How to Style a Wooden Floor With a Rug: Color, Protection and Balance
Hardwood floors are timeless. With no two beams completely alike, they add natural texture and rich character to any room, and can be styled in countless ways.
One of the best ways to do this is with quality, natural fiber rugs. Rather than hiding your floors, the right rug will enhance the beauty of your hardwood floors. Rugs also protect floors in high-use areas and can help reduce noise. Here are some tips for enhancing a wooden floor with a rug.
Wood Undertones & Color Strategy
Before choosing a rug for your hardwood floors, it is important to discern what undertones the wood has. While it may be clear if your floor is light, dark, or neutral in color, wood surfaces also carry undertones that can impact your design.
These undertones generally fall into two categories:
- Warm, with red, orange, and golden notes
- Cool, with grey, ash, and taupe finishes
These undertones can be seen in the wood's grain and are excellent colors to consider integrating into other parts of your design throughout the room.
If you have dark hardwood floors, the best rug will offer visual contrast. Floors made from American Black Walnut, or stained darker colors, already bring weight to a room. Choosing a rug in a cream or earth tone acts as a visual anchor while adding some buoyancy to the design. Stay away from colors that are too similar, or the floor will distract from the rest of the room. If the wood has warmer tones, you can also play around with jewel hues to provide an extra pop.
Lighter or neutral hardwood floors (white oak, birch, ash, etc.) reflect more light throughout a room. Using the same colors or undertones in your rug will accentuate the existing beauty of your floors, blending in rather than distracting. However, you can also experiment with contrasting colors. Grays, blues, and charcoal are wonderful if the wood has cool undertones, while sage, terracotta, and rust work well with warmer tones.
To lock in the perfect rug color, ask for sample swatches. The way colors and textures appear online or in a showroom can look completely different in your home. This is because color is influenced by factors such as the amount of light a room receives, the existing floor and wall colors, and even the quality of light at certain times of day. Swatches help you test colors in the exact space you want them, so you can find the perfect fit.
The Moroccan Trellis Wool Rug Collection has a color for every wood tone.
Best Rug Materials for Hardwood Floors
Not all rug materials should be used on a hardwood floor. Any rug made with plastic, latex, or synthetic rubber will cause a chemical reaction, and you risk damaging your valuable floors. Instead, when decorating your wooden floor with a rug, opt for breathable, natural-fiber materials.
Wool
Wool is soft underfoot and incredibly durable. Even with years of use, it maintains its shape and is breathable enough not to trap moisture beneath it. For these reasons, wool rugs are an excellent option for bedrooms and living rooms with hardwood floors. They provide extra comfort but can withstand heavy use over time.
Jute
Jute rugs are also incredibly soft and often come in a wide range of warm, earth tones. Their flatwave adds unique texture to any room, while its fiber can handle heavy traffic. It’s a wonderful option for sitting rooms, bedrooms, offices, and dining areas.
The Oval Jute Rug works wonders in a dining area.
Sisal
Sisal natural fiber rugs often come in amber and honey warm tones that work well with light and neutral wood. Flat-woven and incredibly breathable, this durable material comes in a wide range of patterns, allowing it to add texture without taking attention away from the floors. Sisal works great as a runner in hallways and stairs, living rooms, and any high-traffic area in the home. They also work well when layered with other natural fiber rugs for extra contrast and coziness.
Use the Mali Sisal Rug Collection in high-traffic areas.
Polypropylene
If you need a higher-performance rug material, consider polypropylene rugs. Made from a synthetic material, it looks like a natural fiber and will not interact with hardwood. Instead, it is mold and mildew-resistant, so perfect for areas that have more water, like bathrooms, kitchens, entryways, and mudrooms. These rugs can also be used outdoors to help preserve wooden decks or screened-in porches.
Rug Pad Fundamentals
What your rug sits on is just as important as the material you choose. For extra stability and durability (both for your rug and wooden floor), you’ll want to use a rug pad underneath. A rug pad helps prevent rugs from sliding, reducing safety risks and potential scratching. They also provide additional cushion and add extra protection for the rug fibers. This layer between the floor and the rug increases breathability as well, which comes in handy when there are spills or other water exposure. For a hardwood floor, look into honeycomb rug pads and solid rug pads.
A solid rug pad works really well on hardwood floors.
Additional Rug Benefits
A wooden floor with a rug offers many benefits beyond design and surface protection. Rugs provide excellent insulation when used on wooden floors. Not only will they provide a warmer surface to walk on, but they will also help maintain the desired room temperature. In areas with high ceilings or open-concept layouts, rugs help with acoustics, dulling echoes and noise to make it easier to talk to people.
Find A Match
Adorning your wooden floor with a rug will enhance any design dream you may have. By focusing on natural fiber options that complement the wood's colors and undertones, you’ll showcase your prized floors while also protecting them. Get in touch today to order your free rug swatch samples so you can find the rug to match your beloved hardwood floors.
