Rug Size Guide: Getting It Right First Time

The most common mistake in buying a rug is buying one size too small. A rug that floats in the middle of a room with all the furniture off it makes the room look smaller, not larger. Here is how to size properly.

The ten sizes and what they are for

• 60 × 100 cm — a doormat, a bedside, in front of the sink.
• 80 × 150 cm — a small bedside runner, a compact bathroom, a landing.
• 100 × 200 cm — the smallest useful living room rug, good beside a double bed.
• 120 × 180 cm — a proper bedroom or snug rug; the largest that fits most home washing machines.
• 80 × 300 cm — a narrow hall runner or a galley kitchen.
• 100 × 300 cm — a wider hall runner, or alongside a kitchen island.
• 155 × 230 cm — the standard living room size for a two- or three-seat sofa.
• 200 × 300 cm — a full room anchor for a larger living or dining room.
• 160 cm round — a round dining table, a bay window or a reading corner.
• 200 cm round — a six-seat round table, or a statement circle in a large room.

Living rooms: get the front legs on

The rule that works: the front legs of the sofa and of every chair in the seating group should sit on the rug. That ties the furniture into one arrangement. If the rug is small enough that everything sits off it, the seating reads as scattered.

For a standard three-seat sofa with two chairs, that usually means 155 × 230 cm as a minimum and 200 × 300 cm if the room allows. Measure the width of your seating group and add roughly 40 cm at each side.

Bedrooms: extend past the bed

You want to step onto rug, not onto floor. Aim for the rug to extend about 50–60 cm beyond each side of the bed and past the foot. Under a double bed that means 200 × 300 cm placed from about two-thirds of the way up the bed.

The cheaper approach that also works: two runners, one either side. 80 × 150 cm each is usually right, and it is far less rug to wash.

Dining rooms: the chair-pull-out rule

The rug must be large enough that a chair stays on it when pulled out to sit down. That means at least 60 cm of rug beyond the table edge on every side — 75 cm is safer. For a six-seat table you are almost always looking at 200 × 300 cm.

Halls and kitchens

Leave roughly 10–15 cm of visible floor on each side of a runner. A runner that spans wall to wall reads as bad carpet. In a galley kitchen, a 80 × 300 cm runner down the working side is the standard answer.

The paper trick

Before you buy, mark the size out on the floor with newspaper, masking tape or a bedsheet. Live with it for a day. It takes ten minutes and it is the single most reliable way to avoid ordering the wrong size.