Decorating your new hardwood floors with area rugs

An area rug is an excellent way to instantly warm the room up too. They can be the focal point of the room. They can add a great splash of color. They define a seating arrangement beautifully, in a sense creating an island in the room to make it more intimate and inviting. They are also easy to change out according to the seasons of the year.

Before you consider buying a new area rug review these tips:

• Decide what you will use the area rug for. Do you want it to just protect the hardwood floor or is it to define a space within your room? 
• How will you integrate the area rug within the existing decor of the room? You don't want to put a "busy" patterned rug in a room that already has a lot of pattern, such as a patterned wallpaper or sofa fabric. Look for colors in the rug that blend with the other colors in the room. Don't think "match" - think "blend".
• It's ok to use more than one rug in the same area, so long as the colors coordinate. Vary the size to keep it from looking too expected. You want to keep the space interesting.
• One of the problems area rugs create is that they tend to "creep" or slide on the floor. You can offset this by placing a rug pad under it. The pad has other benefits like preventing the back of the area rug from scratching a hardwood floor, and it makes vacuuming easier too.