Think About Floor Plan Before Buying Area Rugs
Q. We are going to pull up our old wall-to-wall carpeting in the living and dining rooms and replace it with area rugs. Do you have any suggestions for size, color and pattern?
The living room is 15-by-25 with a sofa in formal fabric of large, dark green-and-navy stripe separated by a smaller gold and burgundy stripe.
We have two chairs. One is dark green, and the other is a flowered navy, green and burgundy. The 12-by-15 dining room has cherrywood furniture with chair seats of white upholstery.
We know these rugs are expensive, and we don’t want to make a mistake. Any help would be appreciated.
A. A good carpet store will answer: Consider handmade/ machine-made, knots-per-inch, wool grade, pattern identification, history and price. Maybe I can help you be a good shopper before you get to the store.
Decorative rugs are usually offered in several sizes, such as 4-by-6, 6-by-8 and 8-by-12. You will probably not find exactly the size you want, but 6 inches either way should not be too much a problem.
For the dining room, a 6-by-8 always looks good under a closed table (no leaves), but the next size up will be more comfortable for larger dinner parties at which guests will be pulling chairs in and out over the carpet.
In the living room you may need two rugs. You could use them to define areas in this good-sized room - a larger one for the conversation area and a smaller one for a reading, music or desk area.
If there is a diagonal wall, partition or fireplace, don’t be afraid to place rugs and furniture diagonally also.
Try to have an even border all the way around the rug and the furniture being grouped. If it is a larger-size rug, try to place each piece of furniture on it, leaving an equal-size perimeter.
The formality of your rooms would work well with Oriental rugs. Don’t be shy about using patterned rugs with patterned furniture.
Let one color dominate and be the “glue” to hold together all stripes, flowers and geometrics. Different-size rugs may be selected in the same design to create unity, or they may vary, just as valuable paintings do. This is a personal choice.
You don’t want to end up with a lot more pattern in the living room than you have in the dining room. A table runner, flowered centerpiece, pictures, etc., may be needed to give this room some added detail.
I always advise trying each seat in your room while you visualize the pattern and color you have in mind. For example, did you forget you could see your bedroom wallpaper beyond the rug? And, it clashes!
And remember, good shoppers always take their arm covers, paint chips and fabric swatches with them.
Q. I am in the process of redecorating my living room in Country French. The upholstered pieces were chosen in light pastels of mauve, green and cream.
A curio and chest are painted cream. My tables are iron and glass with brass and stone trim. I feel good about all this so far, but my brain has stopped at the fireplace. It is floor-to-ceiling 1970s lava rock with no mantle.
What can I do? I want to paint it, but the paint store says no.
A. I am sure you have put a lot of time and thought into this project. I imagine you have already spent considerable money, but resurfacing your fireplace would not be too difficult if you wanted to spend another approximately $1,500 for materials and labor.
The flue and firebrick would not be touched, only the surface stone.
There are beautiful stones and bricks available with whispers of greens, mauves and creams to suit your pastel color scheme. Lava rock is porous and hard to paint, so that idea, indeed, may be out.
My advice is to think of accepting the home’s own architectural beauty and then contrasting it. One of the most striking and pleasant homes I have seen was made of logs but furnished in delicate French Provincial. To contrast pieces is to make each more beautiful.
Two examples of this shown so often by manufacturers: an ornate French bergere chair in black leather where you would expect to find pastel brocade, and a straight-leg parson’s dining table surrounded by curved Louis XV chairs.
Since you have chosen a French Country mood, why not treat your rock fireplace as a rock wall in your French country garden?
On the right side of your fireplace, mounted high, use a sculptured stone garden fountain (no water, of course) with sprigs of ivy sneaking out around the edges and trailing down to the hearth.
On the left, attached lower, place a narrow cream-painted mantle to hold three little ceramic pots of pastel flowers. The hearth below may display a ceramic watering pitcher and a little stone turtle wandering by.
Some garden objects at other spots in the room will hold this mood together. The finishing touch would be a picture of a French country garden above your painted chest.
In this way, the lava rocks in your fireplace would no longer be stumbling blocks, but rather beautiful contrasts to your fine things.
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