Choosing a rug should be the easiest part of furnishing a room, right?
Turns out it’s harder than it sounds.
The rug you love may not be the right size. Or maybe it’s an antique that could be destroyed by foot traffic. Or it is beautiful but not so comfortable. Or maybe you just can’t decide between different styles?
Don’t worry: there’s an easy fix. Instead of trying to find a single rug that meets all your needs, you can simply layer rugs on top of each other.
“We do it all the time, both for aesthetic and economic reasons,” said Heide Hendricks, who founded the architecture and interior design firm. Hendricks Churchill with her husband, Rafe Churchill.
Layering rugs “makes it very cozy and very comfortable,” he said. And as Ms. Hendricks, 55, pointed out, buying multiple small rugs is often cheaper than buying a single large rug.
In their 1871 farmhouse in Sharon, Conn., which will be featured in Rizzoli’s book “Our Way Home,” to be published in September, they layered rugs in numerous rooms, both to fit their favorites and to give them to the spaces a relaxed atmosphere.
“The look is eclectic,” said Mr Churchill, 53. “If he has a room that’s decorated in a way where he’s drawing from different sources and time periods, he does a really good job of pulling it all together. When you start layering rugs, it starts to feel like home.”
Mrs. Hendricks and Mr. Churchill showed us how they do it.
Plan the layout of the furniture
“The first step is to determine the arrangement of the furniture,” Churchill said. Before looking at rugs, figure out where you want your furniture, and then determine how layered rugs can support that plan.
In their home, the couple often place small accent rugs on top of larger, simpler ones. But they also layer rugs end-to-end to cover longer rooms and in L-shaped arrangements to accommodate circulation paths around furniture.
Take stock of your options
Whether you have a stock of rugs to choose from or are narrowing down your options while shopping online, “there’s a bigger palette to think about,” Ms. Hendricks said.
When she and Mr. Churchill were selecting an antique rug from their collection for the living room, she said, “we intentionally didn’t want green in the rug, because of the strength of the green paint in the room.”
They chose a Russian Soumak rug from the 1890s rich in reds and blues. And because it was patterned, they paired it with a simple-looking woven water hyacinth rug from rush house.
Mix patterns, within reason
Pairing a small, patterned rug with a larger plain one is a classic approach to layering. But mixing rugs with different patterns can also look striking, as long as they relate to each other in some way.
In the couple’s sun room, they layered two off-white Beni Ourain antique rugs. “It’s an overlay of different patterns,” Ms. Hendricks said, “but they’re unified by the same background color.”
They went more adventurous in the dining room, where they paired an ornately patterned antique Serapi rug with a contemporary checkerboard rug Ms. Hendricks found on Etsy. Both have an earthy color palette that makes them good companions.
install with care
When you’re installing the rugs, “you just have to be careful, because it’s an extra layer,” Ms. Hendricks said. Any carpet is a potential tripping hazard, and layers of carpet increase the risk.
She and Mr. Churchill use a rug pad under the bottom rug only, to keep it from slipping. Then they add extra mats on top, while trying to minimize raised edges where people need to walk. They also try to prevent rugs from overlapping in a crowded area.
“You pick your spots,” he said. “Lying under a coffee table is a great location, because it’s not a main thoroughfare.”
tune up the furniture
When you bring the furniture, the colors and patterns may not match the way you expected.
Case in point: Mrs. Hendricks didn’t like the way the green upholstery on her ottoman looked next to the living room rugs. So she layered it with an antique paisley shawl: “I layered this finer-patterned cloak over the larger-scale pattern of the rug.”
Change as needed
Another benefit of layered rugs: They’re easy to move, the same way you’d change a pillow or bedding when the seasons change.
“Carpet layering is an ongoing exercise,” Churchill said. “It definitely changes seasonally.”
He and Mrs. Hendricks frequently change the layout of their living room, including the rugs, to shift the focal point from the fireplace to the windows, as spring begins. They also roll up Moroccan rugs in their sun room for a lighter summer feel.
Layered rugs are also great for entertaining, Churchill noted: “If you’re having a lot of people, you might choose a slightly more precious rug, just to protect it.”
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