Why You Might Need A Bigger Rug

*This story was made possible by the generous support of Revival, and features gifted product for testing purposes. All opinions are my own.

Well, I think I’ve finally turned a corner when it comes to decorating our new house (By the way, can I still call it a “new” house if we’ve been here for six months? Comment and let me know). Yes, I’m still struggling my way through the process because this more formal style architecture has been confounding me, but I’m starting to feel my confidence come back tiny bit by tiny bit. I think the actual turning point was when I came home from vacation last month. Stepping into the house after having had a week away, I was able to view the rooms with fresh eyes, and I could admit just how monumentally far they’ve come in these six short months.

That said, there’s still plenty to do! I’ve started thinking more critically about the paint colors I impulsively chose at the beginning, I noticed furniture that could be better suited in totally different areas of the house, and I’ve also picked up on things like rugs that aren’t the right colors for our new whole home color palette or that are just not the right size in general. Today, I thought I’d talk a little more in depth about the latter issue—dealing with the incorrect size rug for your space.

When we first moved into the house, I laid down a rug in our formal front living room that we already had. The rug was on the bigger size in terms of what we had in our rug inventory, and I thought the colors would look nice with our existing furniture. We lived with the room as you see it pictured above for a good long while, but it did eventually dawn on me that we were selling this expansive room short by trying to make do with such a small rug.

Yes, the sofa and coffee table fit on the rug, but only a couple of the legs on the ottoman for our leather lounge chair could stretch over onto the rug, and our white swivel chair was miles away from touching the rug. The small rug was making this large room look a little empty and disjointed. The proportions were off, and ultimately gave our living room an “unfinished” vibe.

Six months later, it was time to get this sorted out! I’ve been a huge fan of Revival for years. We’ve had the pleasure of enjoying two of their one-of-a-kind vintage rugs in our day-to-day lives (seen here and here), played around with their new washable rugs, and even tested out pieces from their tabletop collection, which we still use every single day more than two years later. I trust this brand implicitly, and really appreciate that their pricing is meant to suit more realistic budgets. Even their largest size rugs are affordable, and they’ve worked really hard as a team to make that happen.

For our new-to-us living room, we ultimately chose the Tschudi rug from Revival, in the 10′ x 14′ size. For comparison, our old rug was a 7’9″ x 9’9″ rectangle. I love how our new Tschudi rug stretches to fill the space entirely. The couch, coffee table, lounge chair plus ottoman, and even the swivel chair by the fireplace all easily fit on the rug, and yet the soft neutral taupe color of the pile doesn’t overwhelm the space.

This rug is actually all one solid color, but the thick cut-pile design that’s essentially carved into the wool creates this really cool shadowed effect that catches the eye in just the right way. In other words, the design is cleverly tone-on-tone. It’s a focal point, for sure, but the solid color scheme helps this oversized rug feel more subtle and subdued when viewed alongside all of the other important decorative elements in the space.

All this to say…Have you asked yourself lately if your rugs are the right size? It’s time to get critical! I don’t generally put much stock in interior design “rules,” but rug size is one exception for me. Laying down a rug that’s too small or that doesn’t suit the shape or flow of a room can really have a huge impact on the way the entire space is perceived and lived in.

If you want my advice, go as big as you can afford in order to maximize the look and feel of your room. If the room is just too big for your rug budget, try getting an inexpensive solid color jute rug, and layer a smaller, more eye-catching patterned rug on top in the center. This is a great way to cheat the system.

But I still also swear by the affordability of the rugs in general at Revival. The massive (handmade!) 10′ x 14′ area rug we now have in our living room cost under $1,000, and there’s plenty of other budget-friendly options to choose from on their website. Did I mention that our wool Tschudi rug is also washable?! Yeah, there’s so much to love about it. You can get all of the details here, and use my code “10OFF-DREAMGREENDIY” to score an even deeper discount. Happy rug shopping!

*I earn a small percentage from purchases made using the affiliate links above. Affiliate links are not sponsored. Rest assured that I never recommend products we wouldn’t use or don’t already love ourselves.