The Rugs We Purchased for Our New Home (& Why)

It feels like every time we move, I spend hours searching for rugs. And it’s not because I’m indecisive (well, I can be…but not usually in the case of rugs). Rather, it can sometimes just take a lot of searching to find the right color, the right size, the right construction, and right material all at a price I’m willing to pay (as outlined here: How to Buy a Rug Online & Actually Love It). After an exhaustive search and waiting months for delivery, we (finally!) have all our new rugs in place. So today, I want to show you the rugs we picked for our new home and explain why each one works so well!

Our new house has 100% wood floors. Well, there’s linoleum in the kitchen and tile in the bathrooms…but my point is, we don’t have an inch of wall-to-wall carpet anywhere in this house! This is quite the shift for us, considering we’ve had mostly carpet in our last 4 homes.

For me, carpeting underfoot is a must, and not just for the aesthetics. Carpeting (or area rugs) also help with echos, coziness, and overall comfort…especially for little kids playing on the floor. So knowing that I had at least 3 (very large) area rugs to buy for this home, I pretty much spent my entire summer exhaustively researching rug options.

What I Look For In a Rug

Having bought and loved AND bought and hated lots of rugs over the years, I’ve finally learned how to read rug listings and match the descriptions up with the rug features we like. In general, here are our personal rug preferences:

1. We prefer hand-tufted rugs. Flatweave rugs do not stay in place or stand up to kids and cleats and stains; and machine-constructed rugs don’t give that thick, quality presence underfoot. The only exception to this is under the kitchen table, where I exclusively buy outdoor rugs (read more below).
2. We prefer low-pile rugs that our robot vacuum can easily get on/off of, so I usually exclude anything greater than 0.75″ pile.
3. All the rugs we’ve loved over the years have been wool. Once the shedding stops, we love their thickness, color vibrancy, and overall durability.

So with all that in mind, here is what I picked (and why!) for our new home:

For the Family Room

The family room is the heart of this home. Not only is it where we gather as a family, but it’s also where the kids’ play and craft areas are. It’s the very first space you see when you walk into the house, so I wanted something that would not just stand up to a lot of wear-and-tear but look great as well.

What We Chose: Blue Aidy Hand-Tufted Wool Rug (10×14′) from Pottery Barn.

Why We Chose It: We have white/cream couches, and I painted the walls a soft beige color (Edgecomb Grey). With so many neutrals in the room, I honed in on putting blue on the floor fairly quickly. But guess what can be really hard to find? A blue 10×14′ tufted wool area rug.

I scoured the edges of the Internet to find every available blue wool rug, hoping to land on one that had just enough pattern, but not so much that it would conflict with our chairs, pillows, and adjacent dining room. When I found this rug, I knew the two-tone pattern would work with the variety of blues in our home and provide the perfect foundation for this very large space.

Why It Works: Never in my life have I spent so much money on a rug. But despite the cost and the wait (2+ months!), I have to say it was all worth it. The big, open, bland room was instantly transformed the minute we put this rug down. It helped define the seating area within the larger room; and as I suspected, the blue on the floor works beautifully with the neutral walls and furniture. (The tone-on-tone design provides a lot of pattern without feeling too busy or distracting.) This rug is thick, cozy, and quite honestly, a total show-stopper.

For the Dining Room

The dining room in this house is grande. With 9 foot ceilings, hardwood floors, and chair rail around the perimeter, it feels large and luxurious and stately. You know what else it is? Loud and echoey. I love the way a rug under the kitchen table grounds furniture and hides catches all the crumbs, but it was a must this time around simply because of the noise!

What We Chose: Beach Stripe Outdoor Rug (9×12′) from Target

Why We Chose It: Years ago, I discovered the “secret” to putting a rug under the kitchen table: use an outdoor rug. I won’t re-list all the reasons why this works so well here (you can see more: A Rug Under the Kitchen Table | Practical Ideas for Making It Work), but once I figured out this home hack, I have only used outdoor rugs in our dining rooms. Further, I exclusively shop Target’s Threshold line of outdoor rugs because 1) they have amazing patterns, 2) they are relatively inexpensive, and 3) they feel surprisingly “soft” underfoot (no plasticity here!)

I love the blue checked outdoor rug we’ve had under our dining room table for years, but there was no way the 8×10′ size was going to work in this larger space. You all know by now that I’m a total sucker for a good stripe; so when I saw this rug back in the Spring, I knew it was going in our dining room. (In fact, I selected the wallpaper to match the rug, not the other way around!)

Why It Works: The Threshold outdoor rugs do not disappoint. Once you get them to lay flat (which admittedly, does take some time), they are stain resistant, easy to clean, and great for sliding chairs in/out from under the table. The two-tone striped pattern is just vibrant enough and coordinates with all the other blues throughout the main floor. It even plays nicely with the rug in the adjoining family room (not entirely by accident!)

For the Master Bedroom

I cannot put my foot on cold, hard floor stepping out of bed in the mornings, so a rug for our master was also a must. But this room is exceptionally large with some competing furniture styles and colors. I haven’t yet decided what direction I want to go in this room, but I knew I wanted something that would work with a blue bed, beige/white walls, and our grey furniture. Not an easy task!

