Using smaller-than-room-size rugs to highlight particular areas in a room can be challenging if not daunting, due to several subjective factors that affect the choice of rugs and their placement. However, as in many instances there are ‘rules’ or norms that may be followed when placing rugs in a room. Some of these are the following:

Use a rug to fill up a large room. You can do this by choosing a corner or section of a large room to place a rug. Choose a size like 4′x6′ or 5′x7′ so it won’t be too large. You may want to choose a hexagon shape or round shape to enhance the look in that area. Try placing a small table on top of the rug. Barely place the front legs of each chair on the rug and the rest of the chair can be off the rug.

When buying a rug for the dining area you want to measure the top of your dining room table and then add at least two feet all around. This will give you an idea of how large your rug must be. You want to be able to scoot the dining room chairs back and still be on the carpet.

Try not to place heavy furniture on the rugs. This includes your china cabinets and serving tables.

When placing a rug down in your bedroom you may want to consider small rugs placed around your bed and in front of your furniture. This will accent your area and not look overwhelming. Placing a large rug in your bedroom will probably get covered up by the bed. This may make it difficult to keep cleaned and vacuumed.

Be sure to center the rugs that you place down in your bedroom to center a round the furniture. It will make the room seem off balance if you do not center.

If you have an empty area in front of your fireplace or a bookshelf you may want to try centering a rug in front of it. When you add a rug it helps to give life and dcor to that particular area and compliments the rest of the room instead of taking over it. You may want to consider an oriental rug for these areas.

When selecting a rug you may want to lean more toward hand woven rugs instead of rugs made by machines. They are more durable and made better. If you have a rug in a high traffic area you will want to choose dark colored tones in your rug to hide the traffic paths.