apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I lament not being able to have a rug in my living room as it is carpeted.

What amazes me more about the first picture is that they made two couches work in one space.

Picture number two is a great response to a flat-screen mounting question that popped up here last week. The screen is tilted within the space above the fire-place. Seems like a good idea if you're going to mount one so high.

You can use a rug in a carpeted space, you just have to make sure that it effectively differentiates itself. I just use high pile/shaggier rugs on carpeted areas.

we have a dark brown rug on our beige carpet. i think it works pretty well, especially to disguise speaker wires. :)

all these rooms are so neat, especially that first one. still, floors seem cold (figuratively and literally) without some kind of...texture, i guess. they look wonderful, but i bet my feet wouldn't love it.

I decided to try my living room without a rug a few months ago. I started to remove the rug, but the wood under it is like 20 shades lighter than the rest of the floor! So the rug stayed....

ModerNests,
Yes, Kamikazetedibear and Nikki Moore are right; having carpet doesn't prevent you from laying a rug on top of it. I'll see if I can find some examples.

djs,
if you're really jonesing to go rugless, you could try refinishing your floors. it's a project you can do yourself but, having done it a few years ago, it does take patience and time...

cheers!
abby

I didn't own a rug when I moved into my current place, and my living room had a surprisingly clean, minimal look. My style isn't at all minimal, but it looked good.

(The only problem? It was winter and the floor is tiled. My living room was ice-cold until I managed to procure a rug.)

If I had enough closet space to store the rug in the summer, I would do just that. I don't need a rug's heat-retaining qualities year-round.

We have beautiful stained concrete floors in our apartment and had no rug in our living area until this weekend. But then I was struck with the urge to have a rug, so we took some Flor carpet tiles from our hallway and created a 5'x5' area rug. It goes under the coffee table but not under the seating. I really like it - not just for the softness underfoot, but also for the way that it adds a different texture and visually anchors the space. Looking at all of the photos above, I can't help thinking that they are all lacking that visual anchor and would be improved by having a rug...

I never use to have a rug when I had cork, then slate floors I liked the simple clean look.

I have one now because my dog needs something to land on when jumping off the sofa so he won't hurt himself or go sliding on the hardwood floors.

I have to say I am now loving a rug it does feel nice underfoot and adds some visual texture. What I don't like is it is getting dirty and not looking as pristine so in search of a great looking but soft outdoor rug.

I do love this one, its quit amazing-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44713708@N00/3901514430/in/set-72157622103111178/

I have a teeny tiny living room and I went back and forth on the rug issue for quite a while. Avec rug = possibly too cluttered? Sans rug = Not enough texture. Ultimately, the massive amount of dog hair that the rug collected was the deciding factor. To add texture, I hung a single, floor-to-ceiling curtain panel (linen with verticle stripes) from the living room's one sad window. I like the effect much more than that of the rug.

I recently put a rug in my living room, which also has wall to wall carpet. My reasoning was simple - I found a beautiful handmade Pakistani wool rug for $80 at a salvage warehouse and thought it was too good a deal to pass up. But I love the look - it seems much lusher & cozier, and definitely anchors and separates the space from the adjoining dining room. It also adds some color as well as coordinating well with the colors already in the room, eliminating the need for a lot of color from wall decor. It's been my best decorating purchase in a long time!

"What amazes me more about the first picture is that they made two couches work in one space. "

I disagree - The two sofas are so completely unrelated that the space appears disjointed, as if the couple just moved in together and can't agree on who's sofa to get rid of.

Now if the two sofas were identical or one of the sofas were a pair of chairs instead, it would appear delibrately planned and much more pleasing to the eye.

As far as the rugless topic:
I enjoy going rugless in the summer as it lightens the room and makes it feel cooler (summer seems the right time to send it to the cleaners anyway) - but come fall I really prefer the warmth and comfort of a nice wool rug under my feet.

I've also been anti-rug. I want to show off my pretty wood floors! Also, they are a pain to get really clean. I'd rather be able to just sweep and mop than have to vacuum. In winter I just wear slippers.