What We Chose: Madisyn Handmade Tufted Wool Gray/Ivory Rug (10×14′) from Wayfair

Why We Chose It: Next to the family room rug, I searched for this rug the longest. Finding a large, wool rug with both grey and ivory and not too much pattern took a lot of hunting. When I (finally!) came across this rug, I think I had it ordered within minutes because it checked every single box (including a great price for such a large, quality rug!)

Why It Works: This rug was an extra-pleasant surprise when it arrived. Although I was confident it would work with our blue bed and grey furniture, I didn’t expect it to look quite so lovely in person. The rug is thick and heavy and comfortable (thanks to the wool looped tufting) and the pattern is just enough to be interesting. It easily ties together everything in the room (it even has a tiny hint of blue); so it’s somewhat a shame most of it is covered up by our big bed. Best of all though…I’m certain it will work with whatever I decide to do on the walls, windows, and pillows!

For the Little Boys

I did not purchase a new rug for the little boys’ room but wanted to quickly chat about what rug we put in this room and why.

What We Chose: Blue Trellis Wool Rug (9×12′) from Target

Why We Chose It: We purchased this rug a few years ago for our living room/playroom in our last house. It was actually the very first rug I felt like I got “right,” and tuned me into the power (both in comfort and style) of good, wool rugs. I have no intention of parting with this rug (ever), so it was just a matter of finding the right spot for it in our new home. Too small for any of the other spaces, the little boys’ bedroom was the obvious choice.

Why It Works: I don’t plan to paint or (heavily) wallpaper this room, so putting a vibrant pattern on the floor works wonders for the overall design. The boys are also starting to play more in their bedroom, so this thick rug is a comfy and casual addition.

For the Big Boy

Our oldest son (11 years old) is using the downstairs “den” as a bedroom. This room is small and has “lovely” linoleum flooring. I knew a small rug would not only make it more comfortable for him but also add some style to this tiny spot.

What We Chose: Black Grey Abstract Modern Indoor Area Rug (6×9′) from Amazon

Why We Chose It: Our son is getting to an age where he has…ahem…stronger…opinions on his room. So this rug choice was mostly about appearance. He wanted something edgy and funky; and I wanted something cheap and quick (since it’s very room specific for this house). The second I showed him this option, he was all in; and it’s been a fine addition to his space.

Why It Works: For a while now, I’ve been digging black with wood tones. It’s a really nice contrast, and the black helps “modernize” the dated color. We still have a lot to do in here, so the inexpensive rug has gone a long way in giving our son the look he wants while we figuring everything else out.

For the Front Deck

Without a doubt, rugs in outdoor spaces are more about aesthetics than they are about comfort…since, most of the time, you likely have shoes on. But just like indoors, rugs help define the space and ground the furniture (and also keep it from sliding around). We have an exceptionally large deck on the front of our house and wanted a rug to help with curb appeal and pull together our fire pit setup.

What We Chose: Cane Weave Outdoor Rug Tan (9×12′) from Target

Why We Chose It: As you can likely gather by now, I only buy Target’s Threshold outdoor rugs (just because I can be so sure of the quality!) Out front, I didn’t want anything super colorful or playful. With a white house, green shutter, and an oak-stained deck, neutral seemed to be the best bet.

Why It Works: I picked this rug for it’s neutrality, but I couldn’t quite anticipate how nice it would look on the wood deck. It definitely helps visually shrink up the deck’s size, and the brown tones on the rug connect really, really well with the deck stain color. I also love the contrast of the browns with the bright white chairs. I can’t wait to layer some more details out here!

For the Back Deck

As mentioned above, I will forever love our blue and white checked outdoor rug. When we determined it wouldn’t work inside under the dining room table, I immediately moved it to our back deck; and it became the perfect addition to that space.

What We Chose: Buffalo Plaid Outdoor Rug (8×10′) from Target

Why We Chose It: Did we need a rug on our back deck? Not necessarily. But what started as an effort to simply hold onto a stylish, functional rug, actually turned into an opportunity to make our backyard much more cohesive and inviting.

Why It Works: Greg thought I was crazy when I turned the rug perpendicular to the deck shape. But this allowed us to tighten up the larger deck to better suit our furniture, essentially creating zones for grilling and eating/gathering. The bright blue color adds just the right amount of “fun,” and the checked pattern is reminiscent of a picnic blanket (which works so well with the picnic table). Without a doubt, our backyard has shaped up to be one of our very favorite spots (so I’ll be sharing more details very soon!)

Phew! Nothing like 2000 words of me blabbering on about rugs. Can you tell they have consumed a large part of our move-in process?!? But in my defense, for good reason! Rugs make such a huge impact in a space, both in terms of style and comfort. And you really know when you get them wrong. And since they are way too big and way too expensive to get wrong, it’s worth the time to get them right. These rugs…quite literally…set the stage for all the designs to come, so I am beyond thankful to love every single (meticulously researched) choice!