Calculators
Rug size calculator
Rugs are sold in a handful of fixed sizes, so the useful question is not what size you need but which stocked size is least wrong.
On this page (3 sections)
Short answer
Enter room dimensions and how the rug has to work. The calculator leaves a 10 to 16 in (25 to 41 cm) border of bare floor, picks the largest standard size that fits inside it, and tells you what the choice means for your furniture.
The numbers, at a glance
- Border of bare floor
- 12 to 18 in (30 to 46 cm)8 in in small rooms
- Common living room sizes
- 8 x 10 ft, 9 x 12 ft
- Dining rug overhang
- 30 in (76 cm) past the table
- Bedroom rug showing each side
- 18 to 24 in (46 to 61 cm)
Rug size calculator#
Enter the room and the layout you want. We size to the standard rug dimensions actually sold, then show the border of bare floor you will be left with.
Standard sizes are US retail sizes in feet. Metric equivalents are rounded to the nearest 5 cm.
Nothing you type leaves your browser: the maths runs on this page, and no values are stored or sent anywhere.
The rule the calculator applies#
A rug does two jobs at once. It defines a zone, and it leaves a margin that lets the room's floor read as a surface rather than as a gap. Those two jobs give the border figure: enough bare floor that the rug looks placed, not enough that the furniture group floats free of it.
In a room whose smaller dimension is under 10 ft (3.0 m), the calculator drops the target border to 10 in (25 cm), because a strict 16 in border in a 10 ft room leaves 88 in of rug and forces you down a size for no gain. Above that it works to 16 in and then picks the largest standard size that fits within the remaining rectangle in either orientation.
Where the recommendation needs your judgement#
Your sofa is the real constraint in a living room. A rug should be at least as wide as the sofa plus about 12 in (30 cm) at each end. If the calculator returns a rug narrower than that, size up and accept the tighter border, or move to the floating configuration deliberately.
Dining rooms are governed by the chair, not the room. A chair pulled back from the table travels 24 to 30 in (61 to 76 cm), and a chair leg that drops off the rug edge at that moment is an irritation you will feel every day. That is why the dining setting reports the largest table the recommended rug supports.
Bedrooms have a fixed geometry. The rug wants to start a third of the way down the bed and show 18 to 24 in (46 to 61 cm) on both sides and at the foot. In practice that is 8 x 10 ft for a queen and 9 x 12 ft for a king in a normally proportioned room. Two 2.5 x 8 ft runners are the honest fallback when the room cannot take either.
Metric and imperial#
Rug sizes are still quoted in feet in most of the world, including markets that otherwise use metres, because the looms and the wholesale trade standardised early. The metric equivalents in the results are rounded to the nearest 5 cm, which is how most European retailers list the same rugs: an 8 x 10 ft rug appears as 240 x 300 cm, a 9 x 12 as 270 x 360 cm.
For the full reasoning by room, see the living room rug guide, the dining rug rules and bedroom rug placement.
Frequently asked questions#
What size rug for a 12 x 15 ft living room?
A 9 x 12 ft rug, which leaves an 18 in (46 cm) border on the long walls and 18 in at the ends. If your sofa is longer than 96 in (244 cm) or you want all furniture legs on the rug, consider 10 x 14 ft and accept a tighter border.
Should furniture sit on the rug?
One of three configurations, and you should pick deliberately. All legs on gives the most settled result and needs the largest rug. Front legs on is the usual compromise and works from about 8 x 10 ft in a normal living room. Floating, with no furniture on the rug at all, only works if the rug is at least as wide as the sofa.
The calculator suggests a rug narrower than my sofa. What now?
Size up one standard size and accept a tighter border, because a rug narrower than the sofa reads as a mistake from every angle. If the next size up will not fit the room, the honest answers are a floating rug placed deliberately in front of the seating or no rug at all.
Is a rug measured including the fringe?
Usually yes for imported rugs, and sometimes no. Ask before ordering: a 2 in fringe at each end changes an 8 x 10 ft rug's finished footprint by 4 in in length, which matters when you have sized it to the inch.
Sources and standards referenced#
- Human Dimension and Interior Space Panero and Zelnik, Whitney Library of DesignCirculation and furniture footprint data behind the border figures
- Standard machine-made and hand-knotted rug sizes Trade practice, US and UK retail4x6, 5x8, 6x9, 8x10, 9x12, 10x14, 12x15 ft
We cite published codes, industry planning guidelines and manufacturer specifications. Where a figure is our own recommendation rather than a published standard, the text says so. See how we measure.