Which rug is best for your room? 21 expert picks, plus tips on choosing pile, size and material
A rug can work wonders on a dull room, but buying a high-quality one is an investment. Here’s how to find one that fits your space lifestyle and budget
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You’ve moved in your sofa, heirloom side tables and even your great-aunt Helen’s collection of vintage salt and pepper shakers, but the room still feels incomplete. A room full of furniture needs a rug – to anchor the space, cozy it up and enhance the physical experience of living in your space more comfortably.
Rugs are fun! But they’re also intimidating: like many categories of home goods, there are roughly a zillion options at a dizzying array of price points, and decision fatigue sets in quickly when you find yourself doomscrolling endless pages of rugs that all look the same.
Buying a rug is a big decision, but it doesn’t have to be scary. There truly is a rug out there that will work for your lifestyle and budget, as long as you know what to look for. I spoke to some experts for their advice on what to look for – and I found a wide range of options from brands vetted by the pros that are a great starting point for your personal rug journey.
Consider your lifestyle
If you want a rug to last a long time, you need to pick one based on a realistic assessment of what you will subject it to. “It is important to be honest about how it is actually used,” says Merie Subryan, a New York-based interior designer and stylist. “Do you have children or pets, a baby crawling on the floor, or a living room that regularly becomes a place for play, exercise, or movie night? Do you eat in the living room, and does the rug need to withstand spills, damp feet, and daily wear?”
Now match your lifestyle with the appropriate pile. “Pile refers to the length of the fibers,” says Tara McCauley, a New York-based interior designer. “The higher the pile, the more difficult it is to vacuum or prevent matting and shedding.” Pile is as much about aesthetics as it is about functionality: a fluffy Flokati shag rug might look incredible in your living room, but it will eventually make you miserable if you’re constantly concerned about keeping it pristine. A flatter, shorter pile will be easier to clean, even if it feels less cushy underfoot. Here are three different options.
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High pile but not too fluffy: Arden Rug
Great for living rooms, bedrooms and even a kid’s playroom
The looped pile on this plush rug is pleasantly squishy and makes cleaning a little easier – a high-pile rug with the ease of medium pile.
The looped pile on this plush rug is pleasantly squishy and makes cleaning a little easier – a high-pile rug with the ease of medium pile.
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Medium pile: Revival Rugs Sprinkle
Great for a breakfast nook, entryway or basement rec room
Revival’s polyester rug is machine washable and is backed by a flexible rubber matting that functions as an ersatz rug pad. Minor caveat: according to the brand, any rug bigger than 5x8ft should be washed in a commercial-sized washing machine, so if you go this route, make sure you have a laundromat nearby.
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Short and washable, to boot: Tulip Brown Rug
Great for hallways or kitchens
Flatweave rugs, like this charming wool and cotton number from Blockshop Textiles, are great as kitchen runners – just a little something to take the chill off of bare feet on a tile floor.
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Know how the rug is made
Beyond pile, rugs are differentiated by the manufacturing process, which informs durability, aesthetic, and crucially, price. McCauley breaks it down further:
“Hand-knotted rugs are made by tying individual knots. They’re the most labor-intensive and typically the most durable. They have depth, subtle variation and tend to age well.” (McCauley notes that you can also find vintage or antique hand-knotted rugs, made of either wool, silk or a blend.)
“Flatweaves have no pile and are lighter weight. These are generally lower priced than hand-knotted. They’re less formal looking and usually more scratchy to the touch.”
“Hand-tufted rugs are made by punching yarn into a backing with a tool. They’re faster to produce and more affordable, but they don’t have the same longevity as a hand-knotted rug.”
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Here are a few suggestions:
Hand-knotted: Stickley Prairie Rug
Great for an office, guest room or any space where the pattern can be the focus
If a Frank Lloyd Wright house is out of the cards, then this rug is a fantastic substitute, styled after a stained glass window. And it’s wool, so no need to be overly precious.
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Flatweave: Rugs USA Arrel Speckled Wool-Blend Rug
Great anywhere but would shine in a bedroom or living room
Technically, this rug (beloved by interior designers, influencers and recommended by one of our experts, Alvin Wayne) is a flatweave by technique only, with just a hint of pile (0.25in to be precise) distinguishing it from others in the category. It’s wool with a kiss of viscose – luxurious!
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Hand-tufted: Quince Sullivan Rug
Great for a lesser-used room if you choose to go with a light color
If you play your cards right, you could outfit your entire house in Quince. Start with a hand-tufted rug in wool that’s neutral enough to work in any room.
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Size matters
Picking the right size might feel intuitive, but the designers I spoke to agreed on one golden rule: bigger is (almost) always better in a large space. “I think most people sort of tend to choose a smaller rug than what they need,” says Cherisse Blizard, a New Jersey-based designer. “A rule of thumb is to make sure that all of the front legs of the furniture are at least on the rug.”
If the room is small, you’ll want to be more intentional with the size, and even err on the side of what feels “too small”. “It may sound a bit counterintuitive, but in smaller spaces, a slightly smaller rug that allows more of the floor to breathe can actually make a room feel more open, if it is done intentionally,” Subryan said.
