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should my area rug be neutral or colorful?

13 years ago

We are redoing our living room. Have new beige 20x20 tile, medium brown paint and a dark brown leather sofa. It is a very open/contemporary room and not at all dark. My focal point is a very large contemporary colorful painting above the sofa.

I need to get an 8 x 10 area rug. I wanted to pull some colors from the painting-very bold colors but wondering if it is "too much."

The only other color I have are two royal blue print pillows on the sofa. (colors pulled from the painting) The window treatments will be neutral and we will be buying probably two fabric neutral colored chairs.

So, should I pull colors from the painting for the rug? I have looked at many and I'm not really sure I can find one with the colors I'm looking for (I am looking for bright red and all I am finding is burgundy)

Or should I go for a neutral beige/brown/black rug that has "swirls" but is very contemporary?

Sorry for the long post--but color or not? Thanks!

Featured Answer

oceanna

13 years ago

Can you please post pictures? Decor really is about the visual, yes? If you don't know how, try tinypic.com.

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Comments (8)

sashasmommy
13 years ago
I think you should get a colorful one... have you tried Home Decorators.com? They have some red rugs.
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Fyi - Nate Berkus (who no longer has his Home Decorating TV show) had a lot of fans including me. His advice about rugs was that the larger they were, the more expansive they made the room feel. So if you are wanting the room to be more expansive than cozy, according to his rule, 10 inches from the sides of the room in all directions would be a good thing. Even with the traditional style of the room now, I think a large rug as you describe will make it feel a lot more contemporary. If that is not what you want, then keep the rug small. Otherwise, the sky is the limit. Though I am a newbie at this stuff, I will offer my opinion that I think the room will be stunning with the larger rug. As far as the hutch, I don't see a visual problem with it being half on and half off but if I were you, I would seek professional advice on how to make sure the addition of the new rug doesn't add instability to the hutch. Good luck and thanks very much for showing us pictures of your living room.
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My two cents: The entire chair (or sofa) doesn't need to sit on the rug. Just the front legs, or at least that's the guideline I generally follow. Of the two rugs you linked to in your "color" category, I feel like the solid one is sort of ho-hum, and the patterned one seems like it's not the right choice with your upholstery. I do think you could go with some pattern, though... Stylewise -- Your second link isn't working, and I think something like the first link could almost work, but the "flowery" sort of pattern, I think, is going to fight with the leafy pattern in your chairs. How about a stripe? I personally would love to see a rug that pulled out the turquoise and lime green colors from your chair fabric. If I had more time I'd poke around online to find some examples of rugs that I think would work, but I'm running behind. Hope this is a little bit helpful!
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I’m not a designer but I think your instincts are right. If everything else is super light I agree the sofa will look too dark and heavy. I think a light, warm neutral paint would be great, and accents of blue would make that gold sofa sing. I think your existing neutral walls look okay, actually. What if you just tried painting the red accent wall a nice mid tone blue?
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debbie1000
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks. The color is a little washed out on this photo. Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: Picture
lala girl
13 years ago
I think you do either - go neutral (big chunky seagrass or the braided fringed jute from Ballard Designs) if you want lots of texture and warmth but don't want the rug to be a focal point in the room or go bold (reds, golds, blues, etc) if you want the rug to pop. Either way, with the tile, I would make sure the rug is substantial (wool, flotaki, seagrass, jute, etc..) to bring some texture into the room - you have some wonderful things (gorgeous tile and leather sofa) but both are smooth and the room could use some "chunky" companions to balance it and make the space cozy. (Love your couch!!)
dianalo
13 years ago
I'd go dark on the rug but keep it simple or you risk distracting from the artwork and making the room busy...
loribee
13 years ago
What Laura said... :)
User
13 years ago
Love the Tarkay!
Nancy Adamopoulos
13 years ago
We have a painting with similar bold colors as yours and chose to go with the colorful rug. We have gotten many compliments on the rug. The blocks on the rug are actually very large so it doesn't seem as busy IRL.

here was the concept we went with(The side chairs are actually very close to the colors of your pillows):

Here was a neutral ideaboard that we were considering:

Here is the room (partially finished) with the colorful rug.
These are a few pics taken before we got the side chairs and new leather sofas(will be delivered Thursday(yay!)) and window treatments.

I can post a more completed pic on Thursday/Friday once the new sofas arrive.

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