How to Design a Room Around...This Rug!
Last month, I got a great question in the Facebook Community about where to start when you’re designing a room from scratch. It can feel overwhelming to know where to begin, but I’m going to walk through a strategy here that will hopefully give you a path forward without spending a lot of time spinning your wheels!
There are a ton of ways to design a room, but one simple way is to pick one piece that will be your jumping off point for the rest of the space, and then choose your furniture and decor centered around that. For this example, I’ll be designing a living room around a beautiful Persian style rug.
Now, before you jump into doing this for your home, make sure you have a clear vision of what your style is and have collected some inspiration images that can be a good reference guide. Doing that will help you focus your search so you know what kind of pieces you’ll be looking for and will help your design feel cohesive and purposeful.
All right, so let’s get into it! I created a little video walking you through my thought process since sometimes it’s easier to talk through it than write it out - hit the play button below! I’m not including every single piece you’d want to have in a living room, but this will give you a great feel for how I approach the design process.
Sources:
Rug | Sofa | Leather Chair | Ottoman | Marble & Wood Side Table | Round Side Table | Bench | Blue Grid Pillow | White Mini Tassel Pillow | Navy Dot Pillow | Taupe & White Tassel Pillow | Table Lamp | Floor Lamp
Here’s the final result in graphic form!
In case it’s helpful to have a recap, here’s a summary of how this living room came together:
I started by choosing a rug to be the “star” of this design. You could design a room around any piece, but a good go-to is a piece of fabric, art, or rug that has the look, feel, and colors you want to incorporate.
I pulled a color palette out of the rug that I wanted to use to guide my selections.
I then chose my core furniture pieces - the neutral sofa, leather chairs, and dusty blue ottoman.
Then I moved to secondary pieces like the side tables and lighting. When I chose those pieces, I also made a decision about what metal finish I wanted (in this case, brass).
Finally, I layered in more pattern, texture, and color with the throw pillows. I decided to pull shades of the blues and taupes/greiges from the rug and make it interesting with a variety of patterns.
As you go through this and find the right pieces for your space, don’t forget to consider scale and balance too! Creating a floor plan with the dimensions of your furniture will definitely help with this. 😊 I know there are a lot of moving pieces here, but take it one step at a time, and you’ll soon have a beautiful room that you love!
P.S. Want to create a little design board like I did here? I show you how in this section of Design School 101 using Google Slides! It’s super easy to learn and will go a long way in helping you visualize how your room is coming together!
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