How to Choose the Right Rug for Your Home

The first daunting thought I had about moving into our new house was “how the heck do I choose a rug?” We had small rooms and lots of carpet in our previous home and never had a need for anything more than a bath mat and I was completely good with it. The idea of rug shopping was overwhelming with a variety of patterns, materials, sizes, and price tags out there. It wasn’t until I discovered Loloi rugs that I felt a little less freaked out about committing to such a big item for our home. With the help of my friends at Loloi, I’m here to share my tips on how to choose the right rug for your home.

.01 Size Up Your Space

It may seem obvious, but it needs to be said: measure your space. I’ve encountered several people that have tried to eyeball the right size rug and it almost always never works out. Most retailers will allow you to exchange your rug for a different size if need be and it wasn’t a special order, but then it’s a lot of extra hassle and hauling the rugs back and forth to the store. Before you do anything else, measure your space and keep it somewhere that you’ll always have it with you. I keep all my house measurements on a note on my phone. That way if I find drapes or anything while I am out and about, I can quickly see if it will fit my space.

.02 Set Your Budget Ahead of Time

I have to be honest here. When I first started rug shopping I thought I could get a nice area rug for a couple of hundred dollars. I didn’t need anything too fancy, but something nice that would add softness and color to our great room. Much to my surprise, that was really unrealistic. Once I really started shopping around, I realized a good rug is a true investment piece. This totally changed the way I approached my search. You definitely don’t have to spend tens of thousands of dollars on some exquisite Persian rug, but I would recommend preparing your budget for a $300 – $1,000 spend (depending on your rug measurements) for a quality rug that is soft, well made and beautiful. I also advise you to utilize the filter option where possible. There’s nothing I hate more than falling in love with an item only to find out it’s not an option for me.

.03 Set Your Filters

Once you know your numbers and have a pretty clear idea of what you are willing to spend, go ahead and set your filters where you can. If you’re shopping in a store it is a little harder, but most retail websites allow you to filter by size and price. I 100% recommend doing this because there is nothing worse than falling in love with your perfect rug only to find out it either won’t fit your space or is over budget. It’s heartbreaking and I prefer to avoid it at all costs.

.04 Filter by Color Family

This last step on how to choose the right rug is my favorite! Once the size and budget are set, you can filter out all the other rugs that either don’t fit your space or are outside of the budget. For my two rooms, I shopped for blue and green and had a hard time narrowing down my picks from all the great choices. To show you what I mean, I’ve pulled together my favorites in each color family.

I hope you guys are more confident and know how to choose the right rug. Stay tuned for other posts feature the rugs we chose and how we styled them in our space. If you missed anything, you can check out other home & living posts on RH.