Do you have a sectional sofa you want to accessorize with a beautiful rug but don’t know how to place it? While sectional sofas are designed to host more people in a smaller space, they are not very easy to align with carpets or area rugs. But, not to worry, I will show you how to place a rug under a sectional sofa regardless of the couch or rug size and shape.
What You Need to Consider for the Best Rug Placement Under a Sectional Sofa
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A sectional sofa is made of two or more pieces including a chaise and faces each other to create an L-shape. Ideally, you can place the pieces individually to define a number of different lounges or connect them to form one larger one that will be able to accommodate more people. Russel Wright made the sectional design during the 1930s an eminent American Industrial designer.
With the often uneven design of the sectional sofa, it is not really easy to accessorize with a decor rug. To get it right you need to look into the shape as well as the size of the rug and how that could complement your sofa when it is joined together.
If you have a coffee table, there is another that should be considered so that you can be able to balance the central point of the rug with that one. Another situation where you want to expose more of the rug is if your sofa legs are tall like in the photo below.
Finally, you can choose a beautiful rug that competes with most attention-grabbing features of the sofa. Nonetheless, when you decide to make the rug the focal point of your living room, the rug will need to be lined up in some way to features of your sofa for the best results.
Still unsure how to go about it? Here are 10 ways to place your rug under a sectional sofa for a unique, balanced, and classy look.
1. Use a Large Rug to Cover Most Space
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Thanks to the uneven shape of a sectional sofa, you can avoid most rug placement stress by going for a large one. Naturally, this rug will take up a lot of space so that you can place most of your furniture, including the sectional sofa, on it. For this look, I suggest looking for a carpet color that complements your decor. Additionally, ensure the rug size is at least 8 feet by 10 feet.
In most cases, a large rectangular rug makes placement easy as you can align it to the longest edges of your sofa.
The above image gives ideas of how easy it is to place a large rug under a big sectional sofa, coffee table, and accent chairs. The modern rug marries well with the brown room decor. It complements the entire sectional sofa but is still aligned to the sofa edges to create a balanced look.
2. Use a Smaller Area Rug to Accessorize the Sectional Couch
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If large rugs are not to your liking or you Northern Hemisphere dweller and its still too hot to cover your floor with rugs, you can simply add more color to your seating area with the help of smaller rug. The small carpet will cover a part of the floor so that when you are relaxed you will have an area to step on while leaving part of this floor empty where you can place other decorants such as house plants or others.
The image above can assist you to put a rug under a sectional couch in a small living room. This long rectangle rug stretches alongside the longest part of the sofa and brings color and texture to what would otherwise be a very bland floor. If you choose to go for this design, make sure that the carpet chosen matches the room decor and theme, as has been done in the picture below where the cream carpet matches with the color of the sofa and curtains.
3. Extend the Rug to the Back Legs of Your Sectional Sofa
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If you have a small living space and still want to get a somewhat larger rug, the best placement includes sitting the sectional sofa on top of the rug but still making sure to align the edges perfectly to create balance. I recommend this look for areas where the floors tend to get a bit cold, so it is better to get a thick, fluffy, or warm rug.
In the image above, the sectional sofa is sat on the heavy carpet. The low legs on one section of the sofa are sat perfectly on the edges of the rug to create a refined look fit for most living room styles, such as traditional and minimalistic. Rather than extending the rug further on the other section of the sofa, this look leaves enough carpet space to hold a side table, while a coffee table is also perfectly sat at the center.
I advise going for a look such as this when you want to create a traditional and cohesive lounging experience in a smaller living room. It is a highly functional rug placement that will accommodate different sectional sofa arrangements. You can also opt for a round coffee table that won’t consume a lot of space.
4. Off-Center Your Rug A few Inches from The Sofa
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If you don’t want to get a large or oversized area rug, you can also create good balance by accessorizing your living room with a smaller carpet that does not touch the legs of the sectional sofa. For this look, you only need to match the rug to all the room decor, and if you want to, proportion the rug size to the sofa.
The image above depicts this look rather nicely. The rug leaves around 6 inches of room from the sectional sofa perimeter. In addition, it matches the room decor and even runs longer than the sofa to make it versatile if you ever want to tuck it under the sofa. Finally, the brown coffee table and pouf add a needed dash of color.
While this look is easy to achieve, I recommend it for a contemporary theme where you only want to decorate the center space. I also love that you can use the rug placement style with long or short sofa legs.
