How to Choose Area Rugs to Complement Your Home's Decorating Style

With the eclectic looks prevalent in home decor today, there's a lot of leeway in rug choices. But here are some ideas.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Area Rugs
• Pads Of Paper

1. Use a faded Oriental (from a fine antique Persian to a kilim or dhurrie) or Aubusson, a plain sisal, or a flowery hooked Victorian in an English country style room.
2. Go with a flowery hooked rug or an Oriental rug for a Victorian interior; shop for a faded Oriental or an Aubusson in a French country style room.
3. Find an Oriental or Aubusson for an Old World-style room.
4. Keep the rug plain and spare in a minimalism-style room. Options include a solid-color sisal or solid-color chenille over a hard-surface floor.
5. Put an obviously manmade rug in a high-tech room. A shag style, sisal or a flat commercial-style carpet work well.
6. Use a hooked rug, rag rug or painted canvas floor cloth (florals, trompe l'oeil or a motif matching another textile in the room) in cottage, American country and garden-style rooms.
7. Look for a William Morris-style rug, perhaps with an essentially abstract design, for arts and crafts style rooms, including Mission.
8. Select a fun faux zebra, leopard or tiger rug for a striking option in eclectic-ethnic decor. Sisal, coir and flat-woven, nubby dhurries work well, too.
9. Go with a nubby, handwoven geometric (possibly a stripe) or a sisal or coir rug for Mexican country style rooms.

Tips & Warnings

• Think about the overall ambience - luxurious, fun, casual, formal, natural - when choosing an area rug.
• In a home office, choose a fairly thin, flat rug if you're rolling on it with a wheeled office chair.

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