Agree with your DH. IMO, dining rooms do not look complete w/o a rug under the table. You want one that is big enough so that the chair legs are still on the rug when pulled out for sitting.

Any pics of the room? What is your style? Budget? i.e.: formal, can you afford a Persian? Casual and easy care, an indoor/outdoor rug is affordable, easy to care for, and they come in great designs.

I do not have a rug, but my table and floor are very different----the table is mahogany and the floors are a pale travertine. I don't like rugs under tables because bare floors look and are cleaner, but that's a personal preference. With your similarly toned dining room table and floors, a rug might be a good choice. (But in a kitchen I would never put a rug under the table, regardless of whether it would look better.)

It definitely made a huge difference when we added a rug under our table. My DH was not happy with the $ spent but it made the room feel finished and cut down on the "echo" of the floors. I would say go for it!

I don't think a dining room is really complete without an area rug; they add so much to the décor and set the table and chairs off to their best advantage. When deciding on size don't forget to include the measurement with leaves, even if you use them rarely. And also add 2' on all sides for chair pullout. You don't want chairs catching on the edge of your rug when people are being seated.

My table is approx. 4' x 5' without the 2 leaves and 4' x 8' with both 18" leaves in. Adding the extra 2', or a little less, for chair pullout I needed a 8' x 12' rug. Day in and day out we don't keep the leaves in, so plenty of our pretty rug is seen. A skimpy rug looks, well, skimpy and very annoying when people are pulling chairs in and out at dinner.

I agree with your husband. The rug adds to the textures in the room and can only make it look better and more inviting.

Here's my dining room without a rug...we had just put in new Bamboo hardwood flooring.

The next picture I'll post is with a rug, maybe it will help you decide. Personally, I think the room looks unfinished without a rug.

Here it is with a rug. It's an 8x10 that we found at Home Depot for $150.00. I like it, and the room looks more finished with it also.

Hope this helps in your decision!

Sandy's room does look more finished with the rug in place, and I think that is because of the fact both table and floor are wood. Here is my dining room with the stone floor. I think it would look very cluttered with a rug:

Rugs, especially those big enough to stretch under both table and chairs, can be expensive. In the link you will see a reference to a designer whose blog shows a smaller rug under a table. It struck me as a possible solution.

I like to protect the wood floors because it is such a mess to get them refinished. But I don't always want to use a big, statement rug. The main damage is due to feet and shoes, because we put felt under the chair legs.

Here is a link that might be useful:

I don't have a rug. I have an L shaped LR/DR and the DR is small. There's no way to have a rug where the arm chairs wouldn't be off the rug when pulled out . When I was redoing the rooms a designer told me to not have a rug in the DR. Standard rugs would not fit....I would have to have carpet bound to size..even then I don't think it would look good.

Picture not posting....sorry.

This post was edited by joaniepoanie on Sun, Mar 23, 14 at 15:16

Thank you everyone for your advice!! First of all....Sandy1963 and kswl your homes are beautiful! Joaniepoanie...I love your beard/rug analogy!!! We are going rug shopping next weekend. Although I am not completely sold, I do think it will give the room a more finished, warmer and complete look. I will keep you updated!

I have a rug under my DR table. It's a nice wool rug I found on sale at a reasonable price. As others have noted, I made sure the dimensions allowed for all chairs to be pushed back without falling off the rug. (BTW, in the photo above with the zebra rug, I don't know how one would use the chairs at that table without catching the edges of the rug... that's the most impractical set-up I've ever seen, but, yes, I do like the rest of her blog. ;-)

There are a number of economical sources for large area rugs--you don't have to spend thousands.

My DR rug is no more difficult to keep clean than any other area of my home.

No DR rug here. I love having a room where there isn't a rug. My floors are dark and so is my DR table, but the table is a dark green.

I was in a home not long ago with all dark floors and dark furniture. Not one rug on the first level. First time I'd ever seen a home like that. But it was drop dead gorgeous!

Just like all the rooms, the texture in the DR came from the window treatments, chair cushions, accent chairs, decor on the tabletop and buffet, and the walls.

I never noticed the no-rug floors until I was getting ready to leave! lol

I love rugs under DR tables. i think they add so much warmth, texture and interest. Spills have never been an issue and I have lots of grands. Mine is in the navy, brick red and cream colorway and has a lot of pattern so If it were to get stained, no one would notice. It is all wool and an easy keeper. It still looks new, many years later.

I think the zebra rug under the table/chairs looks silly. It serves no purpose - doesn't protect the floor and doesn't work as an accent piece either.

I have a 9 x 12 wool rug under my dining room table and no rug under my kitchen table. DH and the kids are pretty tough on the wood floors under the kitchen table. I had to fix the felt pads on the chairs because the original ones weren't working, but the damage was already done. Life happens and floors can be refinished!

I'm totally missing the point of the zebra rug. The rug would be interesting and fun in the room if it could been seen in total but it is hidden under the table, it doesn't protect the floor under the table, and the chairs are going to catch on it being pulled out and pushed in. I tried to see the thread linked in that post, but only get an enlargement of that one picture.

Sorry, Patty. here is the correct link. As of now the discussion is only a couple of threads below this one.

Here is a link that might be useful: BHG thread

To me that zebra rug looks like road kill. Almost like in a cartoon where the character just gets flattened by a rock.

I would vote to do a rug under your dining table. We renovated our kitchen and installed wood flooring through the L shaped living room/dining area, kitchen, breakfast area and hallway. I was looking at pics of our almost completed breakfast area and wondered why it looked odd. I realized it was before I found a rug for the room.

another no-doubt more expensive and permanent option, but kind of an interesting idea.

Here is a link that might be useful: Floor patterns

I have a Safavieh (Overstock, good price) under my breakfast room table. It is lighter in color than my wood flooring but not so light that it will show minor stains. Mine floors are dark and so is my table and it just gives the table/dining area enough definition to set it apart and offers some contrast between floor and table. The price was not so high that I would feel that I would stroke out if I decided (which I am inclined to do) shortly that I want to change out for another for a while.