It Pulls the Whole Room Together

In case you didn't catch the very slight movie reference in that subject line, it is in reference to The Big Lebowski.  And in the movie, when he is talking about that subject, he is referring to his favorite rug.
But "The Dude" was right...Rugs are something that can literally pull a room together.  They can add color, pattern and texture.  They can tie an obscure color into your rooms' palette.  They can soften a room, or accentuate specific design ideas.  But the main thing is that they can give the room a little personality.

Blotting Carolina Rug - Target


We, at our home, are unfortunately covered in carpeting, for now... but if you know anything about me yet,  I am sucker for a bold, graphic pattern, in a fairly neutral color palette.  And when we do bring out the hardwood floors, the great rugs will not be far behind.  Unfortunately, rugs can be VERY expensive - especially when  you are looking at large area rugs - but there are a few places that you can go to get great discounts.


Coinciding Circles Rug - Target

 Marshalls & TJMaxx, if the stores are large enough, will carry area rugs.  They are usually fairly discounted, and they have great basic patterns.  Garden Ridge, if you are lucky enough to have one near you, has a great selection on modestly priced area rugs.  And one store in particular that has great deals, and should not come as a surprise to anyone, is Target.  They were the source for all of the examples from my post today.


Design Rugs Collection - Target

Depending on which room you are in & the size and layout of your room, you will need different sized rugs to accommodate your need.  You can look for accent rugs, which are usually 5'x7' and smaller or area rugs, which are much larger.

Home Circles Rug - Target

For our living room, we could do a small 5'x7' rug that sits in front of the couch, or a large 8'x10' rug that engages the furniture.  I tend to think that the larger rugs do a better job of pulling a room together.  Engaging the furniture helps to make it feel like one space.  It doesn't have to cover the entire floor, it just needs to slide a few inches under each piece of furniture to connect it all visually.

Using a similar concept, you can separate one large room, into two seperate spaces by using area rugs.  For example,  if you have a large Living Room that you would like to make into a Living / Dining room combination, you could use a bold graphic rug to engage the living room furniture.  You can leave the dining room without a rug, or add a simpler rug under the dining room furniture to make it feel like a different space.  The example below is from the website younghouselove.com.  You can see that the bold rug in the Living Room space makes it feel very seperate from the Dining Room space.



Photo younghouselove: Link

 One good thing about rugs - they aren't permanent.  You can return them if they don't quite work or you can move them to another room just to change things up.  They are as much of an accessory as a wall hanging or end table.  I plan on having fun with this accessory as soon as the carpet is gone from our floors.

Do you have any other favorite places to get rugs at an affordable price?  Please feel free to share!