Area Rug Size Calculator

How it works

The rug has to cover the furniture plus a margin. For a dining table the margin keeps pulled-out chairs on the rug: Mohawk Home's sizing guidance says to add at least 4 ft to the table's length and width, 24 in on each side. Around a living room seating group the margin is the rug showing past the legs, or past the front legs when only those sit on the rug; a floating rug is sized around the coffee table and stays clear of the seating.

For a bed the rug runs under part of the bed and out past the sides and foot. Mohawk Home's guide places it under the bottom two thirds of the bed so the nightstands stand on the floor; the margins at the sides and foot are commonly given as 18–24 in.

The minimum dimensions are then matched to the smallest standard size that covers both: 4 × 6, 5 × 7, 5 × 8, 6 × 9, 7 × 10, 8 × 10, 9 × 12 or 10 × 14 ft, taken in order of area. With the rug's long side along the room's long side, half the difference between room and rug is the bare floor on each side; the narrower of the two is shown.

Formula

table or living room: rug = (length + 2 × margin) × (width + 2 × margin)
bed:                  rug = (bed length × share on rug + foot margin) × (bed width + 2 × side margin)
standard size        = smallest listed size whose short and long sides cover the rug's
bare floor at walls  = min((room long − rug long) ÷ 2, (room short − rug short) ÷ 2)

Example

A 72 × 48 in dining table with 24 in of rug on each side needs at least 120 × 96 in, 10 × 8 ft: an 8 × 10 ft rug, the size Mohawk Home's guide lists for tables up to 48 × 72 in. In a 14 × 12 ft room it leaves 24 in of bare floor at the narrowest side.

A 60 × 80 in queen bed with the rug under two thirds (67%) of its length and 24 in beyond the sides and foot needs at least 9 × 6.47 ft: a 7 × 10 ft rug, within the 7 × 10 to 8 × 10 ft range Mohawk Home gives for a queen bed.

Assumptions and limitations

• The margins are layout conventions, not rules. The 24 in dining margin follows Mohawk Home's sizing guidance (add at least 4 ft to the table's length and width); the bed margins of 18–24 in are commonly published figures; the living room margins are illustrative. Each is editable.
• Furniture and rugs are treated as rectangles. Round and oval tables, round rugs, L-shaped seating and runners are not modelled; Mohawk Home's guide gives separate round-rug sizes for round tables.
• The standard size list is the room-size rectangular sizes in Mohawk Home's sizing guide and page; the 3 × 5 ft bedside rugs the guide also lists are left out. Makers' actual dimensions differ slightly (a nominal 8 × 10 ft rug may measure 7 ft 10 in × 10 ft), and other sizes such as 2 × 3 ft or 12 × 15 ft are sold.
• The bare-floor figure assumes the rug is centred in the room with its long side along the room's long side. Doorways, hearths and built-ins are not considered. Commonly published interior-design guidance leaves about 8–18 in of bare floor around a room-sized rug, and Mohawk Home's guide warns against a rug so large that it touches the baseboards; the calculator reports the figure without judging it.

Frequently asked questions