Help me make my rug obey

July 26, 2007 6:12 AM

Help me make my rug obey.

In our main living area we have a modern wool area rug (8'x8') laid over carpeting with a coffee table positioned right in the middle of it. The table is a clear glass square with a heavy square marble base (1.5 x 1.5'). We love the rug and the table and the way they fit into the living area. So what's the problem? The weight of the table pushes down into the rug and causes wrinkles all over and all the way out to the edges. I've cut various sized squares of wood to put beneath the table base but still the problem persists. I fear the wrinkles have become permanent. I can't imagine why supporting the table on a solid piece of wood (so as not to allow it to push down and dent the plane of the rug) isn't working. Any idea on how I can get my rug to lie flat under this table? Or am I doomed as long as I insist the table stays where it is?

posted by lpsguy to home & garden (6 answers total)

Could you use speaker spikes under the base, so that the spike penetrates the rug and is supported directly by the wood beneath the rug? You'll also need something solid under the entire rug because the carpet the rug sits on will deform under the weight preventing the rug from lying on an even surface.
posted by zeoslap at 6:25 AM on July 26, 2007

This is rather extreme, but I had a very similar problem and I solved with the following steps.

I took the rug into another room where it could be all the way flat and steam cleaned it (worked a lot like ironing) till it was sufficiently flat.

I repositoned it exactly where I wanted it and then used tiny white trim nails and nailed that bitch right into the carpet. If you drive them all the way in, the heads won't show.

When it came time to take the rug up, they actually came out pretty easily with some upward tugging.
posted by stormygrey at 6:45 AM on July 26, 2007

Maybe try these furniture coasters.
posted by booth at 7:28 AM on July 26, 2007

On reread, I'm not sure those coasters will work under a marble slab. But maybe.

So I'll change my suggestion to a chunk of a cleated chair mat with spikes underneath that you use under your office chair. You might have some success if you spike down into the rug's pile. I think it's the slab sitting on top of the pile that is causing the wrinkles.
posted by booth at 7:34 AM on July 26, 2007

This link from House & Garden TV says: In general, putting area rugs down over carpet just doesn’t work, unless you have wall-to-wall carpeting with very low pile.
posted by iconomy at 7:54 AM on July 26, 2007

There are rug pads made for rug-on-rug action. Though your particular situation seems extraordinary.
posted by booth at 9:54 AM on July 26, 2007