Rugs are used in living rooms to add warmth and comfort to hard-surface floors, such as wood and ceramic tile floors. When you want a rug in your living room, you might be wondering what type of living room rug layout will work best in your home. There are several techniques that you can use, and the ones that you try will depend on the way that you have your furniture laid out, the traffic flow, and the type of effect that you're trying to create. Here are some tips that you can use to place rugs in living room spaces. 

Large Rug Under Furniture 

One of the most classic ways of adding an area rug to the living room is to place a large rug underneath the furniture that is arranged in the middle of the room. Usually, the middle of the rug in a living room is covered by the coffee table, and two sitting chairs can be arranged either at each end of the coffee table or at one end of the coffee table to create a sitting area. The rug should be large enough that there is some overlap behind the couch with enough space between the coffee table and the front of the couch for people to comfortably walk between the two pieces of furniture. Either square or oval rugs work nicely for this arrangement. One of the benefits of this type of arrangement is that there is a soft place where children can play on the floor.

Smaller Rug Under Coffee Table

Another option is to place a smaller rug underneath just the coffee table. The rug should be big enough that there's overlap just beyond the legs of the coffee table, or if the coffee table has just a single pedestal leg in the middle, the rug should extend slightly past the edges of the coffee table so that the rug is in proportion to the rest of the room and the table. This arrangement is a nice option if you want the rug to serve as an accent or to add a little bit of color to the room. 

Rug Runners 

This type of rug has a greater length than its width. Rug runners are usually used in an area that is part of the normal traffic of the room, such as the entranceway to the living room. It serves as a nice accent to space, and it also serves as a way to keep dirt out of the main part of the living room. 

The rug in Front of the Fireplace 

If you have a fireplace in your living room that you would enjoy cuddling in front of, you can put a couple of armchairs in front of the fireplace and a rug in the middle. The rug, in this case, helps to define the space so that the chairs don't seem like they're floating out of place. The rug can also help tie in that space with the color scheme of the rest of the room. Oftentimes, people will still have a couch and coffee table that is set farther away from the fireplace, but the addition of the rug helps make the seating area feel like its part of the room. 

Large Rug That Leaves a Small Border of Bare Floor 

You might wonder how big should a rug be for a certain sized room. If your living room is on the small side, you might be able to find a rug that is big enough to cover almost your entire living room. This creates an effect that is almost like a carpet. If you choose this method, leave about a foot and a half of bare floor around the perimeter. You should also be aware of any doors that could get stuck on the rug. 

Multiple Rugs 

Especially if you have space, don't be afraid to have more than one rug in the living room. In fact, you can even have one rug overlapping another larger rug. For example, if you have a rug underneath a coffee table, and the rug overlaps the one near the patio door, it can still work if you layer colors and patterns right.

Whenever you're figuring out the placement of rugs, keep in mind that a rug can do a lot to define a space and anchor the furniture you put around it. Rugs can also serve a functional purpose of creating a soft place for children and pets to sit on, and they can be a place to wipe off shoes so that dirt isn't tracked into the rest of the room. And above all else, remember that proper rug placement is more of an art than a science, so if it looks good and is functional for you, then it works.