How about a nice rug to complement a burnt orange couch?

October 2, 2018 1:53 PM

Help me find a rug that complements my goofy orange couch! Something I can see in NYC before I purchase.

Sooooo I finally bought a couch, in a beautiful burnt orange color. Now I need to get a new rug to go with it.

I have a tiny living room, so I'm looking for something that won't overwhelm the room. I guess I should stick to light colors but I don't want pure white because I will immediately spill something on it. A lot of similar color schemes feature a rug with a geometric pattern but I don't want to get a headache from looking at it! So nothing optical illusion-y.

I found this amazing but unfortunately dated article with some ideas and the one I absolutely love is #17. I would love to buy that one but... I can't find it anywhere! I wrote to the decorating company who had taken that picture and they said it was from many years ago and they no longer have it in their system. My new couch also looks like the one in #17.

So the question is - what rug would compliment my lovely new couch, either like #17 or something else? Also I live in NYC so it is INCREDIBLY difficult to get large things delivered to my apt. Which means that I have to be absolutely sure of this rug before I buy it. No returning and trying again. So ideally I would be able to see this rug in person somewhere before I bought it.

posted by silverstatue to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

If you don't have any other colors in the room that you can key off of, #7 and #20 I think capture the minimum amount of visual shock with their beige to light-brown rugs. I wouldn't just have an orange couch and a light blue or green or whatever rug and white walls. I say this as a person who has two daybeds in his front room that are (olive) green with orange cushions.

The main thing I think about in this situation (see aforementioned daybeds) is whether the piece(s) are the only thing with color in the room, or if there is color there that you want to adapt it into (the adaptation being what I think of as "bridge colors" that soften the apparent contrast. That is, you don't want a rug to go with the couch, but one to help the couch look good in what you already have. I also wouldn't go too dark, lest it congeal into one heavy "unit of style" that sits like a boulder in the room, with the rug like a proscenium.

17 looks like it wouldn't be too hard to find an analog for, even if only "posterized medieval woodcut or Nordic sweater" type pattern.
posted by rhizome at 2:18 PM on October 2, 2018

What is your price range? What size rug (more or less) do you need?
posted by jbenben at 2:35 PM on October 2, 2018

Have you checked out Flor tiles? I have them in four rooms of my house and love them!

Here are just a few patterned examples that come in light gray: Hollin Hills, Mined and Yours, La Di Da, Dappled Daylight. There are options from modern to traditional. I think any of those could look great.

Good luck!
posted by kittydelsol at 2:55 PM on October 2, 2018

Response by poster: Right now the other furniture is light colored wood, with black curtains and white walls. But all that could and probably will change. I think the rug would be 5 x 7 or 7 x 9. I would spend up to...$400 I guess?
posted by silverstatue at 3:06 PM on October 2, 2018

Anecdata, but I used Flor tiles in my hallway for a while and they did not deal with high traffic very well. I used them attached only to each other as a runner, though, not installed from baseboard to baseboard. I imagine creating an area rug rather than a carpet substitute from them would suffer the same issues (sliding, detaching).
posted by rhizome at 4:21 PM on October 2, 2018

Long story short Safavieh is based in NY and they sell on Amazon. Their rugs are pretty great. If it says it’s made of wool, then it’s wool, etc.. So you can see the rugs at their warehouses or other stores around town and then buy direct or order from Amazon.

Safavieh.
posted by jbenben at 4:24 PM on October 2, 2018