🟪Rug Size Calculator

About this tool

Pick the room type and enter the room size and the border of floor you want to leave. For a living room, add the sofa length and the seating area's depth. For a dining room, add the table size and chair pull-out space. For a bedroom, choose the bed size. You'll get the best standard rug size, the ideal and maximum dimensions, and a drawing to scale.

Rug sizing rules designers use

The most common rug mistake is buying one that's too small, which makes a room look disjointed. A few rules of thumb help. Leave a border of bare floor around the rug, usually 18" (45 cm) in average rooms and 8–12" (20–30 cm) in small ones, so the rug frames the room rather than looking wall-to-wall. In a living room, choose a rug wider than the sofa and big enough for at least the front legs of every seat to rest on it, which ties the seating group together. In a 12 × 15 ft room that usually means an 8 × 10 ft rug, or 9 × 12 ft at most. Under a dining table, add 24–30" (60–75 cm) on every side so the chairs stay on the rug when pulled out: a 6 × 3½ ft table needs about 8½ × 11 ft, so a standard 9 × 12. Under a bed, the rug should show 18–24" each side and at the foot, and usually starts about a third of the way down the bed, under the bedside tables or just in front of them. For a queen bed that's typically 6 × 9 or 8 × 10 ft. Standard US sizes run from 3 × 5 to 12 × 15 ft, and UK/EU sizes from 80 × 150 to 300 × 400 cm. Honest limits: these are guidelines, not laws. Open-plan rooms, layered rugs, door clearance, heating vents and taste can all override them. The area calculator and the tile calculator are related.

Frequently asked questions