Area Rugs can easily transform any room that it is added to.
Not only can a rug change the appearance and atmosphere of a room, but they also come with numerous practical benefits—from keeping your house warm, to reducing noise.
Homes nowadays do not come carpeted, meaning many people that move to a new home consider buying a rug or two for their floors.
If you’re deciding on whether to buy a rug for your home, it’s easy to think of it as a simple décor.
When it comes to home décor, there aren’t a lot of pieces more versatile compared to a rug.
It’s a multi-functional product that’s capable of improving style and concealing imperfections in one blow.
Every home should have at least one area rug, and this article will provide you with a detailed explanation why.
What is an Area Rug?
An area rug is defined as a carpet that’s usually a lot smaller than the dimensions of the room.
Compared to wall-to-wall carpeting, which stretches across an entire room, area rugs vary in sizes, of which 5’x8’ and 8’x11’ are the most popular sizes.
This type of rug can come in geometric (usually rectangular or circular) shape, or in irregular, organic shapes (like the ones made from sheepskin or cowhide).
Compared to wall-to-wall carpeting, which is fixed to the floor and requires a lot of effort to remove and replace, an area rug can be easily picked up and carried from one room to the next.
It is lightweight and portable and is available in different colors, patterns, and textures, making them an ideal fit for rooms and spaces of all shape and sizes.
A rug can help “tie a room together” and create a focal point instantaneously.
8 Reasons to Have an Area Rug at Home
Nowadays, people rave about tiled and hardwood floors.
People usually look into buying homes with hardwood floors and tiles because they last longer and are easy to clean.
If your home has hardwood floor or tiles, below is a list of benefits you can get from adding an area rug to its spaces.
- Improving the interior décor –a Persian oriental rug or patterned rug can just be the one thing you need to get started with redecorating the rest of your house. It might be a good idea to buying a rug first before you buy your curtains or upholstery, since there are more color options available for a rug, which you can incorporate to the rest of the houses’ décor.
- For Your Kids’ Play Area –if your kids are always playing with toys that bang or scratch along the hard floor, then you might want to consider getting a rug. Getting a rug allows you to designate an area where they can play without scratching up the floors. Do not that it’s not advisable to use an oriental rug for this reason.
- Reduce Noise and Echoes –if you live above neighbors in a townhouse or apartment, it would be polite to lay a rug down to reduce noise in areas with high-traffic such as the hallways and corridors. When you do this, you’ll notice that you get less complaints from other tenants.
- Provides Warmth to Your Home –for homes without heated flooring, winters can get really harsh even if you have the heater on full blast. While hardwood floors work better at absorbing heat compared to tile flooring, adding a rug be a good way to increase the warmth of the floor. Your rugs will not only warm your feet, but you’ll also end up saving money on heating bills.
- Provide More Comfort –there’s no better feeling than taking your shoes and socks off and enjoying the feel of the soft, warm carpeting under your bare feet. An oriental rug can give more comfort for you and your family by making sure no one needs to walk on hard floor or tiles throughout your house. We recommend putting a rug in your bedroom if it has hardwood flooring.
- Reduces Allergies –you might be surprised to find out that a rug is actually great for reducing allergies, that is if they are cleaned regularly. Instead of having dust and dirt run loose across your floors, a rug can function as a trap for these particles and keep them in place until it is cleaned. By doing this, you keep allergens from being kicked up in the air when walking through the room, thereby reducing them.
- Keep Your Floors Protected –most of us have spent hundreds –even thousands—of dollars on installing hardwood or tiled floors, so it only makes sense to protect such investment with a rug! Rugs are available in different sizes and shapes and can be used to cover high-traffic areas in your home. You can keep your floors from being worn down too quickly by investing in a new rug.
- Reduce Trips and Accidents –you can improve the safety of your home by placing a rug in each high traffic areas such as the entryway and foot of stairs. If you have kids at home, there will probably be a lot of running going on, which increases the risk of accidents. Fortunately, you can prevent slips and fall accidents with the help of a rug.
- Brighten a Dark Room –dark hardwood or laminate floors are a common fixture in most modern homes. But they can absorb a lot of light from some spaces, particularly in windowless corridors. Buying a rug in a lighter tone will break up this type of flooring to give you the best combination of richness and airiness. If a room has dark walls and furniture, you can brighten it by adding a large rug with light colors. If you want smaller versions, consider incorporating neutral or bright colored goat hide or cotton rugs onto your dark hardwood floors. These natural materials bring a softness and warmth to the space, creating a cozy and inviting atmosphere. You can see a variety of designs of goat hides by Cowhides Direct or search for other materials that you think will better fit your decor. Throwing a light rug over dark hardwood flooring can help brighten the look and feel of any room.
Conclusion
If you want to make a change to the look of your flooring but don’t have a lot of budget to spare for this project, you might want to toy with the idea of simply adding a rug to the floors in certain parts of your home.
A rug is pretty versatile and has a lot of advantages to offer.