Question

Hello, My name is Sue M., I recently purchased your Ebook Decor secrets revealed. I am enjoying reading this and finding it very informative.

I have a question in regards to the use of an area rug 6'x9'. I live in Australia so I'm used to dealing in metric but the following measurements are roughly right.

I have a sofa 6' 6" x 3' deep and a loveseat 4' 9"x 3' deep and a 6'x9' area rug. I am placing these in an L shape. You recommend placing the furniture on the area rug if 6'x9' or larger but I can't get both pieces on the rug. If I place the sofa on the rug then there is only 1' 9" of rug left showing (because the sofa is 3' deep) and this looks strange. I can successfully place the sofa off the rug and the loveseat on the short side of the rug but I wasn't sure if this was what you meant in your book. Also, if I have the sofa perpendicular to the focal pt do you place the area rug with the long side parallel to the sofa or the focal pt.

I hope these questions make sense, If I need to clarify anything just let me know.

I was also interested in the Furniture sliders for hard floors but note that you only ship these to continental USA. Do you know If I there is anyway I can get these to Australia?

Thanks, Sue

Answer

Hi Sue

So happy to be reaching Australia with design techniques.

This is a dilemma.

Normally you would place the long side of the rug parallel to the longest piece (sofa). By time you add about a foot of space between the rug and the fireplace, you're now extending out 10 feet. To keep the arrangement from getting too far from the fireplace, it would be good to try to put the loveseat fully on the rug, but keep the sofa off the rug. Depending on the configuration of your traffic lanes, however, this might not feel good.

So if you switch and put the area rug with the long side parallel to the fireplace, then put the sofa over the rug on the short side, you might find you like it better with the loveseat off the rug. This will keep the loveseat from getting too far away from the fireplace and keep the whole unit more intimate and cozy.

Your area rug will start looking more like a square rather than a rectangle. You didn't mention a coffee table, so if you wind up with a square area of rug, a square or round coffee table will probably be the best proportion rather than oval or rectangular. Let the shape of the space in front of the two pieces help determine the best size and shape of the coffee table.

Lastly, we stopped shipping to Australia after too many packages were never delivered. If you know someone in the States, we'll gladly send it there and they can forward to you, but we don't do it any more. Sorry.

Hope this helps.

Barbara