If you’re struggling to visualize a rug from a masking tape outline on the floor, technology can help. Retailers including Rugs USA and Revival Rugs have useful visualization tools on their websites that allow potential buyers to upload a picture of their room and see the rug in it. “If they have the tools on their website, definitely try to use it,” Blizard says. “Sometimes they’re not really to scale, but I think they are programmed to be as close to scale as you can get. It’s good for online shopping.”
I was skeptical of these tools, but when I wanted to replace the rug in my narrow, oddly shaped living room, I spent at least a month deliberating between sizes and found the visualization helpful. The rug I picked was so close to the visualization that when I finally splayed it out on the floor, it was like it had always been there.
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A little rug: Anthropologie Greer Hand-Tufted Wool Blend Rug
Great for the side of your bed or in a reading nook
This little area rug from Anthropologie is charming, modern and small enough that you could use it to define any underutilized corners of your home.
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A medium size rug: Ikea Markblåmme
Great for a smaller common space since it only comes in one size
Ikea’s stepped their game up in recent years and this low-pile, polyester, colorful number looks more expensive than it is.
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A big boy: Revival Rugs Carenia Vintage Turkish Runner Rug
Great for a hallway or even a long kitchen runner
Revival Rugs sells vintage rugs alongside its new offerings and this Turkish runner is perfect for a hallway.
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Wool gives the best bang for your buck
Rugs are expensive – not Mario Bellini sectional sofa expensive, but depending on your taste, they can be. Some materials are cheaper than others, but across the board, all the designers I spoke to recommended wool.
“I always go for a wool rug only because it’s a natural material, and it’s also very easy to clean,” says Alvin Wayne, a New York-based interior designer. If the latter half of that statement surprises you, consider this: “It’s from an animal. If an animal can walk around in nature with this on and live and be in the woods, it’ll be OK in your house,” he says. Blizard agrees. “Wool is definitely durable,” she says, “and it ages well.” The inherent durability of wool means that you can easily clean up cat barf, Cabernet, or anything in between, without the rug you spent money on being ruined forever.
Of course, not all wool rugs are made equal. Offerings from luxury brands such as Nordic Knots and Layered differ from their lower-priced counterparts in hand-feel and hue. “It’s the color and the saturation of the color, and the depth and thickness of the carpet,” Wayne says. A rug that looks like Nordic Knots but did not cost Nordic Knots money might feel a little less cushy. If you’re going to spend this much money on a rug, then take advantage of samples. Blizard notes that Nordic Knots and other upscale rug brands offer samples, so you can really live with the piece in your space before making the commitment.
If you’re on a budget and still seeking some spring underfoot, a thick and high-quality rug pad can help – just not the rubbery, plasticky ones that resemble contact paper or shelf liners. “That does nothing,” Wayne says. “I always recommend getting a true rug pad.”
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A fancy wool rug: Layered Teklan Frame wool rug
Great for any room where you want it to shine, like a formal living room
This is a very nice design-forward option from a beloved Scandinavian brand that can be the star of whatever room it’s in.
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A medium-priced wool rug: West Elm Emma Chamberlain Frame Flatweave Wool Rug
Great for tiled entryways or any surface that feels especially cold
Influencer Emma Chamberlain’s new West Elm collaboration is surprisingly accessible and this flatweave rug is one of the standouts.
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A rug pad: Rug Pad USA Eco-Plush 1/2in
A rug pad’s thickness should roughly correspond with the rug. If your rug is flatweave, go ⅛-¼in thick with the pad; a thicker, more plush rug can sustain a ½in rug pad. Felt is best, but there are also memory foam options if maximum comfort is your priority.
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… but there are other options!
If you’re allergic to wool or want to avoid it for other reasons, you have choices.
“Viscose rugs, which feel really amazing, mimic a silk rug,” Wayne says. “They can be a little more expensive, but they are also very difficult to clean. And therefore you will probably be replacing that sooner than later versus wool.”
Jute and sisal rugs are also popular choices. “Natural fibers such as jute, sisal and seagrass bring texture and an earthier quality,” Subrayn says, though buyers should beware that a jute rug is going to feel scratchy underfoot, which makes them better for layering underneath a smaller rug for texture and visual appeal. For these sorts of rugs, Wayne suggests a very tight weave for longevity and comfort.
There are also rugs that advertise themselves as machine-washable, from companies including Ruggable and Tumbl, billed as solid options for high-traffic areas – but the designers I spoke to were not as enthusiastic about them as options. “A lot of families do love those rugs,” Blizard said. “I would still invest in a higher quality rug that you can vacuum a lot.” Often these rugs are synthetic, but figuring that out will take some careful reading. “With synthetics like acrylic, polyester or polypropylene, you’ll see names like ‘performance fiber’, ‘easy-care’ or sometimes just ‘synthetic blend’,” McCauley says. “I do like polypropylene in certain cases, like for indoor-outdoor living or high-traffic areas, but it can take effort just to know what you’re getting.”
