Getting the size right
The single most common mistake in a room is a rug that is too small. It makes the furniture look like it is floating and the room look like it is shrinking. Here is how to avoid it - and a calculator that will do the thinking for you.
Size calculator
Tell us the room and its dimensions. We will tell you the size to buy and why.
What are we sizing?
Measure the floor, in feet. Round to the nearest foot - we are not building a spacecraft.
Where the rug should sit
The diagram matters more than the number. Get the relationship between the rug and the furniture right and the size follows.
Living room
Front legs of the sofa and every chair on the rug. The coffee table sits fully on it. If only the coffee table is on the rug, the rug is too small - that is the classic mistake.
Bedroom
The rug starts below the nightstands and runs past the foot of the bed. You want 18-24 inches of rug on both sides, so your feet land on wool and not on a cold floor.
Dining room
Add 24-30 inches to every side of the table. The test is simple: pull a chair out to sit down and its back legs must still be on the rug. If they catch the edge, size up.
Hallway & entryway
Leave 4-6 inches of floor on each long side, and 12-18 inches at each end. Never run a runner wall to wall - the floor border is what makes it read as a rug.
Kitchen
A runner in front of the counter run, or a small rug at the sink. This is the one room where machine washable stops being a feature and starts being the whole reason.
Home office
The chair must stay on the rug through its full range of motion, if the castors keep dropping off the edge you will hear it every day, and eventually you will hate the rug.
Standard sizes
These are the sizes we keep on the loom sheet. Anything else is a custom - same price logic, same 30-day return.
| Size | Sq ft | Best for | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2′ × 3′ | 6 | Entryway, kitchen sink, bedside | The most washed rug in any house. Buy two and rotate. |
| 3′ × 5′ | 15 | Entryway, small bathroom, reading nook | Too small to anchor furniture. Use it as an accent, not an area rug. |
| 4′ × 6′ | 24 | Under a coffee table, small bedroom | Only works in a living room if the sofa is against the wall and off the rug. |
| 5′ × 7′ | 35 | Apartment living room, home office, small dining | The most popular size we make. Fits most apartments. |
| 6′ × 9′ | 54 | Mid-size living room, bedroom under a queen | A good step up when 5 × 7 leaves the chairs stranded. |
| 8′ × 10′ | 80 | Living room, bedroom (queen), dining | The default answer for a standard US living room. |
| 9′ × 12′ | 108 | Large living room, dining, bedroom (king) | If you have to ask whether it is too big, it probably is not. |
| 2.5′ × 8′ | 20 | Hallway, kitchen counter run | Runner. Measure the walkable length, not the wall. |
| 2.5′ × 10′ | 25 | Long hallway, galley kitchen | Runner. Longer than most hallways need - measure first. |
| 4′ / 6′ / 8′ round | 13 / 28 / 50 | Entry, breakfast nook, round dining table | Round rugs go under round tables. Under a square table they fight the geometry. |
| Custom | Any | Anything the standard sizes cannot solve | Made to the inch. Priced by square footage. Same 30-day return. |
Five rules that fix most rooms
Do this
- Put the front legs of every seat on the rug. It ties the furniture into one group.
- Leave 12-18 inches of bare floor between the rug edge and the wall.
- Size the rug to the furniture arrangement, not to the room.
- Tape the outline on the floor before you buy. Live with it for a day.
- In a dining room, add 24-30 inches beyond every edge of the table.
Not this
- Do not float a small rug under the coffee table alone. It shrinks the room.
- Do not run a rug wall to wall. That is carpet, and it costs less.
- Do not centre a rug on the room if the furniture is not centred.
- Do not size down to save money. A too-small rug is money spent twice.
- Do not put a round rug under a rectangular table. It never looks resolved.
The masking tape test. Before you order anything, tape the rug outline on your floor and leave it there for 24 hours. It costs nothing, takes five minutes, and it has saved more of our customers from a return than every guide on this page put together.
Still deciding
I am between two sizes. Which do I take?
The bigger one, almost always. In fifteen years of doing this we have never had someone call to say their rug was slightly too large. We hear the opposite every week.
Can the rug go under the bed or the sofa entirely?
It can, and in a bedroom it often should - a rug that runs fully under the bed and out the other side looks generous. Under a sofa it is usually a waste of good rug: you are paying for wool nobody will ever see.
What size for an open-plan living and dining space?
Two rugs, not one. Use one to define the seating group and one under the dining table, and leave a clear strip of floor between them. One giant rug across both zones flattens the space.
Do you make square rugs?
Yes - square, oval, round, runner, and anything you can measure. Choose Custom on any product page.
How exact is a custom size?
To the inch. Handmade means there can be a tolerance of up to half an inch across a long edge, which no one has ever noticed on a floor.
Still not sure? Ask a human.
A rug specialist will talk you through size, colour and weave - no hard sell, and no charge for a second opinion.