How to Decorate a Room Based on Your Rug

Decorating any room in your home based on an existing floor rug is a great way to tie a room together. Decorating a room based on a rug is a great idea for beginning decorators, first time home owners, and anyone who likes a cohesive look in their home. An area rug makes a great inspiration piece for the rest of your design choices.

So, whether you have a contemporary floor rug, traditional floor rug, country floor rug, or even children's floor rug, there are a few simple steps you can follow to get started decorating your room based on your floor rug.

How to Choose a Wall Color Based on Your Floor Rug

To choose a wall color based on your floor rug step back and take a look at your rug. Choose a color out of the rug that is evenly placed throughout the rug. Do not paint your walls the same color as the main color in your floor rug.

If you have a tan floor rug, do not paint the walls tan. Instead, choose a secondary color that is present throughout the entire rug. In the example in my photo, I choose the pale gray blue color you can find through out my traditional floor rug. This pale gray blue is secondary to the overall tan appearance of the traditional floor rug.

You can take a close up photo of your traditional floor rug and take the photo to your local home improvement store. Most paint stores and hardware stores can color match any color you have in your home.

How to Choose a Couch or Sofa Based on Your Existing Floor Rug

Now, take another look at your floor rug. Is there another third color present in the rug. In many cases you will find a darker version of the overall main color of the rug. In my case, there is a slightly darker brown in the rug, so I tried matching my sofas to this slightly darker colors.

I went with the neutral darker tan in the floor rug, in place of the rustic red color because I choose such a bold color for my walls. If I have chosen a more neutral cream or off white for the walls, I could have gone with either a pale gray blue couch or even a rustic red couch to coordinate with my floor rug.

This principle applies to any upholstery, including bedding, if you are trying to match a floor rug in your bedroom.