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Hey guys,

With so much needing to be done in the dining room, and so much getting in the way of it all getting done, I thought I’d take a step back today and look at pretty spaces. Because nothing recharges my brain much like a good room ogling session. What’s on my brain today? Layered rugs. Layered rugs are awesome for all spaces. Let’s explore some totally awesome ways of layering rugs and why you should be doing it.

Layered Rugs: Why You Should Do It & Ideas

Why you should be doing it? Yeah! There’s lots of really fun ways of styling a space and using layered rugs to make a statement. Like in this room, from Helen’s Eclectic Boho Haven (house tour via Apartment Therapy). There’s an area rug that brings a funky texture to the floor, but there’s a secondary rug in the room. It’s smaller but the perfect size and offset color to bring attention to that gorgeous armchair (the one with the wood arms, not the puffy blue beast ;))

I love the use of smaller rugs in spaces to draw attention to a particularly special piece. And in this particular space, it mimics the detailed cords (the lines?) of the larger rug, but in a different shape. Yeah, catch the circles and rectangles? At first glance you may not see it, but it’s a really cool way of adding that extra layer and depth to a space.

How about when you’ve found a funky fun rug for your space? You don’t want to buy the really big size (or the size appropriate for your space) because 1. It’s hella expensive and/or 2. Your fear it’ll engulf the space. This has to be my favorite rug layering trick. Not only does it open up the possibilities for cool rugs on a budget, but there’s lots of practical reasons to do this, too.

Say you have a sisal or jute rug. Do you know what a paint in the butt those things are to get dirt out of those. All. The. Crevices. So throw another rug on top of it. One that’ll vacuum more easily. You get the texture of the natural weave without the pain in the butt cleaning (or maybe I’m the only one with especially dirty dog, child and husband)

And then there’s the practical, “I have an area rug in my kitchen but I stand closer to the counter in certain places and my feet hang off the rug in those spots” kind of rug layering.

I just love it when functionality looks this good. An excuse to add more textiles? As if I needed a whole blog post to make up excuses for adding more rugs to my space. But obviously there’s a method to the madness. I mean, perfectly sane people are doing it!

Some of those perfectly sane people also use rugs to make a space look really cool. And by cool I mean balanced and styled well for the eye. I’m sure a lot of people look at a space with an offset rug and think, “ooh, such a rebel but i can’t stop staring!”

It’s because it’s interesting. In the example above, you can follow the line of the rug to the sofa. Almost luring you in to have a seat? Even if you’re not trying to subconsciously lure your guests to get comfortable, you may find that an offset placement like this adds just the right amount of spunk to your space.

So rugs are fun, sometimes there’s a method to the madness of layering them. Sometimes it’s a happy coincidence that it works. Looking at beautiful spaces with layered rugs has certainly given me a few fun ideas to play around with.

Working on any fun home projects right now? I’d love to hear!