Hallway Runner Rules

Give some space

A runner looks best when it has a little breathing room. When you are measuring out your hallway runner, leave six inches between the rug and your wall. It will help you achieve the right visual scale for your runner. Too wide, and it starts to look like carpet; too thin, and it will look out of place.

Keep them contained

When you buy a hallway runner, you want it to highlight that space. One of the key ways to do that is by making sure the runner does not overflow into another room. Your runner will look better if it's a little shorter than your hallway.

Keeping the runner inside the length of your hallways also ensures you don’t have any issues with doors. Sometimes a rug or runner can cause a pile height higher than the gap beneath the door, making it impossible to close.

Lay it flat

Wherever you put your hallway rug down, you want it to be able to lay flat. Make sure there is nothing underneath it that keeps it from yielding anything but a smooth walking area. If there is furniture that causes it to bunch up or a floor fixture causing it to bulge, it increases the chances of someone tripping. 

No middle ground with furniture

In living rooms, it’s a normal practice to have furniture only halfway onto a rug. Hallway runner rules are different. For the best design layout, you either want your furniture all the way on the rug or all the way off. No in-between!

Leave space between runners

If you want to shake things up, a fun design choice is to use not one but several hallway runners. In this case, make sure that each rug has space between them. A good rule of thumb is to use the same distance between each rug as you have between the rug and the wall.

Match runner lengths

If you are doing more than one hallway rug, we’ve got more hallway runner rules for you. Generally speaking, you’ll want all the runners are the same length. However, there is an exception to this rule! If your hallway has other features–such as artwork, furniture, and doors. Then you can match the runner's length to those fixtures.

Lay them with purpose  

Tying all of these hallway runner rules together, you want to lay out your runners intentionally. The runner should start and stop at places that make sense. It does not have to be the full length of the hallway, but they should stop and start around doors or furniture fixtures.

Runner Around

The best part about getting a hallway runner is getting to customize it to your space. As you apply these hallway runner rules, know that the sky's the limit. With Sisal Rugs, we ensure that you can get a runner in whatever size you need. Just find the style rug you like and then get to measuring!