How to use rugs in the bedroom – including our favourite decorating secret.

The bedroom is the one room in the house where having something cosy underfoot is appreciated in every season, even the hot months. For those of us who love nothing more than the look of hardwood floors, whether that’s in the shape of beautiful boards or parquet, it’s probable that we also appreciate stepping out of bed in the night (or first thing in the morning), onto something a little softer and more forgiving. Thus rugs are a great tool for being able to combine the look of hardwood floors with the touch of soft fabric. There are various ways of using a rug or rugs in the bedroom that will help not just with this cosy factor, but with zoning too. We’ve put a few of our favourite ideas together below and tried to suggest different rug types from our collection to help you get the look.

Filling the floor around the bed

Image from Heckfield Place

The rooms of the luxury country house hotel Heckfield Place(in Hampshire) were designed by Ben Thompson (who used to work for Ilse Crawford) and they offer plenty of lessons in how to use rugs cleverly. In the ‘Signature’ rooms, enormous XL rugs are enlisted to both contain the bed while also providing extra width for walking on, all around it.  Our XL rugs start at 250 x 300cm in size – have a look here– and will allow you to do the same thing, especially if you are working with a King or Superking bed in a large room. For extra luxury, try to find a size that will contain any furniture that is immediately by the bed – such as the bedside tables and a bench or console at the foot of your bed.

The half-on-half-off version

Image from The Craftsman’s Cottage 

Holiday bolthole with a twist, The Craftsman’s Cottage, is full of furnishings from Britain’s best craftspeople that you can buy (at discount), but also just enjoy in situ in the considerately designed rooms. The bedroom shown here features a large neutral rug positioned half way down the bed so that it extends into the room a little. It’s a nice way of bridging the gap between sleeping and non-sleeping zones and works well in medium sized rooms. Try a Beni Ouarain  or one of our Modern rugs for something that mimics the quiet colour of the rug shown in The Craftsman’s Cottage. Or check out our Kilims for a flatter texture like the one depicted here has.

Follow the Craftsman’s Cottage on Instagram @thecraftsmanscottage

 Small rugs and runners beside the bed

Image from Heckfield Place

Another way to approach things altogether, placing a runner at the end of the bed and / or beside each side of it makes for a different look, but does the same sort of job comfort-wise. Two different bedrooms – again from Heckfield– show alternative ways of doing this. In one, the rug follows the length of the bed, running perfectly alongside the sides of it. In the other, the runner is placed at a right angle to the bed – a more unusual way to approach things, but we like the outcome. In this latter bedroom, a nice symmetry is created with the matching runner seen in the background corridor space. Find our collection of runners here– looking for the smaller scale pieces – or look for a rectangular Azilal, like this one.

Map your rug plan according to storage

Image from Montana

This idea could be employed with the one above. Chic and versatile storage furniture brand Montana has paired a runner with one of its long sideboards to extremely aesthetically pleasing effect here – the two seem perfectly sized for one another. We’re picturing this set up working well across the room from the bed. Pair with a double or king sized bed in a master suite, or a room with twin beds or a single in it.

Try a Kilim rugs on the bed

We’ve saved our decorating secret until last – it’s one of our favourite, if slightly more unusual ideas for introducing rugs to the bedroom.  Use a Turkish Perde kilim as a bedcover and enjoy the rich decorative touch it brings to your scheme. One of our Perde kilims was used in the penthouse of London’s luxury hotel and members club, Library, which overlooks St. Martin’s Lane, and to us it completes the room. Our founder Katrien has done the same thing with a rug she found 10 years ago in Damascus. Try it for yourself!