place? We tried taping the rug down with industrial double-sided tape, using the no skid pads and NOTHING worked. We had a heavy coffee table on it and the rug kept moving and getting bunched up against our couch. We finally had to remove the rug because it became too annoying to continuously have to move it (and the coffee table on top of it) back in place.
Anyone have any tips for Laura?
xo,
s
I’ve seen done well and badly. Hopefully the example I have at my house is a good one. My tv room has horrible low-ply, stained, cheap commercial carpet that I can’t yet change out. So I layered a bright, thin rug over the worst parts and called it a day. I don’t feel gross walking on it in bare feet anymore, thank goodness.
I had a large rug under my coffee table in an apartment with carpeted floors. While I liked the definition it gave to the living room area, I hated the way it wrinkled up. The table legs pushed into the carpet pile and bunched the rug up. I’m not a fan of rugs on carpet for that reason, I think they usually look bunchy and messy.
I absolutely hate wall to wall carpet. My new home was covered in wall to wall carpet in the living room, dining room, stairs, hallway, and 2 bedrooms. The third had a rug. They are a pain in the butt to pull up and the people who installed the rugs were very staple happy so I am still pulling out staples 6 months later.
I hope to get my hardwood floors refinished soon and will use area rugs. I like the hardwood floors but I prefer to be barefoot in the house so I like something warm underneath my feet.
I am not sure how I feel about rugs on carpeting. My 11×10 bedroom is carpeted but not big enough to take a rug. If I did use a rug, virtually none of the carpeting (which is brand new and dreamy to walk on barefoot/no shoes allowed!) would even show.
How lovely that you two are both still getting lots of shut-eye even with a new baby. I don’t have children but I have heard sleep deprivation is one of the hardest parts about being a new parent. Fingers crossed that your good luck continues!
Putting a rug on top of another rug is like wearing a belt when you are already wearing suspenders.
Personally, I think it’s a great idea, particularly when you’re renting (like us) and don’t have any say over what the floor looks like. Because no matter how much they steam clean the carpet, the truth is that apartment carpet will never be without stains or a dull tinge unless it is brand new. We have area rugs over the carpet in our living room and our daughter’s room. Judge for yourself whether we did it well: http://www.greenyourdecor.com/4378/big-reveal-special-room-janaya/
PLUS, there’s the environmental issue — as in, what in the world is the apartment carpet made of? At least we can choose more sustainable materials for our area rugs. For us, the biggest benefit is that our daughter has a much cleaner place to play than the wall-to-wall carpet because we can pick up the rugs and have them cleaned. Because at the end of the day, our carpet will end up covered in any germs that we track into the house — no matter how often we vacuum. Although we do take our shoes off at the door (most of the time) to try to minimize all that wear and tear. That’s my two (five?) cents :) Didn’t mean to write a book!
Right now we have a rug on top of carpet. I’d prefer not to, but until we get the time to pull up our carpet and refinish our floors it’s the only solution for keeping the carpet (almost white – came with the house) somewhat clean with our two little girls (4 yrs and 15 months).
For those of us that live in apartments, we don’t really have the choice of tile or hardwood floors – it’s typically carpet, carpet, and ugly carpet at that! How do you break up a living space without committing the rug on rug crime?
Hey Blair,
We’re actually fans of the area rug on carpet look when it’s done well- check out the picture of Phuong’s bedroom and Blayne’s living room in our Portfolio. You’re right that the carpet shouldn’t be all shaggy and long (low or medium/standard pile seems to work best) and a neutral tone of carpet (cream, tan, taupe) seems to blend best into the background (while no area rug could likely save wall to wall mustard or magenta carpeting). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I don’t really care for wall-to-wall carpeting at all. That said, if you do have wall-to-wall, I like the definition of area rugs. Within reason. I’ve also seen too many, and the textures not working together, and colors clashing, and general ICK. So I answered with the third choice.
Would you say you need a pretty low-pile carpet for this to look good?
Hey Katherine,
We’re actually fans of the area rug on carpet look when it’s done well- check out the picture of Phuong’s bedroom and Blayne’s living room in our Portfolio. You’re right that the carpet shouldn’t be all shaggy and long (low or medium/standard pile seems to work best) and a neutral tone of carpet (cream, tan, taupe) seems to blend best into the background (while no area rug could likely save wall to wall mustard or magenta carpeting). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Jennifer S. – I love it!
Tip for Laura:
I have a wooden floor and to make the carpet stay in place I use that “rubber mesh”, especially made for this purpose, I think that the mesh could work even between rug and carpet, have you tried?
http://www.ikea.com/it/it/catalog/products/50093539
I love that this question just came up, as we just closed (yesterday actually) on our first house which unfortunately has wall to wall carpeting. We are planning to redo the flooring at some point, but will need to live with the carpet for awhile.
