Choosing an Area Rug Color

How To Choose An Area Rug Color?

In this article, we would like to talk about what you should consider when deciding on the color of an area rug.


An area rug can create a home décor that can be very effective in terms of both an artistic piece, a decoration item, and a functional one. Rug colors make you feel the living space.


An area rug has many styles, textures, patterns, materials, and shades. The contribution of a Turkish rug and a modern rug to your living space and the atmosphere it creates are very different. It means that you can create a modern atmosphere with neutral tones, make the area lively with patterned rugs, and choose dark or bright area rugs to create a focal point.


You should suit the rug color to your interior design and furniture decoration combination style that you have created in a living room or dining room. Of course, the rug's dimensions, cleaning, and maintenance features will also determine the best rug color for you.


Here you will find a holistic general rule on choosing the right color rug that will provide the correct color matching in your room.

1. Should The Rug Be Lighter Or Darker Than The Floor? 

Color palette in a dark photo

The answer to the question ‘Should the rug be lighter or darker than the floor?’ is all about the color contrast and decoration style you want to create in your room. Contrasting colors are preferred in modern home furnishings that calm or emphasize floor, wall, and furniture colors.


As in the past, dark rug colors are not used on dark floors anymore.


Based on this, if you want a modern decoration style and your flooring is dark, then choosing a rug with light colors is the best for the right area rug.


However, there are some situations where you may need to choose dark rugs even if your floor color is dark. Among one of the reasons for this is that the room is one of the high traffic areas. The styles of such rooms may not matter much when you go shopping for a rug. Because foot traffic is very intense in these areas, they are busy areas. Stains occur frequently. But it can still be a way to preserve modern styles. If you choose a patterned rug that is not too dark or light colored, this rug will not make stains too visible. In addition, if you prefer muted colors as wall color, you can have a balanced and clean room without losing your modern atmosphere.


Rug size should be relatively smaller if it has dark colors. Otherwise, the environment will appear dark.


When it comes to light color floors, you actually have more freedom to choose rug color. If your space is spacious and bright, area rugs of all colors will contribute to the color scheme and your space will look spacious in any case. However, if a dark rug is preferred for areas that do not receive much sunlight, the area will appear smaller and heavier. That's why cool colors are the best a rug will ever have. But, if you need to use a dark carpet in a room that is not airy because it is still a high traffic area, you can make the environment more spacious with lighting.


There is no best when deciding on a rug pattern. So, the choice of pattern is entirely up to your style. Of course, there may be different patterns in your room and they can be combined. However, if you want to create more space in your room, a rug with vibrant pattern colors may be a good choice. A rug like this would be ideal for your dining room or living room.

2. What Color Should The Rug Match?

You should take into account the main and large furnishings, chairs, walls, coffee table or bed, if any, in your living space in terms of colors. You can go rug shopping by listing their colors or taking pictures of each piece. The colors of these pieces will naturally limit the numerous rug color options and make your work easier. So, they will guide you for the rug you want to match. If the walls have not been painted yet, you can be freer to choose your rug color. Otherwise, you should also take into account the current color of the walls. Of course, the situation is different if you are creating other decor.


When it comes to rug material, natural fibers wool rugs, silk rugs, high pile rugs, low pile rugs, so you can consider all of them as options while rug match.


The order of importance as color harmony in a living space is as follows: furniture, rug and wall color.

3. Should Your Rug Be The Same Color As Your Couch? 

Gray tone matching couch and rug with modern furniture

If the color of your couch is the same as your rug, neither your couch nor your rug will look like a separate piece. Both will become indistinct and will not be able to highlight their unique features.


To avoid this, you should have a color scheme in which you include each piece of decoration. The rug color you choose should not be the same color as any furniture, armchair or walls, it should complement the colors of two or three pieces.


Instead of choosing a rug in the same color as your sofa, if your sofa is solid color, you can choose a patterned rug with more than one color. Or if the opposite is the case, that is, if your sofa is patterned, then you should choose a solid color rug that is not patterned.


You can get a perfect match if one color of a patterned and multi-colored rug is compatible with your couch, the second color is compatible with the curtains, and for example the third color is compatible with the walls.


Rug is the main element of the field, so it sets the prevailing mood in the space. Dark and dominant colors create a cozier atmosphere. It makes the general lines of the room clear. As we mentioned earlier, a light-colored rug makes the room spacious, airy and bright. Vivid colors such as yellow and orange bring warmth to the environment. On the other hand, cool colors evoke a sense of calm in rooms with plenty of natural light, like with blue tones.

4. Should Area Rugs Contrast With The Floor? 

When you want an area rug to look compatible with other home decoration pieces in the room such as walls, armchairs, chairs, curtains, then you should make sure that this area rug is color-matched to the floor. Because it's not a good idea to have the floor as the sole focal point. After all, there are other elements in the room that should draw attention. You don't want them to be overlooked. Because of this, you might consider opting for an area rug with neutral colors. In summary, we can put it this way: If there is another piece or space in your room that you desire to be the focal point, then you should neutralize the floor and the rug to keep attention away from them. But when you want to draw attention to the floor as a decoration, then a rug with colors that will definitely contrast with the floor would be a good idea. This may be because, for example, your small windows stay in the background. On the other hand, the type of flooring plays an important role in the choice of rug color. 


Rug colors that contrast with this flooring type, especially in hardwood flooring, make a very elegant style in the atmosphere of the room. Since laminate flooring can usually be in pastel colors, a rug in vibrant colors will provide enough contrast for your room. Tile flooring can create very unique patterns on the floor. Because there are countless types of colors and shapes of tiles. That's why you can create visual differences and contrasts by choosing a rug in similar colors for these tile floors. As you can imagine, stone floors appear in muted colors. This gives you the opportunity to choose a rug in dark and bold colors and you can get a gorgeous and unique contrast. Moreover, a bold-colored rug takes the coldness of the stone floor and warms the environment.

5. Do Dark Rugs Make A Room Look Darker?

Dark rugs are not that disadvantageous for living spaces, so they can make a unique contribution to decoration. First, they provide a dramatic and sophisticated look to the room. Light-colored rugs are difficult to keep clean and look neat. On the other hand, a dark rug offers a cleaner look. It is much easier to blend dark rugs with other decoration pieces such as armchairs, furniture, wall colors, and curtains. With the right choice, you can prevent your room from looking dark. A dark rug hides its seams and has a smoother appearance. As we all know, dark colors absorb heat and lower the temperature that is felt. Thus, it helps you create a more relaxed living space. Finally, dark color rugs are more durable. It is mainly because light-colored rugs are made from thinner materials, namely fibers, while dark-colored rugs are made from thicker fibers, which makes them last longer.

6. Mark & Day Area Rugs

You can shop our area rugs on Mark & Day online store and benefit from our fast shipping and special discount deals and campaigns and have one of our quality and elegant rugs.

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