Medium Rugs (5×7 to 6×9)

From about 6 by 9 up to 8 by 10 feet. The 8 by 10 is the commonest room rug in the Western market, and for a mid-sized sitting room or a dining table seating six it is usually the correct answer rather than a compromise. Both city workshops and village looms supply this band, so it is the size where the widest range of quality meets the widest range of price.

Sizing a sitting room

One rule settles most arguments: the front legs of every seat should stand on the rug. Not the whole sofa, necessarily, but the front legs, so the seating and the rug read as one piece of furniture. An 8 by 10 will do that for a three-seat sofa with a chair either side, provided the group is reasonably tight. A 6 by 9 will do it for a two-seat sofa and one chair. If the seating is spread against three walls of a large room, no rug in this band will reach, and the honest answer is the next band up.

Sizing a dining table

A dining rug has to extend about 24 inches beyond the table edge on every side, because that is how far a chair travels when someone pushes back to stand. Get it wrong and the back legs drop off the edge every meal, which is both irritating and how the edge of a rug is destroyed. Work it backwards: a table 3 and a half by 6 feet needs roughly 7 and a half by 10 feet of rug, so an 8 by 10 is right and a 6 by 9 is not. A round table 4 feet across needs 8 feet in every direction, which is where round and square rugs earn their place.

Who weaves this size

Almost everyone, which is why this band is worth shopping carefully. Heriz village weaving is at its best around 8 by 10 or a little larger, and the format suits its big angular medallion. Tabriz, Kashan and Sarouk workshops all treat it as standard, Ziegler production is built around it, and Bakhtiari panel rugs scale up to it well because the pattern is a grid and simply gains compartments.

Weight and handling

An 8 by 10 in wool on a cotton foundation weighs roughly 40 to 60 pounds. One determined person can drag it. Two people can carry it rolled without damaging it, and rolled is the only way it should ever travel, pile outward, never folded. For the smaller end of a room rug, see 4x6 to 6x9, and for how the format itself came about, rectangular rugs. The full ladder is at rugs by size.