What is the rule on rugs in a living room?

Author: Mr. Buck Considine I  |  Last update: Friday, October 3, 2025

GENERAL RULES: Typical living room rug sizes are 8'x10′ and 9'x12′. Make sure your rug is at least 6″ wider (8″ is ideal) than your sofa on both sides.

What is the 18 inch rule for rugs?

The 18-inch rule: This is a well-known standard in interior design. It stipulates that there should be around 18 inches of uncovered floor between the edge of your rug and the walls of the room to keep everything in good proportion. Reduce this to around 8 inches for smaller rooms.

Where should a rug be placed between couch and TV?

One option is to center the rug in the middle of the room, with the sofa and TV both positioned on top of it. Alternatively, you could place the rug at an angle, with the front legs of the sofa and any other seating on the rug, and the TV mounted on the wall above it.

How much of a living room should an area rug cover?

Living Room

No matter the size, you'll want to leave 18 to 24 inches of exposed floor around the perimeter. If you like to keep your furniture legs off the rug a 5x7 size is recommended. An 8x10 rug will fill the visual space of the seating area and should have the front legs of your furniture placed around the edges.

How far should a rug go under a couch?

How far should a rug go under a couch? A rug should go about 3 inches or so underneath the front legs of a couch. What you want to avoid is not having any part of the rug underneath the couch because the rug is too small—doing so might make the rug look like it's floating in the middle of the space.

Interior hacks: Rug placement guide for your living room

What is the rule of thumb for a rug?

As a rule of thumb, a rug should be large enough to anchor your furniture whilst leaving some of the floor exposed. When in doubt, go for the biggest size possible – there's nothing worse than an undersized rug!

How do you coordinate a rug with a couch?

How to Choose a Rug for your Living Room Sofa
  1. Identify a Common Colour. Probably the simplest option to pair your rug and sofa together is to match up the colour. ...
  2. Tonal. For something more delicate, stick to the same tones. ...
  3. Size and Scale. ...
  4. Textures. ...
  5. Match Rug and Cushions. ...
  6. Layers. ...
  7. Keep Neutral.

How far should couch be from TV in living room?

Generally speaking, you should place your TV around double the distance of the screen size away from your sofa. This sounds a bit confusing but it's quite simple. If you have a 60-inch TV, your sofa should be placed double the distance away - so 120 inches, or about 3 metres.

How do I know where to put my rug?

3 Key Rug Placement Rules for Any Room
  1. The 18-inch rule - Regardless of which room you're dealing with, your area rug should never be closer than 18 inches to your walls or baseboards.
  2. Don't overpower the room by covering too much floor.
  3. Don't diminish the rug by leaving too much surrounding floor exposed.

What is the most popular size area rug for living room?

What Is the Average Size Living Room Rug? The standard area rug size for the living room is 9' x 12', but just because this is one of the most popular rug sizes doesn't mean it'll work for everyone. The average dimensions of a living room are 16' x 20', but in some apartments, they're as small as 10' x 13' or 7' x 10'.

Should a couch be against a wall?

It's generally agreed by designers that sofas should not actually touch the wall. Even if they come close, you should leave at least a small gap between the couch and the wall. Whether you should arrange your furniture in the middle of the room or push it back closer to the walls can boil down to personal preference.

Can you put a round rug under a couch?

Just make sure you know how to flatten a rug to make it work for the space under your couch. A round rug is perfect for adding interest under a couch or table setting without taking away from the furniture itself.

What is the rug rule for sofas?

What is the rule of thumb for rug size? The rule of thumb is to choose a rug that's large enough to fit under all furniture legs in a seating area, or at minimum, the front legs of major pieces.

What is the 80 rug rule?

What is the 80 percent carpet rule? The 80 percent carpet rule (or 80/20 carpet rule) is a requirement for tenants to cover at least 80 percent of their floors with carpets or rugs to help reduce noise.

How do you tell if a rug is too big for a room?

Measure your room carefully. The rug should fit comfortably within the dimensions of the room, leaving a border of exposed floor around it. A common rule of thumb is to leave at least 12-18 inches of bare floor around the rug's edges.

How far should a couch be from a coffee table?

Living and Family Rooms

Leave about 16 inches between a coffee table and a couch, to allow plenty of leg room. Choose a table that's within about four inches of the sofa's height. Select end tables that are about the same height as the arm of the couches or chairs they will be placed next to.

Should TV be higher or lower than couch?

Most sofa seating heights are close to 18 inches above the floor, and eye level for an adult seated in a relaxed manner is about 24 inches above the seat. That puts the optimum, center-of-television height for a typical seated viewer at 42 inches (18 inches + 24 inches).

Should your rug be the same color as your couch?

Complementary or Contrasting

If the rug conveys a similar color or a color sharing the same tone, then the rug will act as a complementary accent to the sofa. If the rug dramatically uses a different color or a warm/cold tone that opposes the sofa's own tone, then the rug will stand out more thanks to the contrast.

What size rug should be in relation to a sofa?

In terms of width, it's good if the rug extends under at least 1/3 of the sofa. Keep in mind that two smaller rugs can function as a larger one if they are next to each other (if the rugs have a long pile, the edges will not be visible).

What color rug should I get with a grey couch?

Neutral colors of white, brown, and tan look exceptional next to any piece of furniture. Brown tends to blend well with any other color, making it a nice choice for a rug in front of a gray couch. Opt for medium tones of brown to make your rug and couch blend together.

How should you place rugs in living room?

Living Room Rug Placement

Try leaving at least 3 inches of carpet in front of the legs to anchor the furniture. The back legs can stay off the rug as long as the front legs stay on. Try keeping all the legs of smaller pieces of furniture on the living room area rug.

What is the 18 inch rug rule?

In larger rooms, you should follow the 18-inch rule and aim to have around 18 inches of flooring visible between the edge of the rug and the walls. This works better in enclosed, separate rooms rather than open-plan spaces.

What size rug is good for a living room?

Typically, an 8' x 10' rug works for most living rooms. For living rooms smaller than 11' x 13', try a 6' x 9' rug. Unless your living room is very small, avoid a 5' x 8' rug for the space. It often ends up simply floating beneath the coffee table, which ends up making the space look smaller.

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