Common Area Rug Sizes
Area Rugs Come in Many Sizes. Things You Need to Consider.
The size of an area rug is one the important factors to keep in mind when shopping for area rugs. Here is why the size is important. It provides a boundary and helps with designating certain areas of your space for certain functions; for example, dining room boundary can be easily defined by the size of the rug which is normally about two feet larger than table all around.
Most oriental rugs as well as contemporary rugs are made overseas in Asia and Europe. The measuring system is metric. Every meter is 3.28 feet and when a size is converted to feet, we always get some change, so to speak.
So what size should your rug be? I recommend this formula which I use myself:
Space + Function + preference = size
Now let’s breakdown the formula. Space is the size of your room where the rug is going to be used. Function is defined by what we do and the rug is supposed to do in the room. Preference is a personal taste and sense of design.
Let’s say you want to buy a rug for your living room where you hang out and have normally have a coffee table. The first thing you need to do is to measure the the entire space of your living room. Depending on the purpose which the rug serves like keeping your feet warm in winter time or covering that damaged spot in your tile floor, you decide how much of the space should the rug cover. That might be all you need to measure for the size of the rug. However, depending on what type of climate you live in, and the type of floor you have, the rug might serve a different function for you. If you have young children at home, the rug can serve different functions such as protection while the kids play on the floor and sound reduction when they run around the room and might disturb the neighbors living below your apartment.
The last element in the formula is the preference. You might think a small area rug under the coffee table looks a lot better than a larger size which covers the entire space in your living room. When it comes to bedroom area rugs, you may prefer a larger rug one which almost covers the entire floor so your bare feet are always pampered with the softness of your rug.
Those are the things you need to consider when measuring for an area rug. Thankfully, area rugs come in variety of sizes (and shapes), finding one to fit your space shouldn’t be difficult.
Area Rugs come in variety of sizes. Here is a scale to give you a sense of demensions.
Here are the most common rug sizes (approximately) and where they are used:
2 x 4 - They are usually called scatter rugs and used in places like bathroom, kitchen and doorway.
3 x 5 - Slightly larger than scatter rugs and usually used in entrances or kitchens.
4 x 6 - Used in entrances and under small coffee tables
5 x 8 - This is one of the most popular sizes to use in living room when you want the rug to come up just to the couch and still show lots of floor.
6 x 9 - Very similar to 5 x 8 just slightly larger.
7 x 10 - This size is not very common, however you can find it if you look around a bit. This size is good for dining rooms with a small space.
8 x 10 - Every time I hear this size, the word dining room comes to my head. It is the most popular size for the dining area which allows the chairs to remain on the rug when pulled back. It is also used in living rooms.
8 x 11 - Very similar to 8 x 10 just slightly longer.
9 x 12 - Most common size for homes with large living room or dinning room.
10 x 14 - These are large rugs which are usually too big for average rooms.
You can also find very large rugs, or sometimes called mansion rugs, in certain patterns. There are also few rug types that can be custom ordered to fit your need.
A popular shape that many people prefer is the round one. The round rugs are usually used in foyer and dining room. If you are looking to buy a round rug, be sure to check out Momeni and Sphinx rugs. Here are the most common sizes for round rugs:
4 x 4, 6 x 6, 8 x 8 and 10 x 10.
We hope you found this post useful. If you have any any questions or need help with choosing the right size, AreaRugsClub.com is here for you, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Skye
March 9th, 2010 at 1:37 am
It can be really difficult finding a rug size that suits, some times you don’t want to overpower a room with a large rug but at the same time a larger rug can look much better than a small rug. It always dependends on the room but my favourite size rug is 8 x 10 you mention this is commonly used in a dining room but larger living areas that have coffee tables look great with a larger rug.
Really nice summary of sizes!
May 18th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Very helpful explanation. I didn’t know there were standard sizes, I’m going to forward yhis link to my wife.
Thank you