Hmm, I still don't like it. Going rug-less in the living room feels too cold and makes the furniture look like it's floating, nothing seems grounded.

Going rugless is fine as long as the furniture is massive enough (and there's enough of it) to define the space. I don't like rugs myself for practical reasons. I have a cat and it tends to be a place for odd fur and dust bunnies to accumulate.

I think the sofa would work better if there was a unifying element in the room. A pair of matching bringhtly colored throw blankets or pillows would do the trick

My living room has no rug at the moment, but I want one. I worry tho that it might crowed my narrow apartment. But I like the idea of using it to distinguish the living room from the dining room.

I'm rugless AND cofee table-less in my living room.

Dun dun DUNNNNNN...

I grew up in a rugless home and my place is completely rugless. I don't like the feeling of one under my feet actually. I much prefer wood, and even in the winter it is not cold. I like the look of rugs... but the feel and the fact that I would have to clean them, is a big turnoff.

I just love looking at my newly refinished glossy white terrazzo. I'm sure I'll cover it when I actually start decorating, but I sure am enjoying the look of the space for now.

I am allergic to everything... rugs make life tough for me. But winters in the Northeast require rugs. So I stick with low shedding materials when I roll them out in the bedrooms on the first cold night.

Furthermore, I like a rug to anchor a seating group in a sitting room. However, in a dining room, a rug is just fly paper for food.. ick. But maybe one of those recycled plastic rugs in a dining room would do well, easy to wipe. That would also solve the allergy problem.

my finished basement is carpeted, but the original part of my bungalow has lovely old hardwood that i don't want to cover. the laminate in the dining room addition is a gorgeous dark shade that i'd rather keep uncovered too.

Love the artwork in the first image! Does anyone have info on this?

Does anyone have an opinion on what to do if the "perfect" rug doesn't have gripping on the bottom, and our floor is wood?? It's a disaster! It's all wobbly and bunches up anytime someone steps on it! Those under-the-rug-rubber-grip things do NOT help!

LSUGrad03, I am in league with you. Some handy tricks from no-shoes-inside Japan for bare floors: wear slippers inside when it gets cold. Keep easily washable slippers in an entryway basket for guests. Use floor cushions to add texture and extra seating (a great small space solution).

i would luuuv a rug for our living room, but i have a disability and walk with a cane, so the edges of rugs are basically deathtraps for me. boo.

Almost all those pics look like a rug would really warm up the space though.

After having a large rug in my living room for several months I decided to store it after I adopted 2 very rambunctious kittens that would play so hard they would move the rug into the dining room.
Taking out the rug made the place look bigger and the hardwood floors look beautiful when the sun hits them. I live in Southern California so cold winters won't be an issue with a rugless living room.
Plus, now I don't have to spend money on dry cleaning trying to get cat hair off the rug.

No rugs in my house; I have cats and inevitably, when they have to upchuck, they find the nearest rug on which to do so! I love the clean look.

lexixd--

That's what rug pads are for - They're sold by all the major home retailers.

i think done the right way, no rug is fine. i have two puppies & therefore, no rugs anymore. i dont think one would work in my current place anyway. at times i miss the look, but i don't miss that they always felt like they were a catchall for dust & dirt. and its one less thing i will spend time & money on right? nothing wrong with that.

We've had two large rugs in the dining and living areas. When our hardwood floors were refinished, we removed the rugs and never put them back. It is definitely cozy to have a plush rug underfoot, but we have radiant heating, so the floors are warm anyway. Plus our house has enough texture to do without rugs. It's a bit more "loft like" now.

I agree with bepsf about the couches in the first room - I really don't like that look. Two identical couches can work in a space, and non-matching couches will work too if the space is big enough. But here it just feels very crowded. I also don't like how the back of one couch is to the viewer - there is a feng shui tenet that wherever you arrange seating in a room, your back should not be to the door. Whether or not you believe in feng shui, I think that is a good guideline - it just ends up looking off kilter. The space would look much more open and inviting if one of the couches were removed and a chair or two added to provide additional seating.