As with all design work, you must start somewhere.  Sometimes it’s the paint color, sometimes it’s a favorite piece of furniture or cherished possession, and sometimes it’s the window treatments or cabinetry.  Those in the area rug business would like to have you start with the rugs!  Imagine designing a room around the rug.  With the exciting new American styles and colors, it’s no longer a choice between oriental and contemporary.  A rug can anchor the room and precisely set the tone you desire.  What rug should you buy?  Buy the one you like.

Here are some helpful suggestions:

• Be open to the new introductions—designs featuring elements in nature, multi-colored patchwork patterns, flowing, subtle designs, geometric and asymmetrical designs, fluffy and colorful, flat and natural, unusual shapes and solids, to name only a few.
• If you start with a piece of furniture, choose a rug that picks up the colors in the fabric.  Patterns can be mixed if color is coordinated.  It is not necessary for colors to match perfectly! 
• Light colored rugs make a room look more spacious and deeper colors lend coziness to a room.
• When you’re shopping for an area rug, consider bringing a swatch of fabric and/or a pillow from the room.
• There’s no rule concerning furniture sitting on the rug or off the rug—either is appropriate, it’s your house!  Suggestions:  If possible, the rug should be large enough for all furniture in the group to sit on the rug.  If that’s not possible, try to put at least the front legs of the furniture on the rug.  In a dining area, the furniture (other than the table) looks best on the floor instead of the rug.  In the bedroom the rugs may be runners on one or both sides of the bed or a larger rug that is placed under the foot of the bed and extends out into the room.
• Unless you’re purchasing a custom-made rug, you’ll need to be comfortable with the limitations of your room size and shape, your furniture placement and the rug sizes available.
• A rug should not be placed against the baseboard molding.
• Ideally, a rug under a dining table should extend 2 ft. beyond the edge of the table to provide ample room for the chair to be moved in and out.  Also, a rug with a center design is not a good idea for under a table.  A round rug may be placed under a round table as long as there is sufficient rug extending beyond the table.  If the round table is sometimes used with leaves a rectangular rug may be best.
• In general, light-colored rugs are not a good idea for foyers, hallways or other high traffic areas.
• Fireplace rugs should be wool.  Synthetic fibers will burn and melt.
• Be sure to purchase the correct pad if you plan to place an area rug over carpeting.  They will creep.
• The least expensive rugs are usually made of olefin or polypropylene.  A step up is nylon and the best fiber is wool.  Within each of these categories there are good, better and best choices.  In other words, it’s possible to find a nylon rug that is more expensive than a wool rug—probably due to construction and country of origin.
• Pad will not only make your rug look better, it will make it last longer.
• You may use more than one rug in an area.  Coordinate with color, contrasting possibly the scale of the patterns.  The rugs may be used to accentuate sitting areas, for instance.