SIZE

The rug is almost always too small. It is the most reliable mistake in furnishing a room, and it happens because people buy the size that feels safe rather than the size the floor needs. A rug that is one band too small makes a room look smaller; a rug that is one band too large almost never does. Measure first.

The five bands

Hand-knotted rugs are not made to standard dimensions, so the trade sorts them into bands rather than sizes. 3x5 covers hall and bedside pieces. 4x6 is the seating-area size for a small room. 6x9 is the most common living-room size. 8x10 takes a full sitting group or a dining table with chairs pulled out. 12x18 is for rooms where the rug defines the floor rather than sitting on it.

The front-legs rule

Under a sofa and chairs, the rug should reach at least under the front legs of every piece of furniture in the group. That is the line between a rug that ties the seating together and a rug that floats in the middle of it like a mat. If the budget forces a choice between a finer rug that is too small and a plainer one that fits, the plainer one will look better in the room. This is the one place where size beats quality.

Under a dining table

Measure the table, then add at least 60 centimetres on every side so a chair stays on the rug when it is pushed back. A dining rug also takes more abuse than any other in the house, so it wants a wool pile and not a silk one, and a busy field hides more than an open one.

Corridors and narrow rooms

A corridor wants a runner, and the useful measurement is not the corridor's length but the length of the clear run between doors. Leave a hand's width of floor showing on each long side. For a stair landing or a small square hall, a square often works where a cut-down rectangle would not.

Why the stated size is approximate

A rug comes off the loom and relaxes, and no two edges are identical. A piece listed as 8x10 may measure 7'9" by 10'2". Every rug here carries its own measured dimensions in feet, inches and metres, and those are the numbers to plan with. If a few centimetres decide the question, read the measurement rather than the band, and consider whether a different shape solves the room more cleanly.