3 Tips for Styling a Room Around an Antique Rug

A beautiful antique rug will bring charm and elegance to any living space. By following a few simple tips for properly placing your fine Persian or Oriental rug, you can truly make it the masterpiece of your home.

Arrange Your Rug to Fit Your Space

Oversized rugs truly invigorate large spaces. If you are styling a large living room, bedroom, or dining room, don’t be afraid to make complete use of the space with a richly textured palatial rug.

If you have the space, use it!

There are a few simple rules of thumb for placing furniture around a rug of any size. For instance, if you are dressing up a smaller living room with an area rug, it is best to keep all legs of the furniture off of the rug, positioning your couch, love seat, and armchairs along its edges. If you are working with the classic bold prints of a Persian or Oriental rug, this is particularly effective and making it pop.

The bigger the rug, the more of your furniture you can sneak onto it. An 8’ x 10’ rug, for example, can handle having the front legs of your furniture teasing the edges of it, while you can feel free to fully place your furniture onto anything in the range of 9’ x 12’ and beyond.

Use Colors That Compliment Your Antique Rug

Persian rugs are particularly notorious for their deeply rich red and blue hues. The best way to accentuate these gorgeous colors is to pair them against a neutral background.

While white, cream, or sandy-toned furniture and walls work best to highlight the rich coloring in Persian rugs, it isn’t unheard of to coordinate your antique rug with complementary colors.

An easy way of doing this is to pick out an anchor color from the rug and use it to accent your room with items to match. Throw pillows are great for this.

Vibrant reds work well with a complimenting robin’s egg blue, but if your Persian rug is in a more subdued shade, remember that dusty tones work really well with a muted rug. Dark teal accents carry a rose or cream-shaded rug beautifully.

Pair Patterns with Your Oriental or Persian Rug

Despite what we just said about pairing neutral colors with your bold rugs, it is possible to match patterned accents with an intricate Oriental or Persian rug. The trick is to avoid pattern overload by choosing the right patterns and properly arranging them.

An Oriental rug, after all, is an heirloom piece that you’ll want to keep for decades. Not something that you toss out when you decide to redecorate.

Learning how to redecorate around your signature rugs is the key to avoiding palette fatigue and holding onto your beautiful Oriental rug for years to come.

First off, when choosing to pair patterns you want to keep them in the same color family. Layering different shades of blue with a blue-accented Oriental rug, for example, is one way to tie in different patterns without creating overwhelm.

Contrasting colors will coordinate well if you keep scale in mind. A large pattern on your antique rug will work well with a smaller pattern displayed on your accent furniture. Pairing contrasting patterns in this way will actually bring a bold energy into any room.

Finally, don’t shy away from whimsy. Classic designs will work with any Persian or Oriental rug, bringing with it a traditional charm that most people can find comfort in.

Have you been aching to bring a rich Persian or Oriental rug into your home and you just don’t know where to start with incorporating it into your aesthetic? Do you have a large space that could be warmed up with a beautiful palace-size rug?

Serving New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, our selection covers a wide range of large rugs, including 12’x 22’ antique rugs big enough to brighten any large space. Call the Saatchi Rug Gallery today to book a viewing and see how we can bring some classic bold textures into your home. 516-510-9188