Rug Placement In Home Office [Everything You Need To Know]

Rugs are an optional but highly effective item to add to any office setup. Due to the various benefits of using rugs, such as having a quiet workspace, comfort, and aesthetics, rugs are becoming more and more popular in home office settings every day.

A good office rug should cover all your office and work furniture, along with the path of movement. The rug should be an accurate size to not overwhelm or be insignificant compared to the size of the room.

An office rug has an impact on your overall workspace. Thus, before you go out and buy one, you need to know exactly what you are looking for. Here is a detailed guide on choosing the best rug for a home office setup.

Rugs Of Different Materials For Office Setup

There are many types of rugs depending on what material they are made of. However, I do not think that all types of rugs are suited for office settings. So, I have listed the four best types of rugs depending on the building material for an office setup. These are as follows:

Wool

Rugs made of wool are often the most expensive and, at the same time, the most aesthetic. Woolen rugs are mostly made by hand. This means that the whole process, from start to finish, is done by a craftsman. Even though machine-knitted woolen rugs are available on the market, their material, however, is frequently disputed as to whether it should be referred to as ” true wool.”

Rugs made of wool are quite durable and can last for generations. Due to the natural properties of wool, woolen rugs are very soft. These rugs are also quite easy to wash when necessary. Wool holds its original color well.

Wool doesn’t get stained easily. The reason is that wool has natural oils in it. This oil makes it harder for the dust to stick to it. Rugs made of wool are a very good choice for high-traffic areas because wool has natural spring-back properties.

These rugs do shed wool for the first few months of use. This wears significantly after a while and isn’t a major concern for the longevity of the rug.

Silk

Rugs made of silk are the shiniest of them all. The material can be pure silk or a silk blend, depending on the quality of the rug. Silk shines naturally, which gives the rug its shiny aesthetic look. These rugs are soft to the touch. Rugs that have silk blends are less durable than rugs that are made of pure silk.

Silk is hard to clean. For this reason, these types of rugs are a tough choice for areas with high traffic. However, considering a home office, this is a very good option because, normally, a home office does not have that much traffic.

Cotton

Rugs made of cotton are highly appreciated due to their being budget-friendly. These inexpensive rugs are soft and give off an aesthetic look. These rugs are best for low-traffic areas.

Cotton rugs do not last as long as silk or wool. A good way to describe the average longevity is that it is around 10 years. So, this is a good option if you plan on changing your rug later on.

There are a few more downsides to using cotton rugs. Firstly, cotton fades quickly. Cotton rugs are also more vulnerable to stains, and it’s very hard to get a stain off of one. However, you can lessen the effect with a few simple precautions.

Place your cotton rug in the shaded part of your home office because sunlight is the main cause of fading. You can also use a rug pad underneath the cotton rug. This will save the cotton rug from tearing up and increase its longevity.

Synthetic Rugs

If you are not looking for natural materials but a good-looking quality rug, synthetic rugs are just the thing for your home office. These rugs are made of different materials such as nylon, polyester, olefin, or blends of different polyesters.

The main features of these rugs are their durability, design, and cheap price. Firstly, these rugs last for a long time, even under harsh traffic and heavy use. Due to being artificial, there is a lot of freedom in designs and varieties available. Also, the cherry on top is that these rugs are comparably inexpensive.

These rugs are also made to be stain-resistant. Due to strong fiber work, they are also resistant to tears. In the case of care, these are also low-maintenance.

The downside to these rugs is that they are not child-friendly due to their being made of artificial materials. If you are not going to have kids running in your office and are not too concerned about the effect on nature, then these rugs are a very good choice.

Deciding The Size Of The Rug

This is the hardest and most important thing to consider before you go out and buy a rug for your home office. To make things easier, I need you to first think of this question. Are you planning to use a single rug for the entire setup or multiple rugs for different parts of the office?

Let’s talk about the first case scenario where you are planning to have a single rug to cover the whole setup. For this one, you have to look at your room size and the orientation of your furniture.

Let’s say you have different furniture in almost the whole room and you want your rug to cover them. Keep 16-18 inches of distance from the end of the rug to the wall on all sides.

It is because you want to show your floor as well. If you cover it all, that is no different than just using a carpet. If your setup is on one side of the room, choose a rug half the size of the room so that it is enough to cover your setup and leave open floor space on the opposite side. Again, keep 16-18 inches from the end of the rug to the wall.

Now, if your setup is a bit more spread across the room, or perhaps you just don’t want to cover all that open space with a rug, then you should go for multiple rugs of different sizes.

The first piece of furniture to cover in your home office is your desk. The rug should be a bit larger on the open side to incorporate your sitting area as well.

Then you need to prioritize the furniture that you want to have a rug under. If you are going for more, you should also consider using different shapes, such as a square or rectangular shaped rug for the table and a circular rug for the deformational lamp.

It’s better to limit your number of rugs to three or fewer because you do not want to overwhelm your room with separate pieces of rugs all around.

Placement Of Rugs In An Office Setup

Your rug needs to cover most, if not all, of the traffic at your home office. This means that you have to place it where there is work and movement. The place to start is with your desk and your chair.

