Area Rugs...One of the Home Stager's and Interior Decorator's Best Kept Secrets

I love area rugs, they're like jewelry for the floor. If used properly, they can:

• Pull together a seating arrangement

• Define a color scheme

• Lay the foundation for a stunning room

• Help direct attention away from functional but outdated furniture

Need Help Staging a Home with Outdated Furniture?

But cost is always a consideration. If you're uncertain about going that route, your realtor should be able to advise you on what you can hope to get for the property and what age group is buying. If you decide to work with the furniture in the home, an area rug can help update the look.

Living Room Before

What Happened in This Room?

• Everything was removed except for the sofa, chair and coffee table

• Pink walls were painted Sherwin Williams Kilim Beige, a popular and neutral wall color
  
  
• A new 8'x 10' rug in green, rust and soft muted red lays an interesting foundation and coordinates with existing furniture

• Modern, graphic artwork updates and distracts from the old fashioned sofa and chair

• Coffee table display provides interest and invites the buyer to come closer. More coffee table tips and ideas in Decorating a Coffee Table
  

• Gorgeous new neutral pillows pick up the shimmer in the art and add sparkle

• A tall silk tree softens a corner and emphasizes vaulted ceiling

What Can You Do to Dress Up a Tiny Cabin?

What Happened in this Room?

• This little cabin in the Colorado Rockies underwent a major transformation (Colorado Cabin Remodel), including the addition of hardwood floors

• Walls were repainted Sherwin Williams Nomadic Dessert (a shade darker than Kilim Beige, which looked washed out in the bright Colorado sunlight)

• A 5'x8' area rug defines the sitting area, sets the color scheme and diffuses the pattern of the outdated rose, blue and hunters green plaid love seat

• A chunky dark wood coffee table looks more at home than the more formal round one

• Pillows continue the Native American theme and pull the look together

Basic Area Rug Guidelines

1. Size - Think of your furniture arrangement as defining the "platform"
   • 5'x8' is the most popular rug size and is generally sufficient for defining most seating arrangements. Your furniture will look best surrounding the rug

   • 8'x10' and larger will be heavier and harder to work with, but will look richer. Your furniture will look best sitting on it

2. Color - Rugs generally contain many colors which is what makes them so great to work with
   • Make sure yours contains the colors you want to emphasize

   • Repeat those colors in artwork, pillows, and accessories

3. Placement - Turn your rug so that the seating area is "anchored"

   Look at the shape of the space created by your sofa, love seat, chairs etc. Turn your rug so that it fits that shape. The sofa or love seat is usually the largest piece so that's where you want the "long" side

4. "Ground It" - When using a 5'x8' place the feet of your largest piece of furniture one or two inches onto the edge of the rug to hold it in place and visually "ground" it

5. Clean and Spot Free - Area rugs can receive a lot of traffic and sometimes accidental spills. Stain Removal Tips is a good resource on how to safely remove most stains and keep your area rugs looking beautiful

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