Guide · For the trade
Bedroom rugs: the one room where the soft spec is the right spec
Bedroom rugs are the easiest rugs in the house on wear and the hardest on feel: the client walks on them barefoot, in the dark, a few steps a day, so the spec can go soft, deep and delicate in a way no other room allows. Wool and wool-silk hand-knotted, hand-tufted plush, a high-pile wool or a viscose blend all belong here, in 8x10 under a queen, 9x12 under a king, or as a pair of 2 ft 6 in by 8 ft runners either side of the bed, over a 1/4-inch felt-and-rubber pad.
This guide is for the designer specifying the rug for a primary bedroom, a guest room or a child's room, and the junior pulling samples for it. It covers why the bedroom spec is different, the fibers and constructions that earn their place there, the three placements, pad and bed legs, color and quiet, and what changes in a guest room or a child's room. The size math by bed is in the king bed and queen bed guides; wall-to-wall for the room is in the best carpet for bedrooms guide.
What a bedroom asks of a rug
Four things, in order: softness underfoot, quiet, warmth over a hard floor, and a look that works with the bed as the largest object in the room. Durability is a distant fifth; a bedroom rug sees perhaps 200 footfalls a day against 2,000 or more in a hall, and most of them are barefoot. That is why the fibers and pile heights that are ruled out everywhere else are the right answer here, and why a bedroom is the place to spend the rug budget on hand rather than on wear.
Best rugs for a bedroom: fibers and constructions
| Construction and fiber | Pile | Underfoot | Spec it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand-knotted wool, or wool and silk | 1/4 to 3/8 in | Dense, cool, the highlights of silk catch the lamp light | The primary bedroom is the piece of the project |
| Hand-tufted wool plush | 1/2 to 5/8 in | Soft, warm, forgiving | Most primary and guest bedrooms; the value construction for a deep wool pile |
| High-pile wool, Moroccan or shag | 3/4 to 1 1/2 in | The softest spec, slow to walk on | A bedroom with no bench or nightstand on the rug |
| Viscose, bamboo silk or Tencel blend | 3/8 to 1/2 in | Silky, cool, lustrous | A low-traffic primary bedroom with no pets and no drinks carried over it |
| Wool flatweave or hand-loomed low loop | 1/8 to 1/4 in | Firm, warm | Under a bed with a low frame, a child's room, a bedroom with a radiant floor |
| Jute or wool-jute | 1/4 in | Soft for a natural fiber | A coastal or layered scheme; see the jute rugs guide |
Viscose and silk stain with water and are not for traffic, which rules them out of every room but this one; in a bedroom they are a defensible spec when the client understands the care. Wool is self-extinguishing, naturally stain resistant, and takes dye in the muted colors bedrooms want. Of the 4,800 styles filtered to the bedroom, the hand-tufted wool pieces at 1/2 inch are the ones we send most.
The three placements, briefly
Under the bed, with the top edge at the nightstands: the standard, a 9x12 for a king and an 8x10 for a queen, with 24 to 36 inches of rug showing at the sides and foot. Under the lower two thirds: the same rug one size smaller, with the nightstands on the floor, for a room where the bigger size runs into the dresser. Runners either side: two 2 ft 6 in by 8 ft or 3 ft by 8 ft runners from the nightstand to the foot, for a wide-plank or stone floor the client wants to see, or a radiant floor. A fourth is a rug across the foot of the bed only, 5x8 or 6x9 with the long side across the room, used over wall-to-wall or over a larger flat rug.
Pad, bed legs and furniture on the rug
Specify a 1/4-inch felt-and-rubber pad under a hand-made rug, a 3/8-inch felt under a bound broadloom rug, both cut 1 inch inside the edge; over wall-to-wall carpet, a thin rubber-topped pad. Bed legs: a platform bed on a 3/4-inch pile rocks and marks; keep the pile at 1/2 inch or less where bed or bench legs land, or put the legs on the floor and the rug under the lower two thirds. Nightstands with legs sit better on the floor than on a rug edge. Carpet dents under a bed foot recover in wool and never fully in polyester; if the client will rearrange the room, wool.
Color, pattern and quiet
Bedrooms read best in the mid and light values: ivory, oatmeal, pale grey, blush, sage and dusty blue account for most of what we send to bedroom plans, with pattern used at a low contrast so the rug does not compete with the bedding. Solids and tone-on-tone textures are the safe choice; a large-scale pattern works when the bedding is plain. For sound, a deep pile over a felt pad is the quietest floor in the house after wall-to-wall, which matters over a living room or in a townhouse with a hard floor.
Guest rooms, children's rooms and the nursery
A guest room is a bedroom with no traffic at all, and the one place a viscose or a very pale wool is safe. A child's room reverses the logic: wool or nylon, a pile under 1/2 inch so toy wheels and chairs roll, a pattern that hides marks, and no viscose; the kids room rugs guide covers it. A nursery wants a low-emission wool rug with a Green Label Plus or equivalent certificate and a soft pile; see the nursery rug size guide.
Questions designers ask
What is the best rug for a bedroom?
A hand-tufted or hand-knotted wool with a 3/8 to 5/8 inch pile, in a light or mid value, on a felt-and-rubber pad. Add silk or a viscose blend for luster when the room has no pets and no traffic; go to a high-pile wool when the client wants the softest floor possible and nothing sits on the rug.
What size rug for a primary bedroom?
9x12 under a king and 8x10 under a queen in the standard placement, one size larger for the full layout under the nightstands, one size smaller for the two-thirds placement. The king bed guide has the numbers for each.
Should the bedroom area rug go under the bed or beside it?
Under it, in most rooms; the rug ties the bed to the floor and shows on three sides. Beside it, as runners, when the floor is the point or the room is narrow. Across the foot only when there is already carpet or a larger rug beneath.
Can a shag or high-pile rug go in a bedroom?
Yes, and it is the room for it. Keep furniture legs off it, specify a felt pad so the pile has something to compress into, and tell the client to vacuum without a beater bar. The shag rugs guide covers the constructions.
Is a rug over wall-to-wall carpet in a bedroom a good idea?
Yes, across the foot of the bed or under it as a layer of pattern. Use a flatter rug than the carpet beneath, a thin rubber-topped pad to stop creep, and keep the rug clear of the door swing.
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