One of the most impactful bedroom ideas in interior design is adding an area rug to your bedroom décor. Because you can get an area rug in whatever size, style, or color you desire, you can achieve any room styling look by tucking rugs under beds.
But where exactly should you place your bedroom rug? Are there rules to follow?
Yes and no.
While a general “Rugs Under Beds Rule” does exist, it’s a rule that practically begs to be broken. Breaking the rule and positioning rugs in different configurations under your beds will lead you to different results in your home décor styling.
Here are seven interior design ideas that use rugs under beds for a specific effect.
Cozy, Comfortable Tradition
The general rule for placement of rugs under beds is that a rug should extend 12 to 18 inches from the sides and foot of the bed (12 inches for a twin or full bed and 18 inches for a queen or king bed). If the room is large, the rug should extend even further out from the bed, but it should never extend out less. The reason for this rule is that a rug that just extends a few inches out from the sides and foot of a bed will be swallowed up by the bed, rendering the rug insignificant and irrelevant.
Positioning your rug by the rules will result in a room that’s cozy and comfortable. Because this rug placement is so classic, it will also create a more traditional look.
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Color Accent
One of the most common ways to “break” the Rugs Under Beds Rule is by using a smaller rug and positioning it near the foot of the bed. Anchor the rug beneath the foot of the bed by tucking at least a foot of the rug under the bed. Ideally, your rug will be wide enough to extend at least a few inches on either side of the bed’s width. Using a rug in this way allows you to extend a color accent into the room.
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Modern Flair
A fun way to amp up the modern feel of a room is by placing a rug at diagonal angle to the bed. No matter what color or style of rug you use, this rug positioning will have a bit of an avant-garde character.
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Cutting Edge Asymmetry
Another modern rug placement is similar to using a rug for a color accent. You anchor the rug under the foot of the bed, but you allow it to extend out past only one side of the bed. Because the rug is not centered under the bed, the styling will feel more current.
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Practical Function
If all you care about is the warmth and cushioning a rug has to offer your feet, position your rug so it extends out from the side or sides of the bed you use. If both sides of the bed are used, you can either use a rug that is wide enough to extend out from both sides, or you can use two runners along either side of the bed. If your bed is set against a wall, letting the rug extend out from the bed into the room will give you the most usable rug space. This positioning will also provide the largest amount of color and texture impact from your rug.
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Warm up a Room
In a bedroom with relatively sparse décor, position your rug so that less than half your bed sits on the rug and the bulk of the rug extends out into the room from the sides and end of the bed. Especially effective if the rug has texture or pattern that will add to the room’s personality, this rug placement can warm up a room and act as a sort of filler to add weight to the room’s design.
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Balance Your Design
Sometimes, you have to put your furniture where it fits, even if doing so creates an imbalance of weight in the room. Thankfully, you can use under-the-bed rug placement to regain a space’s equilibrium. If your room is furniture-heavy to the right of the bed, for example, let more of your rug extend out from the right side of the bed. The extra rug presence will balance with the extra furniture. This type of rug placement can work with any style room because its effect is on proportion in the room, not on design motif.
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Now that you understand how rug placement impacts the design of a room as a whole, you can use rugs under beds to add style and/or function to your bedroom décor.
