One Rug, Three Designs
Designing a room on your own is intimidating. Whether you’re struggling to find the right inspiration or overwhelmed by the abundance of choice, it can be tough to know where to start.
What if you already have your heart set on one particular design element? What if, at the outset, that element doesn’t seem to match the existing style of your home?
Luckily, there are an unlimited number of ways to execute design.
Let’s use the 9×12 rug in the header an example and try styling it in three totally different ways. We’re working with the same room for each design, down to the window. These are cosmetic design changes, not construction.
1. Eclectic Chic
The first room is filled with color and accessories. The eye goes first to the exposed brick wall, the warmest and most forward facing element. The wall is covered in differently sized black picture frames and gold mirrors, colors which are carried throughout the room. A delicate gold wallpaper applique adorns black walls. Gold elements throughout the space tie the furniture, walls, and accessories together.
The wood of the floating bookshelves matches the coffee and side tables while flowers and plants bring a pop of life and color variance into the room. Similarly, the green leather couch breaks up the richness of the walls and furniture.
This space is designed without fear of bold patterns and textures. The darker colors in the rug pull together the black elements in the walls, picture frames, furniture, and floors. While there are several rugs that may look good in a space like this, the light gray and white in this rug offset the heaviness of some of the other elements and modernizes the room.
2. Natural Elegance
The second option is far more simplistic but no less beautiful. Sage walls play off the natural gray stacked stone fireplace. The charcoal, textured leaf wallpaper on the feature wall matches the asymmetrical coffee table. Rich black accessories like the lamp and chandelier further pull in the tones from the rug.
The two side chairs are soft in texture and color, and the gray is a happy medium between the grays within the rug and the stackstone.
The floor, cherry wood laid in a chevron pattern, balances the dark, cool tones in the room and matches the curtain rod. Finally, the ivory couch with a light sage throw blanket pulls in all the other accessories, like the white curtains and table decor.
Another rug, like this traditional one, may also look balanced in the space, but drastically changes the overall appearance. This is just more evidence that options are unlimited when it comes to design.
3. Boho Bold
The final room is a colorful, bold bohemian inspired look. The left wall is the feature this time around, and is swathed in a dazzling blanket of plants. The other walls are painted a soft gray-blue with brushed texture in a lighter shade overtop.
By the window, a teardrop shaped hanging chair looks out onto the rest of the room. Boho is all about texture, so the seat is a white faux fur that matches the rug. Rather than a traditional couch, there is a brown bench with orange undertones set up near the plant wall. It’s layered with a soft navy blanket and a plush gray one to add to the room’s textured elements.
Knitted orange pouf seats frame a low tatami table with green books and a bright yellow plant bring the natural colors further into the center of the room. The wood floor is a light honey color with golden and light orange undertones. A large painting with blues, greens, golds, grays, oranges, and whites pulls all the individual colors in the room together.
While there are lots of colors, the space doesn’t have much in the way of patterns. That’s what makes the rug shine. Its neutral tones balance out everything else going on while its simple, abstract design gives a boho feel in this room.
Compare this to how the rug supported room two’s calming neutral aesthetic. The same rug can be used in unexpected, diverse ways! Not every design will be your taste, but hopefully this is evidence enough that your options are unlimited. Sometimes it just takes a bit of creativity and vision (and a lot of trust in the process) to find the right style.