Your rug must cover enough area under the table for your feet and enough outside the desk that your chair can fit right in, even when it is pulled out.

Next is your everyday work furniture, which includes the file cabinets, bookshelves, etc. Your rug should cover the area beneath the furniture as well as the space between your seat and the furniture. The reason is soundproofing. Rugs are used in work environments to dampen the sounds made in the room and give it a comfortable appearance.

You must be careful not to block doorways with your rug. You might think that your rug will just slip underneath the door, but doing so will leave that part of the rug subject to constant friction and mechanical movement. This will damage that area of the rug. Choose a slightly smaller rug if necessary.

If your desk is used two ways, which means the other side is open for people to sit, then you should make sure that your rug covers their space as well.

Neglecting to do so will ruin the aesthetic hospitality of your office. This is truer if you are performing work that needs frequent meet-ups with people.

Area Rugs For Office Setup

With all the different styles of rugs available, area rugs are my personal favorite when it comes to a working setup. Area rugs are like small carpets of significant size. The most popular sizes are 5’ x 8’ and 8’ x 11’.

Two reasons why area rugs are best for office setups: Firstly, they are large enough to incorporate all the necessary items from the room onto the rug. This means that a single rug will provide you with all the benefits of having a rug.

Secondly, area rugs do the same work as carpets, but they are much easier to use and replace. Carpets cover the whole floor, yes, but they are attached to the floor and are much harder to work with when it comes to replacement.

An area rug, on the other hand, can simply be taken out of the room with ease when necessary without any extra hassle.

An area rug is a good way to have a focal point in your office. Though it is not exclusive to only area rugs, an area rug matched with the theme of the office does it better than all other types of rugs.

Area rugs also give you the freedom to choose from many available designs. They come in different geometric shapes, such as rectangular or circular.

How Far Should A Rug Go Under A Table?

The first rule is that the rug that has been placed under the table should cover all activities at the table. The positioning also plays a part. If your table is set up with a wall, then covering half of the table from the open side should do a good job.

If your table is somewhere in the open, like in the middle of the room, then you should cover the whole table with an extra rug on each side for the front legs of your chair.

In cases where there is another furniture surrounding the table, such as a bookshelf or large lamp, etc., the rug should cover the table and then go under that furniture as well.

What Shaped Rug Do You Put Under An Oval Table?

With the floor and furniture ratio in mind, a rectangular or oval rug is best suited for an oval table. Rugs are supposed to promote the original shape of your furniture. Oval tables, along with complementary furniture such as chairs, look good on a rectangular-shaped rug.

Another choice is oval-shaped rugs. If your main focus is the table and highlighting it is best, then go for an oval-shaped rug that is slightly bigger than the table. It should be large enough to include the chairs. This type of setup looks best when it’s placed in the middle of the room.

Oval tables do not go well with circular rugs. It’s because these two shapes do not go together symmetrically. A circular rug just the size of the table will provide decent space on the sides but will be short on the edges.

If you try to have some extra length on the edges as well, then the sides will be too long. This just looks too disoriented and thus is not a good choice for your oval table.

Can You Put A Square Rug Under A Rectangular Table?

You can put a square rug under a rectangular table with decent aesthetics. Firstly, consider the placement of your table. If the table in question is in a working setup, then chances are it is on one side of the room.

You should put your rug right under the rectangular table with the extra part on the open side of the table. Put some other furniture to fill up the side space and you are good to go.

If your table is in the middle of the room, then you need to have the square rug spread out on both long sides of the rectangular table. Put your chairs’ front legs on the rug on both sides of the table.

Square and rectangular shapes have symmetry in them, so it is better not to make a huge difference in their size. In most cases, a square rug slightly larger than the long side of the table would suffice.

Can You Put A Round Rug Under A Desk?

You can put a round rug under a desk. The best use for this is if you have a circular desk. Using a circular rug with a rectangular or L-shaped desk is not recommended.

If you have a circular desk, then choose a circular rug that is large enough to incorporate the whole desk along with the chairs. This type of placement goes well with boardrooms and meeting rooms in offices.

Rug For An L-Shaped Desk

L-shaped desks are popular because of their functionality and ease of use. To cover your L-shaped desk with a rug, you should pay heed to these two tips. Firstly, any large enough rectangular rug will do the job just fine.

Consider your l-shaped desks’ length and width and get a rug larger than that size in a rectangular shape. Now place the left corner of your desk on one corner of your rug.

The rest should fall into place on their own. You will have an extra rug on the sitting side of the l-shaped desk, which is exactly what you require. That way, you will cover your sitting area and the desk area with a single rug.

If you are considering having a rug exactly the shape of your desk and not having excess rug area, then you can always go for an l-shaped rug. This is common practice when you have an l-shaped desk that is in a corner with a wall.

This will showcase the aesthetics of your L-shaped desk more. The downside is that your sitting space will most likely not be covered by the rug.

Final Words

Rugs are not only a functional item for your office, they are also a thing of beauty. When you are done choosing the size, shape, and placement, I suggest you choose a rug according to your personal preferences. Match the rug with the theme of your office and think a bit about the design of the rug.

Because you will have an office rug for a long time, and that deserves the extra effort.