5. Make the Rug the Center Piece In the Room
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Accessorizing a sectional sofa is just to make people feel comfortable and give the room more fascinating and individual appeal. In case your sectional sofa set is bland and simple, the best idea would be to get a novelty rug for that particular zone. For this, it is advisable that one should buy colorful antique or Bohemian rug.
In the image above, the Bohemian rug adds a pop of extra character, color, texture, and pattern to an otherwise blank focal point that is cream sectional sofa. Due to the limited space utilized in the sofa construction, there is not enough space for other appropriate decorative pieces such as a coffee table; thus, decisions to place the whole large sofa on the oversized rug provided a warm welcoming environment for lounging.
If you want to decorate this way, ensure you find the right rug for your sofa and room color. Also, consider buying the larger-size carpet that will accommodate the whole sectional sofa as a lounging area that occupies fewer floor areas.
6. Place a Sheepskin Rug Next to The Sofa
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One feature that makes a sectional sofa hard to accessorize is its shape. As a sofa that comes in more than one piece, your intended seating arrangement might create a shape that makes rug placement impossible. If this is your challenge, I advise getting a sheepskin rug that will be easier to layer on whatever bare floor space you are left with after arranging the sofa.
The image above shows creativity for accessorizing a large sectional sofa with a unique and space-saving sheepskin rug. The brown rug barely touches the perimeter of the sectional, but it still adds color and style to the area. The carpet also makes it easier to veer from the expected central rug placement, thus creating a vivid backdrop.
If you use this idea, don’t forget to choose a rug or sofa color that marries well with the entire room decor. For example, in the image above, the blue sectional sofa adds more life to a brown theme in a minimalistic house.
7. Align the Rug With the Sofa Front Legs
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This style is relevant when you have a large living area or when you can afford to place only a small rug. The smooth and eternal design has its pros now, as it forms the best and balanced view while designing the best floor area and shape to place a rectangle coffee table.
In the above image, it depicts that front legs of sectional sofa on the rug looking more character and warmth to the lounging area. Also, it aligns all the pieces of furniture in the room and gives it, a good finish. Besides, such an arrangement allows placing a rather large coffee table in the rather limited space so that all people on the sofa can reach it easily.
8. Place a Round Rug In Front Of The Sofa
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If your sectional sofa creates an uneven shape at the center, you might find more success by placing a round area rug that touches all the corners of the sofa perimeter. Alternatively, you can place your round rugs in front of the sofa, leaving a few inches of space to the sofa perimeter if you only want to decorate the center space or place a coffee table.
The image above shows the latter design, where a small round rug is placed in front of the sectional sofa, leaving lots of room for the couch perimeter. This look is ideal for a minimalistic appeal where you want to leave ample floor space. Like in the image, ensure your round rug complements not only the sofa but the entire interior design theme of your room.
9. Layer Two Rugs for Perfect Balance
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Considering you place a sectional couch in a room with other furniture including coffee tables and TV units among others, there might be instances you cannot easily direct attention to your rug. Therefore, my best solution for having a lot of trouble with size and shape of a rug is to purchase two rugs.
The layered rugs will create a unique and eye-catching lounging space, but for this purpose, you have to use different textured, sized, and colored layered rugs.
10. Install a Wall To Wall Carpet
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Even if deciding whether to get which of the rug sizes, textures, or a shape that you should ideally be placing it under a sectional couch has not been easy, my advice for your living room space would be to consider going for a wall-to-wall carpet. It also becomes also to also order a huge carpet, which enables one also to order also an extra large sectional sofa also together with other types of sofas or accent chairs without straining the floor space.
In the image above, which presents proper combination between the wall- to-wall carpet and the interior decor. At the same, it provides comfort and relaxation while setting up a clean and smooth lounging space and at the same time it provides easy maneuverability due to the sectional sofa parts.
Summary
Home decor improves the quality of life for all people, and as this article has shown, getting your interiors right also means getting your outer health right. Therefore if you enjoy your sectional sofa don’t be scared of testing out distinct rug positioning ideas. Eventually, you will arrive at a comfortable position that will give your sectional, your rug, and indeed your whole room worth occupying.
So, I hope these 10 living room rug ideas for a sectional sofa can increase the decor inspiration if you have limited rug concepts. The styles are easy to learn and adapt to your sectional so as to make the place more expressive and warm at the same time.
