How To Coordinate Rugs In An Open Floor Plan Or Adjoining Rooms
Determining how to coordinate rugs can be tricky in a home with an open concept floor plan or in a home with adjoining rooms. These rug coordinating tips will help to create a cohesive flow without the areas competing with one another.
Whether trying to coordinate rugs in a open floor plan, an open concept small apartment or in a home with adjoining rooms, it can be tough to do correctly. Rugs are like wallpaper. There’s SO much to choose from!
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I’ve written about many design dilemmas over the years that I’ve been blogging. In fact, I wrote an entire series on The Principles Of Interior Design. Trying to figure out what rugs go together happens to be a dilemma that I’m actually struggling with myself right now.
I don’t have an open concept floor plan, but I do have four adjoining rooms that are easily visible from each other. I’m shopping for area rugs for my foyer, office, dining room and family room. All of the rugs will be visible from one room to the other, as you can see from the below photos, so I’ve been doing a lot of research into what style rugs go together and how to coordinate rugs in adjacent rooms. Also – do all rugs have to match?
Here’s the view looking from my foyer, through the office, into the dining room. I’ll be replacing the two rugs that you can see.
My foyer also opens up to my family room, which is the opening on the right side of the photo.
Here’s a view from the opposite direction, looking across my dining room table, through the office, into the foyer. As you can see, all of these rooms flow right into each other.
I’m sure that many of you struggle with the same thing, so down below, I’ve put together a roundup of three different rug color categories for you to use when shopping. Any of the rugs in each of the categories would work well together. But first, let’s talk about all the tips for coordinating rugs.
For purposes of this blog post, we’ll be talking about patterned area rugs that work well with traditional, cottage, farmhouse, modern farmhouse and transitional designs.
TIPS FOR HOW TO COORDINATE RUGS
Because of the seemingly infinite number of choices, choosing coordinating rugs can quickly become overwhelming (ask me how I know). But – using these tips will go a long way toward helping to create a beautifully pulled together and tasteful interior.
- All of the rugs that you can see from a single spot in your home should compliment one another, such as an open living room and dining room.
- Use a similar color palette. Of all the tips I have for you, this is THE most important one.
- Use a dominant color across all of the rugs when mixing patterns. It’s okay to mix different tones and shades of the same color as long as the dominant color remains the same.
- Consider the furniture and other decor that you already own and will be keeping. Don’t forget to insure that the dominant color works with your furniture and draperies.
- It’s best to keep the texture of the rugs the same. In other words, don’t use a low pile rug in one area with a shag rug in an adjacent area.
- Two rugs in one room can work well next to or near one another. Next to keeping the dominant color the same, the key is to vary the scale of the patterns of each rug. Use one rug with a small scale pattern with a rug with a medium or large scale pattern. The general rule is for one rug to be visually more dominant and for the other rug(s) to compliment it.
- If you choose vibrantly colored rugs, tread carefully with your furnishings and other textiles in the room. You don’t want there to be so much pattern and color that the room looks like a circus
I’ve listed a shopping guide for three different color families below. You can’t go wrong with choosing multiple rugs from the same color family to use together. Any of them will compliment one another. They are all very affordable and some of them are them are even 80% off as of when I wrote this post!
The clickable link to each rug is listed below the image, moving from left to right and from top to bottom. All of the rugs are available in multiple sizes.
IVORY AND GRAY WITH BLUE
1) Katrina Blooming Rosette 2) Hazy Mysterious Tarnish 3) Shaded Medallion
4) Blue Bordered Floral 5) Distressed Medallion 6) Oriental Herati
7) Hectoria Shaded Medallion 8) Persian Wreath 9) Dark Blue Tasseled Medallion
IVORY AND GRAY WITH TAN
1) Shaded Snowflakes 2) Cardinal Cartouche 3) Croix Medallion
4) Garnished Medallion 5) Crested Venetian 6) Faded Sun Medallion
7) Distressed Medallion 8) Native Collage 9) Fading Herati
MULTI COLORED AND VIBRANT
1) Multi Mosaic 2) Karmic Medallion 3) Vibrant Meadow
4) Cardinal Peony 5) Blooming Medallion 6) Moroccan Trellis
7) Fading Oriental Medallion 8) Aztec Trellis 9) Frilly Corinthian
The possibilities are endless. Just remember that each rug is a unique representation of your personality and design style. And don’t worry about breaking any so called “rules”. It’s your home – make it a place that you love!
