Rental Redesign™:

The Art of the Area Carpet 
Bring a big perspective when choosing carpet for a small area.

Once upon a time wall-to-wall carpet was all the rage.  It communicated luxury, invited the kids to frolic on the floor and gave rise to a whole generation of oversized floor pillows.  For many years, it was considered a standard in high end rentals as well as an easy way to add competitive value to less expensive units.

But times have changed.  Hardwood and non-resilient tile and stone floors are considered more desirable by most of today's renters and many landlords have welcomed the respite from endless cycles of replacing worn or stained carpeting for tenant after tenant.  Today, when decorating a rental,  there's a pretty good chance that area carpets will be on your shopping list. 

Based on my experience with clients, the most difficult aspect of choosing an area carpet for most people is determining the correct size and placement in a living or family room.  The "on or off" rule - all pieces in the seating area resting entirely on or entirely off of the area carpet - is a frequently mentioned approach, but it will not necessarily enable you to utilize an area carpet to its greatest advantage as a design element.  To do that, you need to begin the process of selecting an area carpet by looking not just at the conversation area, but at the whole room. 

View your room from the vantage point of a guest seeing it for the first time. Is the room an odd shape that would benefit from being squared off?   Are the natural traffic patterns through the room disruptive?  Does the space feel cavernous and need to be grounded on a more intimate level?  Does the room lack unity and cohesion, or do its different functional areas need to be separated and better defined?
 
Area carpets,  one of the most versatile elements in a design scheme, can help solve a myriad of design challenges.  They can be used as virtual walls to define rooms within rooms, as well as reshape rooms with architectural problems. They can solve issues  with flow by defining new traffic patterns.  They also can be used to great effect to provide color or contrast between flooring and wood furnishings, a challenge often encountered by renters who have furnishings originally purchased for a different space.

On the other hand, the wrong size or the wrong placement can create new design issues in a room.  Does the area carpet chop up the room visually, making it appear small and cluttered?  Does its placement throw the room off balance? Can the carpet be centered correctly within its intended area? 

Taking a big picture approach that will help you determine size and placement  is the first step in selecting an appropriate area carpet, or carpets, for your room.   If you are having trouble visualizing the effect of various sizes and placements on the basic proportions and flow of the room, try emptying the room of furnishings and using anything handy  - blankets, sheets or painter's drop cloths  - to get a better sense of how the size and placement of floor coverings can alter the way you experience the space.

Once you are comfortable with the overall relationship of the area carpet to the room,  you can then reintegrate your furnishings into the picture and fine tune the size.  Area carpets are not intended to cover entire rooms. If you are covering  most of the room, you should allow for a minimum of eight to 12 inches of flooring on all sides as a border.  Adjust the size further to avoid putting only the front legs of lighter furniture on the area carpet as it will cause the furniture to wobble.   

When placing conversation area seating on the area carpet, if appropriate for the room, you can go with the all on or all off approach.  However,  you can also you can center the carpet so that only the front legs of the seating are on it.  Again, watch out for wobble. Don't try this type of arrangement if you have lighter chairs.

Many apartment landlords insist that renters cover 80 percent of the floor to prevent tenants below from being disturbed.  If you must use an area carpet under a dining table, make sure that it is large enough to extend 24 to 30 inches behind the chairs so that the chairs can be pulled in by a seated person without catching on the edge of the carpet. 

Although there are so-called standard sizes for rectangular area carpets,   these sizes are often just approximations, especially when it comes to handmade carpets.   When planning for the room, it's helpful to note the minimum and maximum dimensions that will work in a particular area,  and make sure to bring a tape measure with you when shopping. The good news is that there are literally thousands of choices in area carpets at all price points.  No matter what color, style, shape, size or fiber content you are seeking, you should be able to find it with relative ease.   Bring your dimensions, as well as paint and fabric swatches and a tape measure:  It's time to go shopping. 

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