Design

What Size Rug Do I need for my Bedroom? Living Room? Dining Room?

November 10, 2020

We believe we should all love where we live.

We’re a couple of homebodies, working to uncover the home our home wants to be. And we’re so happy to have you here. 

Portfolio

Projects

Design

We're Chris + Julia

read more

What we're                   right now

Loving

browse the shop

Befores, afters, mood boards, plans, failures, wins. We’ve done a lot of projects, and they’re all here. 

We have a long-standing relationship with DIY, and love rolling our sleeves up and making it happen. 

Even when you don’t want to rip down a wall, you can make that space in your home better. Right now.

browse all

browse all

browse all

02

01

03

Popular Posts

1.

2.

3.

Top Categories

Whenever we post a photo of a space in our home, we always get at least a few questions asking “what size rug do you have in here?” I get it! Sometimes you just need a frame of reference to get started. But the chances are pretty slim that the dimensions of a room in our house are going to be the exact dimensions of the room in your home. And when it comes to rugs–room size matters the most! So we thought, with the launch of our rug line with Loloi yesterday, it was the perfect time to chat about what rug size you need.

We’ve always had a king size bed, and I thought that when you have a king sized bed, you have to at least have a 9×12 rug–so that’s what I got. I thought that was just the RULE. Our 9×12 area rug looked more like a wall to wall carpet, covering nearly every inch of our floor. We kept it for a couple years, and then eventually purchased an 8×10, which was far more suited for our room size and even made our space feel LARGER because there was some flooring seen around the edges.

In general: Larger rooms need larger rugs to ground them and smaller rooms sometimes need smaller rugs to make them look larger. And if you want to know what size rug we’d recommend–read on! We’re breaking down our guidelines below for the bedroom, living room and dining room (featuring rugs from our collection)!

Rug shown in graphic above Rosemarie Ivory/Natural

 

Rug shown above in our bedroom is Jules Merlot/Multi in 8’6″x11’6″

 

Rugs shown above Jules Merlot/Multi  & Alice-02 Cream/Charcoal

 

As you can see, many sizes will work for your bed size, so take into account to guidelines listed above. Particularly, leaving space around the edges of your room (even 7ish inches like below looks so clean!) and having it extend a distance on either side of the bed.

Rug shown above Jules Lagoon/Brick

The living room is where people generally go too small. A floating rug in the middle of a room can make your whole space feel disjointed and disconnected. Use a rug to ground and connect your seating. We used to have a 10×14 in our room, but now we have a 9×12 and it works! We followed the first guide and made sure the front of all of the seating was on the rug and there was plenty of width on either side of the sofa. A 9×12 worked for our orientation!

However! Our last living room was more narrow than it was long, and it called for a 10×14 because we needed a 10′ width and an 8×10′ made the whole long living room feel squish. So, we got a 10×14 and placed all the furniture on the rug and it felt so grounded. Again, it’s about taking into account your room size and your furniture placement. But here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Rug shown above Jules Lagoon/Brick

Rug shown above Jules Terracotta/Multi.

Lastly, let’s talk about dining rooms. We currently don’t have a rug in either of our dining areas because of young children, but we actually styled one of the Rosemarie’s (seen below) in the breakfast nook and it was incredible what it did for that space. I’m all about it now, especially with how easily these rugs clean up and how practical they are.

Here are two rules to remember when choosing a dining rug:

Rug shown above Rosemarie Sand/Lagoon

 

Rug shown above Rosemarie Sand/Lagoon

 

Rug shown above Rosemarie Sage/Blush

We are so grateful for the support and are here to help! We’ll be sharing each of the rugs in our stories so you can get an up close look at them and are happy to answer any additional questions!

You can shop the full Chris Loves Julia x Loloi collection right now on Wayfair, Rugs Direct and Amazon.

 

What do you think?

  1. Marie says:

    Great articles, especially this one, needing a large rug for a large bedroom and a large rug for a large living room. Was very helpful!

  2. Aminah says:

    I just called rugs direct and they told me that the 10×14 rosemarie rug I ordered won’t be shipped out until December 20th…. even though it said 5 in stock when I ordered. Do you think there is any chance the rugs will come back in stock sooner?

  3. Debbie Salt says:

    Thank you for this information. What about pile? Are there certain rooms or times to get a plush high pile? Or times to stay with a low pile?

  4. Christa says:

    Would love to hear you recommendations for rug placement under sectional couch.

  5. Grace says:

    Hi there! Which of the collections would be best for layering in a bedroom over carpet? I’d love to put a rug under our (very heavy, wood platform) bed, but am worried it won’t lay flat.
    Suggestions?

    • Julia says:

      Honestly all of them would work over carpet! It just depends on how thick it is. If you have a low pile carpet, you should be good with any of them.

  6. Courtney F says:

    Do you have any tips for a bedroom where the bed is placed in a corner? Our guest room is 10×14 and the door into the bedroom is in the middle of the long wall, so the full size bed has to be in a corner.

  7. Brooke says:

    Beautiful rugs! I love those cane back chairs in the photo with the Rosemarie Lagoon/Sand rug! Do you happen to know where they’re from?

