How to create a rug that is perfect for your home

We often consider a rug as a styling element, an addition to a room to add either colour, texture or both.   However, a rug has a much larger role to play in terms of finishing a space and in fact should be planned and considered at the beginning of the design process.  How many of us have built or renovated a home, considered paint colours and furniture and then at the last minute rushed out and bought a rug to complete the room?  Hopefully it was the right choice but it can be a lottery and sometimes you may have preferred a different style or size but didn't factor this in at the beginning.  Wouldn't it be ideal if you could create a rug that is perfect for your home?

I am a big fan of rugs and get very twitchy when I see a large open plan area that hasn't been zoned by the inclusion of them.  You can only just imagine how empty and hollow the room would feel.  In fact if I see a dining table without a rug or a cosy corner with sofas and coffee tables that isn't grounded by one, I just feel that the room is incomplete.  I was therefore really excited to see this new venture from Carpet Court offering a custom made rug service using my favourite carpet supplier, Cavalier Bremworth, and decided to find out more.  Heather Nette King is an interior stylist and Carpet Court Style Ambassador and she has the following advice.

About Carpet Court's custom rug service

Finding the perfect rug for your space, including the shape, colour and size, hasn’t always been an easy task says Heather Nette King, interior stylist and Carpet Court Style Ambassador.  “The concept of creating a custom Carpet Court rug that’s perfect for your own space is underpinned by the knowledge that they are created from the highest quality New Zealand wool – which is world renowned,” says Nette King. “The rug won’t just be perfectly shaped and sized for your room, but the touch and feel are obviously superior, as is the longevity of the colour.”

Customising a rug

When customising a rug, consider its impact on all elements within a room. “A well-chosen rug is incredibly important as it has the power to fully resolve a room and pull together many of the other decorating elements – the palette, the furniture styles, mood, even the composition of space,” says Nette King. “This means considering the size, shape and colour of your rug at the beginning of the design process, not when you’re shopping for accessories and décor items.”

Integrating a rug into a space is instrumental in creating zones

“The ability to define a lounge area, or a dining space helps make visual sense of large spaces. The right size and shape rug will help anchor the furniture and ensure the composition of your room is both sensible and practical, as well as being a delight to your eyes,” she says. “Circular rugs can be particularly stunning underneath round dining tables – they will really act to define and elevate that space. Rectangular rugs are obviously great for hallways, but they can also be used to create ‘walkways’ in larger spaces, to lead the eye and the foot traffic through a zoned room.” “In a lounge-room, I love rugs to sit underneath the front legs of a chair or sofa. I’m not a fan of the ‘flying carpet’ look that a too-small rug will resemble in a living zone,” she says. “Similarly, a rug that is too large for a space will work against other design decisions, by covering too much of the chosen hard flooring underneath, or by bumping against window furnishings that should gracefully touch the floor.”

Consider the type of yarn

There are six pile styles in Carpet Court’s Custom Rug Rage; Allure, Drift, Escape, Harmony, Immerse and Indulge – each offering a nuanced design style, so you are sure to find one that is perfect for your home, says Nette King. The three stand-out styles, for Nette King, are Harmony, Allure and Indulge. “The softness of the Harmony range makes for a delicious feel underfoot, thanks to its unique felted yarn construction – I’d love this one by my bedside, so it was the first thing my toes touched in the morning. “I love how the chunky base yarn of New Zealand felted wool has been overlaid with a finer yarn, in Allure, to create a really interesting texture. This would be perfect for a high traffic area, such as a hallway or room divide. “The super-robust felted wool, seen in Indulge, has a handcrafted look to it – like a contemporary take on an ancient tradition. I love this one with a border and could easily see it in a lounge room or a home office space.”

 

According to Nette King, your rug must not ever be an afterthought. “You should consider it to be as important as the rest of the pieces in the room – from the furniture to the hard flooring, to the window furnishing and paint colour,” she says. Carpet Court’s Custom Rug Range can be ordered online and delivered to your door in six – ten weeks; this may vary for regional locations. For peace of mind, sample swatches can be ordered and a guide to choosing the perfect rug can be found online. Prices for Carpet Court’s Custom Rug Range start from $2820.00 (2.00m x 3.00m size).

My tips to create a rug that is perfect for your home

• At the beginning of the design process, put together an interiors mood board with all of your ideas to help you define the look, style and colour scheme that you want.  I have a guide to putting a mood board together in my FREE Resource Library.  Take advantage of sample services from suppliers to gather together all of the elements in the room.
• A colour scheme should work from the ground up, so ensure that you select your flooring first.  The colour of timber or tiles that you select will flow onto all of your subsequent decisions.
• For an open plan area, consider how you will use and zone the space.  Always ensure that you include a rug in these areas.
• When you choose a size for the dining room rug, measure your table and leave ample room to move out dining chairs without catching the edge of the rug.
• Always position a living room rug slightly underneath sofas and occasional chairs as the rug will link these elements together.
• Consider where you will be using the rug and select the correct pile.  You will need a harder, more robust yarn for high traffic areas and a softer, comforting yarn for bedrooms.
• As part of your overall decorating plan, consider whether you want to define the edges of the rug with a fabric trim or if you want to keep the look more simple with a concealed edge.
• When you create a rug that is perfect for your home, ensure that you select it at the beginning so that the colour and texture tie in with all of your choices.

Related: How to select the right rug

If you're starting a new build or renovation you should review your flooring choices together with a rug to complement them.  I have all you need to know about choosing engineered oak flooring here.

Did you know that I have a Free Resource Library where you can download comprehensive exterior and interior checklists and e-books to help you with your new build, renovation or decorating project.  Download for FREE here.