Placing a rug under your bed is no easy task. I mean that from a literal perspective (do not try rolling it out by yourself – the struggle is real!), but more importantly from a getting-it-right perspective in terms of layout and orientation.
There are a number of ways to tackle the placement of rugs under and around the bed, but you really need to do your homework before you buy. So many factors come into getting it right. Things like the type of flooring you have in the space, the size of the room in question, the dimensions of the bed and bedsides, and so on.
Don’t sweat it though; in this post I’m going to cover of the top five bedroom rug placement ideas. Plus, I’ll give you some pointers along the way in terms of the right size rug, the shape, where it should sit and so much more. Let’s get into it!
And if you need help choosing a rug design for your bedroom or other space at home, check out our guide to choosing the right rug style for your room. Hero image in this post via The Citizenry.
Bedroom Rug Placement Idea 1: Bed Trim
I’ve called this bedroom rug placement idea ‘bed trim’ because that’s essentially what the rug does; provides a nice trim of soft material around the perimeter of your bed base. This is where a rectangle rug lays width-ways under the bed, jutting out on both sides as well as the base.
This is by far the most popular option for placing a rug under the bed in your bedroom. The reason this orientation is so popular is that most standard size rugs sizes will sit nicely under the width of both a king and queen bed. Thankfully there’s often no need to get a custom size rug made.
With this layout option, the rug does not sit under the bedside tables but in front of them. There should be a small gap between the front of the bedside tables and the start of the rug on the floor. You want to leave a gap of about 20cm of visible flooring between the two.
In terms of width, the rug should align with the outer edges of your bedside table on either side, give or take 10cm. If the edge of the rug ends in the middle of your bedsides, it’s not wide enough.
How to Get it Right
To ensure you get the right size rug for this layout/orientation, you need to do a little basic math.
Find out the width or your headboard. I say headboard not bed frame because sometimes the headboard can be a little wider than the frame itself. For this example we’ll use the dimensions of this gorgeous Gia queen-size bed.
Next, find out the width of both bedside tables. You also want to allow a little wiggle room (or gap) between the bed and the side tables, say 10cm each side of the bed, so 20cm total).
Then, add it all together:
Width of bed 167cm + bedside 50cm + bedside 50cm + wiggle room 20cm = 287cm.
Given the above, you need the rug for this bedroom to be 300cm wide. Most rugs in 300cm width come in a depth of 200cm or 250cm, which works perfectly in terms of it coming out the end of the bed too.
Bedroom Rug Placement Idea 2: Everything On Top
I’ve called this bedroom rug placement idea ‘everything on top’ because that really sums it up perfectly: the bed and bedside tables are all sitting on a large rug. Some flooring is visible, but not a lot.
I don’t see this option a lot, but it is quite successful if you want to create a moment in the bedroom using texture underfoot, especially if your entire room is full of hard flooring.
Because everything is sitting on the rug, a larger rectangle or square rug is required here. And with most rugs, the larger it is the more you’re going to spend (something to keep in mind if your budget is of concern).
When it comes to this rug placement option, you do want to see a small section of flooring between the rug and the wall. You don’t want the rug hitting the walls. It needs breathing room.
How to Get it Right
It’s quite similar to the calculation we did for Option 1, but the depth of the rug becomes really important as we need to ensure the bedsides fit on it too. We also want to ensure there’s ample rug out the bottom of the bed.
Firstly, the width calculation:
Width of bed 167cm + bedside 50cm + bedside 50cm + wiggle room 20cm = 287cm.
And now depth:
Depth of bed is 220cm.
Given the above, a standard rug size of width 300cm x depth 250cm would work, however it’s not an ideal depth. The depth of 250cm means you’re only getting 30cm of rug at the end of your bed, but much more on the sides. In this instance, a rug in a custom size would work better (something like W300cm x D270cm).
Bedroom Rug Placement Idea 3: Round Rug Under Leg
This rug placement idea sees a round rug sit under one lower leg of the bed.
There are some bedrooms where option one and two above just aren’t going to work. I’ve encountered this a few times as an interior designer working on residential makeover projects. It’s often a smaller room where wall dimensions just don’t allow for a standard rug size to fit.
There are also rooms (in older homes a lot of the time) where there are floor vents present in the bedroom and a rug can’t sit over them. They often deem options one and two above null and void as well.
But that’s where a round rug comes into play, and is perfect idea for warming up the bedroom. And if the bedroom in question has hard flooring, a rug is a must.
How to Get it Right
With round rugs, bigger is always better. The measurement through the centre of the rug might seem wide, but when the rug is down it will appear smaller than you think.
When it comes to calculating size, there’s less numbers involved. You just want to ensure the rug isn’t hitting the outer walls of the room or your bedside tables. Ideally you want to give it 20cm gap, so you can see some flooring between it walls/furniture.
In terms of placement, you don’t want the leg of the bed to sit smack bang on the centre of the rug as you won’t see enough of the rug coming out from the bed.
You also want the edge of the rug to sit roughly inline with the edge of your bedside table.
Bedroom Rug Placement Idea 4: Runner Beside Bed
The last of our bedroom rug placement ideas is for small rooms. I’m talking rooms where a rectangle rug is too wide for it, a square rug would be hitting walls, the round rug would have the door scraping against it. Think small. Real small.
That doesn’t mean you can’t cosy up the space. If the bedroom in question has floorboards, you absolutely need something warm underfoot to make the room feel cosier and less echoey. And so a runner either side of the bed is a genius idea.
Because the rug isn’t sitting under the weight of a bed or bedside, my advice is to ensure it has an anti-slip underlay underneath it if your flooring is hard. If you don’t have an underlay helping the rug stick to the floor, you’re on on all-stops train to Danger County.
How to Get it Right
In terms of figuring out what size runner you want, it really comes down to the gap you have to play with between the front of your bedside table and the end of your bed.
You want the runner to start about 10cm from the front edge of your bedside and run down toward the end of the bed frame, stopping 10cm short.
So, essentially, measure the length of flooring between these two points and that’ll give you the ideal length of the runner.
For example: Bed frame of 220cm depth – bedside table of 45cm depth – 20cm wiggle room either end of runner = 155cm. That’s how long you want your runner to be.
Bedroom Rug Placement Idea 5: End of Bed
I wanted to throw in a bonus bedroom rug placement idea from a recent photoshoot I did. It’s a nice way to add some additional warmth and interest to a carpeted bedroom for those of you who love layers.
I call this one ‘rug out the end’ and I’m sure you can see why: the rug is placed right at the end of the bed, tucked under it ever so slightly. This orientation works nicely if you don’t have a tonne of room either side of bed but you do have ample space at the end.
I would recommend pairing a rug in this orientation with a bench seat at the end of the bed, otherwise the rug looks a bit odd on its own. It does need something on top to ground it.
How to Get it Right
This is a really easy and affordable idea to implement, because a standard rug with of approx 220cm will work perfectly for the width of a king bed, and will still work with a queen (you’ll just have a touch extra rug coming out either side of the bed).
No need to do any calculations here, which is nice!
If you like the look of this rug and the bedroom scene it’s in, you can see more of it in this bed styling mistakes blog post.
Hopefully you now know the best bedroom rug placement for your space. Fingers crossed you have all the layout ideas you need. And I’m positive you can do these calculations before you buy a bedroom rug moving forward. Drop me a comment below if you have any additional questions or need help.
