Neat Drape

Curtain, tablecloth & bedding size calculators

Rugs

Rug size guide

Too small is the usual mistake. Tell us the room and the furniture the rug has to hold, and see the smallest rug that works, the largest the room allows, and a standard size to look for, drawn to scale.

Units
Room

Guides suggest about 20–60 cm (8–24 in)

Seating

Which legs stand on the rug

To the back legs of chairs opposite, or past the coffee table

Our starting point; the guides only say wider than the sofa

SofaRoom 500 cm × 400 cm, rug 200 × 290 cm
Room plan to scale; the dashed line marks the floor border you want to keep.
Smallest rug for this layout
190 cm × 250 cmfront legs of the sofa on the rug
Largest that keeps the border
340 cm × 440 cmroom minus 30 cm of floor at each wall
Standard size to look for
200 × 290 cm (6′ 6½″ × 9′ 6″)leaves 100 cm of floor at the nearest wall

Room for more: up to 300 × 400 cm.

It still leaves 50 cm of floor at the nearest wall. A bigger rug usually makes a room look larger, not smaller.

How the rug size is worked out

Measure the room wall to wall, then the furniture the rug has to hold. The floor border is the bare floor you want to see between rug and walls: designers quoted by Homes & Gardens leave 8 to 24 inches, and a Belgian rug retailer suggests 20 to 30 cm. The room minus that border on each side is the largest rug that fits.

Living room: the rug should be wider than the sofa. With front legs on, it starts about 20 cm (8 in) under the front of the sofa and runs to the far edge of the seating area. With all on the rug, it also runs behind the sofa, which suits sofas with a solid base.

Dining: leave at least 60 cm (24 in) of rug beyond the table on every side, so the back legs stay on the rug when a chair is pulled out.

Bedroom: rugs run across the bed. Allow at least 45–50 cm (18 in) beyond each side and the foot so you step onto rug, not floor. The lower two-thirds placement starts in front of the bedside tables; a whole-bed rug sits under them too.

The result lists the smallest standard size that covers the layout and still keeps your border, in feet or centimetres. Example: a 220 cm sofa with 170 cm of seating in front needs at least 250 × 190 cm; in a 5 × 4 m room the first standard size that works is 200 × 290 cm.

Sources

Questions

What size rug do I need for a living room?

Big enough for at least the front legs of every seat and wider than the sofa. For a three-seat sofa with chairs opposite that usually means 8 × 10 ft or 200 × 290 cm and up; small rugs floating in front of the sofa make a room look smaller.

How much bigger than the dining table should the rug be?

At least 60 cm (24 inches) on every side. A 180 × 90 cm table therefore needs a rug of about 210 × 300 cm, and a 120 cm round table a round rug of about 240 cm, or a square one.

What size rug goes under a queen or double bed?

Laid across the lower part of the bed, a rug about 46 cm (18 in) wider than the bed on each side: 8 ft for a 60 inch US queen, about 2.5 m for a 160 cm bed. In feet that points to an 8 × 10; in a smaller room a 5 × 8 or 6 × 9 can sit in front of the bedside tables instead.

Should the rug touch the walls?

No, a loose rug looks best with a frame of floor around it, roughly 20 to 60 cm (8 to 24 inches) depending on the room. Wall-to-wall coverage is a fitted carpet or a custom-cut rug, which a rug company measures and binds to the room.