How to Skillfully Combine Multiple Rugs in a Room

An open floor plan can have great appeal — fewer walls generally create a better flow and allow natural light to shine. But since the eye is taking in a lot of space at once, you have to be a little more careful about your furnishings, especially rugs. Next to wall color, floorings are the most dominant visual in a space simply because of the size. When you have more than one seating area in a space—dining area, living area, etc.—you will need multiple rugs in one room to get the job done. Using multiple rugs together successfully can be done as long as you keep a few key points in mind.

I reached out to designer Donna Mondi of Donna Mondi Interior Design for a crash course on how to combine rugs.

Sure, you can go all matchy-matchy with your multiples, but Donna thinks that’s actually tricky to pull off. In her opinion, it’s better to find complementary styles instead. “If one rug is patterned, maybe the other is more textural,” she says.

That appears to be the case in home decor buyer Jeni’s San Francisco apartment. She has a tan and black geometric diamond rug under her dining table and a braided rug grounding the sofa in her living space. This works because there’s a nice mix of textures between the two, and the neutral braided rug shares one of the colors of the diamond rug.

• VAMDRUP Rug at IKEA, $149.99
• Textures B01 Braided Rug at Rugs USA, Starting at $47.90

Or, according to Donna, you could also vary the patterns of multiple rugs in a room. “Try one that’s large-scaled, and the other could be a small print,” she says. That’s kind of what’s going on in the living room of blogger Kristin Jackson from The Hunted Interior. You’ve got the larger-scale Aztec-inspired wool kilim playing off of the silver and ivory linear style, which almost reads as a solid because the line pattern is graphic but thin.

• Canyon Kilim Woven Rug at Annie Selke, Starting at $104
• Safavieh Cambridge Area Rug at The Mine, from $65

“Having a common color cross between multiple rugs will help unify the space,” says Donna. That’s why this multiple rug situation in this Madrid home featured on Mi Casa works so well. In addition to the fact that each of the rug patterns is a different size, the colors are nearly the same. The Greek key rug is also a good match for the dot pattern. Again, it’s basically a solid, whereas the other rug is very busy, so they balance each other out.

• Greek Key Border Indoor/Outdoor Rug at Overstock, Starting at $150.79
• Safavieh Eternity Rug at Overstock, from $23

For Donna, it’s very difficult to put two vastly different rugs side by side in a space, but she’d never say never. If you check out this NYC loft by DHD Architecture and Interior Design, you’ll see why. You definitely have to acknowledge the eclecticism this creates in a room, but it works. Just keep in mind that this is easier to pull off when you’ve got good bones to work with (original wood floors, large windows, lofty ceilings). Nice modern furniture doesn’t hurt, either.

• Machine Washable Floral Aztec Rug at nuLoom, from $109
• Erin Gates Handmade Performance Rug at Wayfair, from $66.99

If your rugs are different sizes or shapes, Donna says this can add more interest and keep your floor coverings from competing with each other. You can see that going on in this image from Nonagon Style. It’s a bit of a boho setup, but it kind of acknowledges that by going rug on rug on rug—all in different sizes and colors/patterns (though note all the weaves are similar). A circle rug could work in a multiple rug setting, too. Again, it all depends on the size of your room and the spaces you are trying to define.

• Vintage Persian Runner Rug at Etsy Shop Rugsrunner, $399.90
• Chelsea Blush and Blue Rug at World Market, from $24.99

Thank you Donna Mondi!