I Broke My Mom’s #1 Decorating Rule — My Living Room Has Never Looked Better

When I first moved into my Brooklyn apartment about two years ago now, I was thrilled to finally have more space — until I actually got my furniture in there and realized it looked like dollhouse decor. 

With much higher ceilings, about 10 times the wall space, and a whole extra room to fill, everything from my East Village studio looked downright silly in my Brooklyn one-bedroom. Plus, the building has a rule that 80% of the floors must be covered with rugs, due to the old squeaky floorboards. Sadly, my 4’x6’ IKEA rug just wasn’t going to cut it. 

After moving expenses, though, I found both my pockets and my floors to be pretty barren. So I called in reinforcements from the best antiques depot around: my parents’ attic. 

Luckily, my parents have great taste — and a large car. My mom was kind enough to drive down several pieces, including four cane dining chairs, a coffee table, and a beautiful heirloom wooden commode that she had freshly repainted for me. But the real pièce de résistance? The rugs. 

When my mother arrived with my grandmother’s vintage Persian rug, I was overcome with happiness. She also brought a standard beige area rug, and I was happy to have that, too. My mom suggested I put my grandma’s rug in the bedroom, since it’s a smaller space, and the bigger beige rug would go in the living room, which is larger in square footage. But I just knew that the vintage Persian rug had to be the centerpiece of the apartment, as it had instantly become the most beautiful thing I owned. So I did exactly the opposite of what she said. 

Of course, my mom was right about the rug sizes looking off. While the beige rug was fine in the bedroom, the vintage rug was definitely a little too small in the living room. Some say the cardinal sin of interior decorating is “the floating rug.” To get rug sizing just right, most designers say all of the furniture in a given room should have at least two legs on the rug at all times. Now, we’re not sticklers for the rule book at Apartment Therapy — but this was one rule I did not enjoy breaking because it just looked … silly. Instead of focusing on the beauty of the rug, all I could see was all my lonely, leggy furniture (and all the dust bunnies underneath). 

I also felt like the beige rug was simply too thin, coarse, and boring in the bedroom. So when I woke up one morning with the idea to move them both to the living room, I had myself some protein and got to work moving just about all of my furniture. 

Layering the rugs wasn’t the easiest thing ever to do by myself (with a curious cat), but boy, was it worth it. Literally everyone I asked told me not to do it — that it would look strange — but I stuck to my gut. My mom especially did NOT like the idea, but when I sent her the “after” photo, even she admitted it looked a whole lot better. 

With the beige rug underneath, now all of my furniture looks so much more cohesive. The whole room feels a lot more “finished.” Plus, the two rugs together mean extra softness underfoot and even better noise reduction in the room I spend most of my time in. Now, I just need to find a new, more exciting (and hopefully softer!) rug for the bedroom. So if your space is feeling off, don’t be afraid to roll your sleeves up and break some rules (sorry, Mom!)