It is important to choose the perfect rug for your dining room to complement its interior decor since that is the place where you and your guests gather together. Your dining room is where meaningful connection occurs, stories are swapped and beautiful meals are enjoyed. Thus, it’s important to pick a rug that will make your room feel luxurious and homely. The right rug goes a long way in finishing off your dining room, so take the time to choose the perfect fit for your home.
Not all rugs are suitable to be used in your dining space. A carpet’s ability to serve both aesthetically and functionally in this room is determined by factors such as its size, shape, and pile.
Here are six tips for choosing the perfect rug for your dining room.
1. Be Aware of Spills:
Although lighter colours are lovely, dining rooms are not the best place to use them. Be aware that spills are inevitable, and they will show up more readily on lighter rugs. Although you may love to have a cream carpet in your dining room, it will no longer look pristine after many years of gatherings with family and friends.
Darker colours are your best friend in choosing a rug for your dining room. Blacks, dark greys, and deep blues will hide spills and stains, meaning you can enjoy your meal stress-free. Even the most dignified of guests can spill their drink, and nothing is more painstaking than trying to get wine out of a lighter carpet.
To keep your mind at ease, choose a dark tone for your dining room. Spots and stains can also be concealed with patterns.
2. Easy Care is Key:
As aforementioned, your dining room is the home of stains and spills. Dinner, dessert, and alcohol stains will regularly occur over the years; thus, it is important to choose a rug that is easy to care for. Otherwise, you may find yourself wasting many hours scrubbing your rug to make it pristine.
Wool is among the easiest natural fibres to clean at home, while synthetic blends are among the most difficult. Rugs that are designed to withstand scrubbing are the exception to this rule. We recommend using wool rugs for your dining room, simply because they are made from high-quality natural fibres and are easy to care for.
Here at ICONIC RUGS, we have a wide range of wool rugs that are perfectly suited to your dining room. Easy to care for, you can spot clean these rugs with ease. Our wool range can be shopped here.
3. Go Big:
A good rule of thumb is to choose a rug a little larger than you think you will need for your dining room.
If guests are pushing chairs away from the table, they should not go over the edge of the rug. This is because if chairs pull the edges of your carpet, it may be susceptible to fraying and tearing. This vastly reduces the life of your rug. Plus, it’s uncomfortable for guests to have to wrestle with the edge of your carpet and is a trip hazard.
Interior designers recommend that there should be at least 60cm of the rug after the end of your dining room table, on all sides. To get the minimum best size of rug for your dining room, measure the lengths of your dining room table, then add 60cm. However, if in doubt, go bigger. As long as it fits in your room with 30cm of bare floor space between the walls and the rug, it will work within your dining room space.
We have a wide selection of larger rugs that will work perfectly in your dining room. Shop our large rug range here now.
4. The Right Material Matters:
Your dining room has a lot of traffic, is constantly exposed to spills and stains, and needs to be practical for moving furniture within it. Short piles are ideal for your dining room because they aren't made from long, thick, fluffy fibres. These long fibres are difficult to clean and can be annoying for guests to move their chairs on.
You don’t want to cause any guest mishaps by having too long a pile. Spills and falls are disastrous with long piles because it can take real effort to clean them.
A short, durable pile is the best for your dining room. We recommend wool or Polypropylene rugs, because of their durability, versatility, and ease of care.
5. Use Shape to Elevate the Space:
There are two general rules interior designers use when determining what shape rug to use in your dining room. Either match the shape of the rug to the shape of the room or the dining table.
Is the room rectangular? You should use a rectangular rug. If your dining room is squarer, a square rug will look fantastic. The rug's shape echoes the room's topography, giving the room a pleasing feeling of order. This adds aesthetic value to the room and is pleasing to guests.
The shape of your dining room table can be used to decide what shape rug looks best in your dining room. Rectangular tables should be paired with rectangular or oval-shaped rugs. Square-shaped tables work best with square rugs, though a round rug could work for a fun, different aesthetic.
6. The Bigger Picture:
Your rug is a piece of your larger space and you need to remember this when choosing a colour and pattern. The colour of the rug should complement the colours of the furniture, lighting fixtures, flooring, and walls.
Is your home open-plan living? If so, where else do you use rugs in your open-plan space? The rug you ultimately choose must complement these other pieces. You don’t want to dwarf any other carpet pieces in your living space, your dining rug needs to complement these other pieces.
In summary, your dining room rug needs to be practical, easy-to-care for and should elevate the aesthetics of your living space. Dining room rugs are a great way to create a luxurious feel within your dining room, and can wow guests.
By following the above tips, you are well on your way to finding the perfect carpet for your dining room.