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All Artificial: CB2 Kole Mink Brown Solid Performance Nylon Area Rug
Great for a playroom (fuzzy!) or any area that will take a beating from children and pets
Yes, this CB2 offering is “performance”, which means it’s made of polyester, but it looks like silk.
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A good indoor/outdoor option: Ruggable Palazzo Latte Brown Re-Jute Rug
Great for a sunroom, screened-in porch, or any indoor-outdoor space
If the look of jute appeals to you, but the thought of walking on something that resembles a cat scratching post less so, then Ruggable’s Re-Jute rugs are a great option. They offer the look of jute minus the scratchiness of the real thing. (Note: Ruggable rugs attach to proprietary rug pads, so you’ll have to buy both.)
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Viscose: Ruggable Light Blue Solid Art Silk Blend Rug
Great for low-traffic areas that you want to feel special
ABC Carpet offers a gorgeous baby blue area rug that’s 80% “art silk” (viscose) and 20% cotton – fussy to clean, remember, but beautiful to look at and would work well in a bedroom.
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Silk: Ben Soleimani Marca Rug
Great for adding drama to a room that is meant mostly for show
If silk is what you desire, just make sure you’re prepared for heartbreak should you stain it. This hand-knotted beauty is also a really good deal.
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Consider odd shapes
Ask a child to draw a rug, and I’d bet dollars to donuts that you’d get a solid colored-rectangle – perhaps fringed like the flying carpet in Aladdin – but a rectangle nonetheless. If you want something that feels (and looks) different, consider circles, ovals and other nonstandard shapes, which can be a better fit in odd-shaped spaces, like a narrow living room, or any space that has awkward angles or corners.
Just know that a standard rug pad will be more difficult to manage under a rug that isn’t a square or a rectangle. Instead of cutting a thick rug pad to shape, Wayne suggests carpet tape to prevent the rug (and you) from slipping and sliding: “It’s basically like double stick tape and you just stick it to the floor. And it doesn’t leave.”
Oval rug (rag rug): Rugs USA Ripplewood Oval Jute Rug
Great price for a jute rug that would work well in a foyer or mudroom
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Another fun shape: West Elm Oblong rug
Great for a kid’s bedroom or playroom
“I think they’re really fun in kids’ bedrooms,” Blizard says. Try this West Elm rug that feels playful without being too juvenile.
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Big blob: Rugs USA Venace Abstract Wool Rug
Great for an odd-shaped living area or bedroom
For a room that’s narrow and rectangular, an oblong, abstract shape can make the space feel more expansive and less boxy. (I dillydallyed too long on buying this rug for my own living room and it was sold out for months. I regret it every day.)
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Go big or go custom
Rugs come in standard sizes, but sometimes the space you have isn’t standard at all. If you’re trying to cram a rug into a particularly narrow space or one with strange angles, you may feel hampered by the options on the market. Going custom sounds fancy, and it sort of is, but it gives you control over the final product.
There is a cheaper way. Wayne tells me that for some projects, when the room is an odd shape, he’s literally cut a rug to make it fit. “It’s sort of like customizing the shape of the rug, even if it’s an off-the-rack rug,” he says. “Find someone who lays carpet, and they can come and cut it and they can bind it for you. They stitch the end, so it just looks like it was made that way.” You can try this with any big rug you want, but it’s probably easier to go with a solid-colored rug rather than a patterned rug.
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One big rug: Nordic Knots Grand
Great for any room you want to put it in
Nordic Knots is a classic for a reason. These rugs come in gorgeous colors and can be ordered in custom sizes.
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Custom but slightly cheaper: Ernesta Phoebe Plush Wool Rug
Great for any room with very specific measurements
Ernesta is a fairly new direct-to-consumer rug company that makes custom rugs for reasonable prices. They offer hundreds of options and will work with you to get the rug that fits your space and your needs perfectly.
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Cleaning your rug
A rug will get dirty, because life is for living. Cleaning a rug doesn’t have to mean hauling the whole thing off to a professional rug cleaner like the ones you see on TikTok – you can easily clean a rug yourself at home.
The vacuum cleaner you hopefully own will work just fine for everyday maintenance, but beware that you may find yourself vacuuming frequently when you first get a new rug. “All rugs do shed,” Wayne says, even the expensive ones, and especially natural fibers such as wool. The solution? “You just vacuum it.”
If you’re also dealing with a shedding animal – like the long-haired cat that lives rent-free in my home – I’ve found a rug rake is the way to go. It will snag any shedding fibers from the rug and grab the pet hair that’s embedded in there, too.
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Rake: Uproot Super Cleaner
Vacuum once, then twice, then go over the rug with a rake, and it’ll look good as new!
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Spot remover: Folex Carpet Cleaning Solution
Wayne recommends this carpet cleaner: just spray it on the stain, wait a little bit and then rub it off with the provided cloth.
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For bigger messes: Bissell Little Green Portable Upholstery Cleaner
If you have a pet, then you need this portable upholstery cleaner – trust me. This little machine has saved my rug (and my sofa) from a few unfortunate instances of feline GI distress, and both do not look worse for the wear.
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Megan Reynolds is an author and journalist specializing in design, service and culture. She has covered culture and design for over a decade.
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