These are great tips, I wish I would have found this article sooner! I bought a kitchen area rug from a local store about a year ago to match a rug in my dining room, and it looks great but gets dirty incredibly fast. I’ve already had it cleaned by a rug cleaner twice. I wish I would have done more research and went with a washable rug!
Glad you found the tips helpful! Maybe you can save them for the next time you need a new rug.
Love your blog! Are your floors hardwood or LVP? They are beautiful!
Thank you! Our floors are oak hardwood that have been stained with Minwax Special Walnut.
Suzy, Great post. The visual pairing of the “nines” is a great reference tool. Thank you so much for always hands on teaching. Love peeking into your designs in your home.
Hi Suzy, Thanks for the great post. It’s already pinned on Pinterest, for future reference. So many choices!! Btw, I absolutely love the color of the little dresser in your foyer! If you painted it, could you please tell me what color you used. If you bought it that way, where did you get it? I have a small dresser that I want to re-do and have been struggling with finding the right color. Any info would sure be appreciated. Thank you.
Glad you found this useful! The chest in my foyer is an old cherry chest that I painted with Sherwin Williams Network Gray. 😀
I love the little blue painted piece of furniture in the foyer. What color is it? I so enjoy your blog. Blessings to you from North Carolina. Gina
Hi Gina. I actually don’t have any blue furniture in the foyer. Sometimes that gray chest comes across as blue, but it’s actually an old cherry chest that I painted with Sherwin Williams Network Gray. Please let me know if that isn’t what you’re asking about though.
Glad I found this and other blogs however all of them address two modern rugs. Do you have any advice for pairing a rug with an heirloom oriental? I’m looking for something to go under my table that next too my living space in my open floor plan. Im not sure I’d choose this rug for my self but because of its history would like to keep it and put something near to by. I just ordered a rug to try and didn’t like the way it looked. Any advice on what to put under the table when this oriental has the traditional dark blues and reds (not exactly modern). I’m in my late 20s and have really been trying to learn about decorating.
I have this same question. Your thoughts?
Hello ! Trying to find a rug to go with a rig I have in living room. This has been a job I hope u can help. I have a cream color zebra print and now looking for something that will work with the whole animal thing. Any suggestions?
I think that solids, stripes, florals, plaids and paisleys could all go with a zebra print. It’s difficult to say exactly without me seeing your room, but personally I would prefer a solid as mixing patterns with zebra can be tricky. If you go the solid route, I would look for something that’s a darker shade than your rug. Hope this helps a little!
Hallo!
I have a beautiful Pakistan silk wool jaldar carpet in my dining room.Dark red color and whitish grey borders.
What can I match next to it in an open living – dining room ?
Thank you
That sounds like a beautiful rug! I’d need to see a picture of it and the spaces that you want rugs in to be able to help you. I’d be happy to do that if you’d like to email me some photos. My email address is: worthingcourtblog@gmail.com
Thank you so much for posting this, it is super insightful! We bought a new home in 2022 and we have been slowly replacing the furniture in preparation to paint away the asylum white walls and now that our furniture is only a few short weeks from delivery I am under the gun to pick some rugs for our open concept living and dining room area. My husband and I have been going back and forth on two rugs that we love and we’re convinced we had to make things matchy because of their proximity but this gives me hope that we could make them work together! One rug is more classic bordered “oriental” style pattern, while the other is large floral/medallion – both with very similar color palettes (cream, grey, teal/aqua & navy)- which is the overall color palette of the whole area. I am much less terrified of combining them after reading your blog and some others all urging the same thing, to be brave. 😉 Thanks so much!!
I’m so glad you found this helpful! Thank you for letting me know.
This post came just when I needed it!
Hello Suzy,
Thank you for this article, it is truly insightful. We have recently moved to a new home and in process of furnishing the space. I have a mix of leather – camel color (towards brown) 89′ wide sofa against the wall and 2 dark blue fabric sofa (79″ inches) and 52″ inches facing each other ( U living room arrangement) I have oak colored LVP flooring. Presently, looking for matching area rugs for dining and living area. Looking for something that brings flow in the living room considering mix textured furniture and dining area.
I would appreciate your suggestion on following. Thanks in advance.
1. Should I go for a mix of rugs in living and dining based on the suggestion above or just stay in one kind with different size for dining and living?
2. Considering mix of furniture in the living what color tone would work the best?
Thanks
Shraddha
I’d look for two rugs that look well together instead of two matching rugs, but I really can’t give you specific advice without seeing your spaces. I’d go with rugs that have both brown and blue tones in them, but this also depends upon your personal taste and other elements (like pillows, draperies, etc) that are in the room. I’ve found RugsUSA to be a good site when searching by color.