Rugs, size and the soft layer

A rug is the fastest way to change a room without touching the floor, and the most common thing to buy one size too small. These pieces deal in dimensions: how far a rug should run past a sofa, how much chair pull-out a dining table needs, how a runner changes a hallway.

Layering is not decoration for its own sake. A rug softens sound, warms a hard floor and draws the boundaries of a room that has no walls. Used properly, it does structural work.