Area rugs provide warmth, comfort, a decorative interest into your home. Area rugs are a great way to break up the monotony of the floor and anchor your furniture to the floor to pull your room together. For some, adding an area rug can be overwhelming because they aren't sure how to choose the correct size, color, pattern, and rug placement. If you're thinking about adding an area rug into your home but you're not sure where to start, read on to get a few tips from your expert interior designers at the Lake of the Ozarks, John Elliott Interiors.

In the Bedroom

If you are choosing to use a large area rug in your bedroom that the bed will actually sit upon, it needs to be big enough so that 12-18 inches extend beyond the bed. It's okay for the rug to extend further, but any less and it will appear too small for the space. Another option is to place a smaller area rug at the foot of the bed instead.

In the Dining Room

An area rug underneath the dining room table is a beautiful thing, but it can be awkward if the chairs do not fit on it completely while you are sitting in them. A rug that extends at least 24 inches around the table should allow all four legs of the chair to remain on it.

In the Living Room

Depending on the size of the area rug and the size of the room you are placing it in, that will make a difference on which of the following guidelines that you follow. The area rug is meant to connect all of the pieces of furniture in the room. Generally, the front legs of couches and chairs should sit on the rug with the back legs off. In some cases, such as with accent chairs, it may work best to put all of the legs directly on the rug. Try it both ways to decide which flows best for the room you are decorating. 

When you are furnishing a room at the Lake of the Ozarks, style is a factor but the functionality is incredibly important. When you move on to choosing accessories for a room, that's where you can focus completely on the look of the items that you choose. Home accents are an excellent way to personalize a room. They can tell a story or highlight your interests and hobbies. John Elliott Interiors has a few tips to help you accessorize your home and create rooms that are all yours.


Pay Attention to Scale
Bigger pieces of furniture can handle a large accessory on them, but you don't want the accent piece to overwhelm what it is sitting upon. In a similar fashion, you don't want to place a couple of small objects alone on a large shelf because they will look lost and out of place. It is okay to have empty spaces here and there though so that you are not giving everyone too much to look at. This will add to the balance of the room.  

Use Color Creatively 
The accessories in a room can be used to bring out a dominant color that is already present, or they can instead enhance it with other complimentary colors or shades. If the room has a neutral palette, your home accents can be used to add a "pop" of color where there is none. Adding color to a room only with the accessories used makes it easy to switch them out when the mood strikes you, giving the room a fresh feel without an entire remodel. 


Use What You've Got
As we mentioned above, home accessories can highlight your interests or hobbies, or they can tell a story, like a trip you took or your family's history. Look around your home for things that you already possess. A seemingly regular object can be displayed in an artistic or interesting way to create an intriguing arrangement. We have many beautiful accent pieces in our Lake of the Ozarks luxury furniture store that will allow you to display some of your keepsakes in a decorative way.   

Group Items Together
Clusters of similar items make for a much more interesting display than if you were to take many like pieces and scatter them around the room. Each grouping should have a common thread that ties them together. It could be a texture or color scheme, or it could be a chance to showcase something that you collect. 


No Need For Symmetry 
You can achieve balance in a room without making everything in it too matchy-matchy. While symmetry is good for hanging wall art (although there are exceptions for arrangements that look excellent a bit off-kilter) your home accents will have a better flow if they are not completely symmetrical to each other. 

Use odd numbers of items when you group them, and have taller objects on one side of your mantel with shorter ones on the other. Instead of putting only books on a shelf, break up the monotony by adding home accents between books and even placed on top of a stack of books. 


Accessorizing the rooms in your home should be fun, so don't stress over it. When you find a piece that catches your eye, find a place for it. John Elliott Interiors is a fantastic place to find inspiration for the look and feel that you want your rooms to have. 

If you have more questions, our interior design experts at the Lake of the Ozarks are happy to offer advice. Let your personality shine through the home accent pieces you display and your rooms will have a friendly and inviting feeling for everyone that visits your home.