  8. Elizabeth says:

    I’m so happy I purchased a rug two days ago because all the large sizes are sold out. Will it be a long time before they are restocked? I was hoping to buy another one! They are all so beautiful!

  9. Rebecca says:

    Where is the dining table and chairs from that’s in the first picture? Thank you!

  10. Thanks very much, your guidance has been most useful.

  11. Sarah foster Lowlicht says:

    Love the New collection!
    1. Our bedroom is small 11X10. (1940s house)
    2. We have kind size bed.
    3. We just bought a new Pine color headboard.

    What size rug should we get and which pattern from your collection??

    Thanks ????

  12. Rebecca says:

    Where is the table and chairs in the first image from?

  13. Christina says:

    Just wondering – why should the rug be 10” away from nightstands? Could you put the rug fully underneath bed and nightstands?

  14. Jamie says:

    Do you think these would stand up well enough in a kitchen? I’m dying to place the Rosemarie Gold/Sand one in mine.

    These really are such gorgeous and thoughtfully curated rugs. Thank you so much!

  15. Virginia Napoli says:

    Love them all! Would love to hear your thoughts on rugs over carpet. I have a nice wool carpet in my bedroom but think a rug might be a nice addition. But wonder about putting it over the carpet. Thanks!

  16. Kelly says:

    What size rug would you get for a 60” round dining table going in a 11’7” x 14 dining room?

  17. Valerie Topkis says:

    We have an oval table in our dining room, and so I purchased an oval rug. But it is not quite big enough. Does an oval table need to have an oval rug?

  18. Kathryn says:

    Thank you! This guide is really helpful. Do you have any recommendation for how an L-shaped sectional should sit on a rug?

  19. Ashley says:

    What do you recommend for sized for runners for the kitchen

  20. Brittney says:

    What do you recommend for an office with a desk that’s against the wall?

  21. Mackenzie says:

    What size/shape of rug would you do in a kitchen nook (for a square table that measures 36” x 36”)? We currently have a 5 foot round rug but the chair legs are out past the rug when someone is sitting.

  22. Hannah says:

    What would you do if you have a small bedroom with a queen bed with the side against the wall?

  23. Agnes says:

    This is such a helpful post! What would you recommend for a sectional couch? Should the front legs of the couch be on the edge of the rug? Our space is open, with the kitchen open to the living room area. Thank you so much!

  24. Sarah says:

    Love this rug size guide and your new collection!

  25. Margret says:

    Love these but everything is out of stock in the large sizes.

  26. Aminah says:

    I just ordered the 10×14 Rosemarie in Sage Blush for my living room. Really nervous as I have an original hand knotted persian rug in here right now but it is just too small for the space and the rosemarie looks so pretty in the pictures. Does it look like the printed kind at all? I’m really hoping it will look like it does in the pictures. Congrats on your new line. You deserve the success, I’ve been following since 2014 and you guys are amazing at what you do.

  27. RC says:

    I love the living room with the black fireplace surround so much. So beautiful. Would love to see a full home feature on this house, if that’s a house that can be featured?

  28. Monika says:

    our bedroom is so small and there are floor vents that can’t be covered… 6×8 is the magical unicorn rug I can never find anywhere :(

  29. Michelle says:

    Love you rug collection!

  30. Leslie says:

    Which rug would you suggest for a room with dark grayed out green walls? (like Benjamin Moore’s Cushing green) Congratulations in the new rug line, they are all beautiful! :)

  31. Ashley says:

    Should the rug always be centered under the bed? My bed is closer to one wall than the other, and because of this, the rug underneath is only about 3” away from the wall. If I move the rug over so it’s a few more inches from the wall, it won’t be centered under the bed.

    • Julia says:

      In our room, it actually isn’t! One side of our bed of closer to the fireplace so e we left about 7” of space on that side and it’s off centered towards the closet! But when you walk in the door you’ll never notice.

      • Andria says:

        Love all the rugs. I absolutely love the dining table and chairs in the last photo. And the bedside table in the last bedroom photo❤️❤️

all the latest

We believe we should all love where we live.

We’re a couple of homebodies, working to uncover the home our home wants to be. And we’re so happy to have you here. 

HI! We're Chris + Julia

read more

Load More

Reader Faves

SHop all

What We're                     Right Now

What We're                 Right Now

Looking for our favorite things? A place to shop our home room by room, or just catch up on what Julia's wearing / loving right now? Browse the CLJ shop. 

Loving

looking for inspiration? 

The next project we’re checking off our 2023 project list is the mudroom! This used to be the laundry room until we built out a much bigger, better laundry room upstairs. So, in the meantime, this space has been exclusively Cricket’s room. Cricket will still have a special space here, but we’re transforming this dingy […]

Can We Send You Our Love Letter?

Another way for us to stay in touch! Joining our weekly newsletter gives you access to exclusive content, never-before-seen photos, your questions answered, and our favorite DIYs. Sign up below!

Follow Along on Instagram

Welcome to our online community where we've posted home, DIY, style, renovations, and family since '09. Renovating our #cljmoderncottage in Idaho and headed for new adventures in Raleigh, NC. #cljfam #cljtransformations

@chrislovesjulia