Our house is a mid-century modern house built in the 60′s with a big great room (over 500 sq ft)full of windows that will serve as our formal living room and dining room. We will definitely want to break up those areas, and I’m thinking we’ll need to use some rugs on the carpet. Several of the posts on here talk about the type of carpet that work best to put rugs on…but what are the best types/textures of rugs to look for to put on carpet?
We always love a jute or natural fiver rug layered over carpeting ( although it should be at least a shade lighter or darker than the carpet for definition). For other examples of the area rug on carpet look, check out the picture of Phuong’s bedroom and Blayne’s living room in our Portfolio. They’re both beautiful patterned carpets over a neutral tone of carpet (cream, tan, taupe) which is also the formula used in the photo for this post. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I have hardwood in my family room, kitchen & dining room and carpet in bedrooms and living room. I have a natural fiber rug (Pottery Barn) over the carpet in the living room. It defines the space. (and keeps the carpet clean).
Also have one over the hardwood in the family room. I love both looks and they are appropriate for each room.
I prefer nice bare hardwood with maybe some small rugs around but carpet and a rug? It is unhealthy (to much dust to hang on) and for not even pretty.
I have wall to wall carpet with rugs over in several areas of my home. I did it to protect our very light colored carpet and to add some color. I also have it in a formal living room/dining room and it helps define the space. I just think of it as an accessory for your carpet. The sea of beige needs some jazzing up! And honestly, didn’t think I would like it until I tried it!
I have all hardwoods so I just can’t imagine wanting to put a rug over carpet. I suppose if I had wall-to-wall carpet I could see myself trying to find a trendy way to incorporate an area rug. ;)
Well, I don’t like it to be honest but sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do! Having rented for a while, I got tired of the blah white walls and blah beige carpet. I *had* to do something! Area rugs are great for dividing a space into two recognizable zones (ie, dining and living area). And area rugs are so much easier to keep clean than wall-to-wall carpet, so much healthier too! You have no idea how many allergens can live in carpet!
Loooove this look! I think a bold pattern rug, like the one shown, gives more definition to the space on top of the solid textural neutral rug. It can give a blah space a very high end feel if all the design elements are balanced. So yeah, I guess that part take a bit of talent, but still, more plush textiles under foot = more cozy comfort!!! also check this out for more ideas if you want…
http://www.rugdesignblog.com/2009/04/layered-rugs.html
Cristina: The rubber mesh pad was one of our first “fixes” that didn’t work. I imagine that it works GREAT when the rug is sitting on hardwood floors, but notsomuch on a rug that’s sitting atop carpet.
Lisa: At least I know that I’m not alone in the rug bunching up dilemma. :)
Any other ideas out there?
I like rugs on carpet in some situations. We have a lot of faily plain carpet in our house. Adding a rug in some rooms allows some individual expression eg. in our kids bedrooms, and helps larger rooms like our family room looking a little bland. Then, if you want to change the look of a room a bit, we can change the rug without the hassle of changing all the carpet. All I have to do is get my kids to stop putting lolly wrappers under the rug and in the rubbish bin instead!
Hey S & J,
I love this picture and am going to use it as my inspiration piece for my master bedroom redo as it has all the colours that I wanted to use so thank you for putting a”face” to my thoughts :)
I was wondering if you would know/suggest where I could find a bed throw similar to the in the picture? I tried to find the source picture from the link you provided but was unable to. Any direction would be great.
Thanks!
Hey Kiran,
West Elm and overstock.com are two places that usually carry similar types of rugs. You can also check out ebay and cb2.com for more options. Happy hunting!
xo,
s
Where did the lovely patterned rug in this photo come from? I want one!
Hey Becky,
Unfortunately we don’t know the source of the rug in this photo (although you can follow the photo credit to try to find out at the bottom of the post) but we’ve seen similar rugs at West Elm, CB2, and even on ebay. Happy hunting…
xo,
s
Tip for Laura -
We had the same problem in our living room. We put down a thin layer of wood block (or use anything sturdy) under the rug (but on top of the carpet) where each of the table legs go. It keeps the table firmly on top of the rug without the sinking down and bunching.
Good luck!
Thanks so much for sharing that tip for Laura, Chelsea!
Question for john & sherry, do u think a rug on carpet generally makes a room look larger or smaller?
Our argument would be larger because it defines different zones within a room, which can make it appear to have more functions and areas (which equals a larger space). Hope it helps!
xo,
s