Friday, April 14, 2017

How to Decorate by Layering Rugs

Decorating Interior,Exterior, Living Spaces by Layering Rugs, JoFer
.

Rugs. Who said Rugs !
 Well not just rugs, but layered rug on rug action. Many Home dwellers and apartment home dwellers for that matter, tend to feel some type of resentment towards rugs in this 20th century. 
When most of us heir this three letter word, we tend to cringe and have the idea that this is something of the past and therefore want our interior space to be rug free. Now considering that many of us have good reasons such as minimizing risk for allergies or simply wanting to avoid the thought of  maintenance. We believe this decor item to be a crucial complement to any, YES! any interior and/or exterior living space.

Now with that been said, if you are an apartment dweller you may indeed be faced with a great dilemma. While the thought of stripping up that beige obsolete looking carpet may cross your mind, you are suddenly brought back down from cloud 9 to accept the crude reality. Wait There is a solution and the results are just as awesome. In this tutorial on How to Decorate by Layering Rugs we will demonstrate how we layered some rugs over hardwood floors and in a room with wall to wall apartment dwellers carpet.    

What we have learned along the way, is that this concept of using rugs does more that just bring color into the space. 

1. Comfort is an absolute plus of layering rugs. If you are a fan of having a no shoe policy in your home like we do, then you will indeed notice the immediate difference in comfort below your feet. Now just imagine walking into the room and feel like you are walking on a pile of cotton or in gel shoe inserts as you walk through your home performing your day to day chores. Got your attention yet !

2. Color distribution and sporadic changes into your decor idea is another advantage. Remember we mentioned our apartment dwellers being stuck with the idea of seeing that wall to wall beige rug eye sore day in and day out. Well adding an area rug or even two will definitely add interest, color and some spunk, drawing your eyes away from that apartment dwellers rug. Also as the seasons change you can change it up by interchanging rugs to match the rest of your seasonal decor. This alone makes a space look about 60 to 70 percent different at first glance. 

3.  A little Rug on Rug action just makes a space look well; Finished! Think about it this way, you have a dinning table but it also needs a layer of embellishments which completes the dinning experience right. Here goes another one. You have a large wall but without a layer of your favorite mementos your wall is Just a wall. This gives the wall a kind of three dimensional look and depth if you will. Look for our future post on layering frames coming soon.

4. Add a subtle layer of texture on texture with different material. Lets try an OVERSIZED wool rug, rectangle or square for the base coat, topped with a rectangle, square or round polypropylene rug or vise versa. What about a vintage Persian OVERSIZED Polyester rug of any shape, topped by a plush shag rug. Be careful though, there are some rules of thumb when it comes to layering rugs
You simply do not want to place a thin woven rug like Polyester or Polypropylene for example on top of a high pile rug such as a plush shag or sheep skin. Always place the rug with the highest pile of fiber above the thinnest, otherwise the high pile rug below with cause the rug above to sink and ripple as you step your way through. Not good.  


Here are some pics of area rugs from one of our favorite home decor brick and mortar stores Home Goods [Source:non sponsored.] You can of course find rugs almost anywhere, just keep in mind not to sacrifice the quality. 




Below you will see the various ways we used to layer some rugs and you decide which style suits you best. Feel free to always explore and make this work for you. Just stick to the basic concept when it comes to layering rugs of distinct fiber pile sizes and you will be fine. Play around with shapes and sizes, you'll be surprised on the impact it will create in the space. ENJOY! 

Decorating Interior,Exterior, Living Spaces by layering Rugs,JoFer Interiors

Here we used three types of area rugs. Bottom layer is a Gorgeous flowered Grey and Burgundy 7 X 8 wool rug purchased from Rugs USA. Second layer consist of a Grey Polypropylene 4 X 6. We actually used this rug over the bottom wool rug as means to diminish the foot traffic on the wool rug below as means to preserve its lifetime. Polypropylene tends to be very durable due to its tightly woven fibers and hence handles foot traffic very well.  We kept same color concept for it to blend as opposed to giving it too much pop. We then added a top layer of subtle Cowhide rug we purchased at Cowhides international . We added this rug during the Fall season due to its earthly color tones. You can literally drape the cowhide as you please. In this case we wanted it to drape onto the wood floors. This draping technique simply gives the floor space more depth.
   
Decorating Interior,Exterior, Living Spaces by Layering Rugs, JoFer

Same presentation at a different angle. This time we added a beautiful, breathtaking Dover Grey Sheep skin rug we purchased from Sheep Skin Town. If you have never walked, sat, or laid on original natural sheep skin, you have to experience it. The term "walking on clouds" would not be just a cliche anymore. :0)


Decorating Interior,Exterior, Living Spaces by Layering Rugs, JoFer


Here we switched out the second layer with a Persian like polypropylene 5 x 7 rug, and added a throw as a Third layer. Ah, Did you just say a throw ?
Yes sir/mam.  A throw !
The Dover Grey Sheepskin was pulled away from the first three layers and placed at the feet of the Rattan Recliner Chair. Notice how the Sheepskin is only layered on a very small portion of the polypropylene rug and away from the throw. Its all about texture, texture and more TEXTURE...  
 

Another shot same angle. This time we removed the second  and third layer rugs and draped the Cowhide just a little more toward the hardwood floors. Again it was the fall season therefore the colors and texture matched perfectly with the entire surrounding decor. As the seasons change we encourage you to mix and match as your decor scheme seems fit.
 
Layer rug home decor with Sheepskin, Cowhide and Wool rugs


Layer rug home decor with Sheepskin, Cowhide and Wool rugs

Another close up view at grounds level. 
The reason we chose a throw, is that it creates interest and adds a subtle texture. You can also chose to switch these throws as the seasons change, keeping the living space fresh.


Layering rug on rug home decor with Sheepskin, Cowhide and Wool rugs
Here with the also removed the previous second polypropylene layer rug, kept the cowhide and gave the floor more elevation by adding the top layer of double pelt Dover Grey sheepskin. When layering these beautiful rugs you may want to consider a glass coffee table, as this will keep the continuous flow of the floor space giving you an unobstructed view. 
Take some time if you haven't, to view the video clip on right sidebar shared by Overstock You obviously do not have to use as many rugs in your layout but this gives you a visual of what we have tried to convey to you in this tutorial.  














Just another shot because we know you just can't have enough;0)

Please return soon as we will post future images on upcoming design projects in which we will be using more techniques on layering rugs. 

Conclusion: Just because the area you are considering may be small, this doesn't mean you have to go tiny with your area rug selection. A larger rug will make the area look that much larger as it will take your eyes further along the floors. Keep the rugs interesting with shapes, colors textures etc. as this will add art to the floors the same way pictures does for your walls.
As we always say at Spaces made Perfect. When designing and/or decorating your perfect haven, always make your space "YOURS."


 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This looks Awesome. May try soon.