5 Reasons Why Rugs Are so Important for Hardwood Floors

Here’s my top 5 reasons why rugs are so important for hardwood floors. This post is going to help you determine why rugs are a crucial design element to any home with wooden floors, and how you can incorporate rugs in to your own home…

*This post has been sponsored by Designer-Carpet

Rugs are a very important element to consider when designing a room. Understandably though, you may be a little wary of covering up your lovely wooden floors. In my home, I have a rug in every room and I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. There’s so many reasons why having rugs has benefitted not only the style of my home, but the overall ambiance of it too.

5 Reasons why rugs are so important for hardwood floors

A lot of people think that the main purpose for rugs is purely for the nice aesthetic, but the benefits of adding a rug in to a room goes way beyond style. There’s many reasons why rugs can help transform a space and bring together all other elements in a room…

1. They add warmth & Insulation to a room

rugs for hardwood floors

Incorporating a rug in to a room will help add warmth, especially if it’s a large space. Generally speaking, if you feel as though a room is ‘a little cold’, adding soft furnishings & textures will change that instantly. To being with, I didn’t have a rug in my dining room and I would always find myself wanting to add an extra layer of clothing. Now that I’ve added a rug and some cushions in to this space I no longer feel that way and the room feels far more cosy.

It also softens the look!

Adding soft furnishings also softens the overall look of a room. If you feel as though the space feels a little stark and uninviting, adding different textures will help break up graphic elements, and add more depth to the room.

2. They help prevent scratching/staining on your floor

dining room rug

Rugs can help protect your lovely wooden floors. In high traffic areas, consider laying a rug to reduce chances of scratching or staining. An example of this would be putting a rug under a dining table to avoid scrapes from chairs, or perhaps in a living room under a sofa/coffee table. Rest assured, scratches and dings are totally preventable by laying a rug as it can act as a protective barrier as well as being a great decorative feature in the room.

Make sure you use rug pads!

Ensure you use rug pads or non-slip mat stickers to secure the rug in place and stop it from shifting. Rugs can be prone to ruffling up on hardwood floors, especially if they’re thin. An underlay pad will keep the rug in place, and prevent any trip hazards!

3. They help reduce noise in a room

Why rugs help zone a space

If you have hardwood floors in your home you may notice an echo in the room. This is because hard surfaces such as floors/furniture don’t absorb sound the same way that carpet does. Adding a rug will decrease the noise in the room by absorbing the sound. It’s also a good option if you’re on the first floor and want to reduce sound to the room below, because quite obviously, walking on a carpet will be far less noisy than walking on a hard wooden floor!

4. They help to ‘zone’ a space

why rugs are noise reducing

If you have a large, open-plan space then rugs are a great way of ‘zoning’ areas to make it feel more cosy and confined. Often in wide, open rooms furniture can look a bit lost if scattered around so adding a rug helps pull the pieces together and helps creates a zoned area for you to relax in.

Perhaps you want to differentiate an open-plan living room from a dining room, and using rugs will help create an illusion of separate spaces. Or, you may want to create a ‘cosy corner’ to relax and read in, simply with an armchair, table & floor lamp on a nice rug. If you have an area in your home that feels a bit lack-lustre, try adding a rug to see if you can create a completely new space.

5. They add a great pop of colour/pattern to a room

Why rugs are so important for hardwood floors

Of course, I couldn’t complete this post without mentioning that rugs do of course add great aesthetic to any room. Rugs are a great way of injecting a large pop of colour, and patterned rugs can make for a bold statement piece.

Designer-Carpet

As a huge lover of colour and pattern, I opted for this striped rug from Designer-Carpet to take pride of place under my dining room table. The rug itself is an off-cut of Crucial Trading carpet in Audrey Midnight, and I chose a bright coral edging to tie in other elements in the room and add a flash of colour. It’s also made from wool which is comfortable, durable and easy to clean – Perfect for a dining room!

I absolutely love the fact I could pick and choose different materials, colours and patterns on their online rug builder because it meant I could add my own style and design it myself. It’s also given me peace of mind knowing that I have helped repurpose a remnant of carpet that could have otherwise been thrown away. Instead, it’s now laying proudly in my dining room and I’m so thrilled with how it looks. It’s really tied the room together, making a bold & graphic statement.

Make sure you choose the right rug for you!

There’s a few factors to consider when choosing the right rug. These pointers below will help you determine the best rug for your room!

Choose the right material: Do some research on different rug materials. You will want to make sure you have a hard wearing rug in high traffic areas such as dining rooms or living spaces, or waterproof rugs in places that may get a little damp/wet, for example hallways or kitchens.
Pick the right pile: Don’t pick a high-pile rug if it’s going to overwhelm the room. Consider where the rug will be, and what its main purpose is for.
Measure, measure measure! Ensure you triple check measurements of what you need the rug to be. There’s nothing worse than having a small rug in a large open space, but you also don’t want the rug to swamp the room either!

If you want some help/guidance on choosing the right rug material and size then Designer-Carpet have a handy FAQ’s page to help you.

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This post was made in collaboration with Designer-Carpet.

Rug was gifted as part of the collaboration.

All content curated by That’s so Gemma.