How to Modify a Rug to Fit The Size or Shape of a Piece of Furniture

One of the challenges of rug shopping, is finding a rug that fits the size and shape of the furniture that will sit on the rug.  It is often too big, too small, or does not compliment the shape.  Rebecca Robeson of Robeson Design Studio, shares a little trick she recently used to solve this problem in a recent project.  It's a resourceful skill any body shopping for an area rug should learn.

In this featured video you'll learn...

• What type of carpet is needed to make modifications
• How to form the shape and size
• The tools needed to make the mods
• Some guidelines to consider when determining the final size.

RUGS, How To Make an Area Rug - Interior Design (Video & Transcript)

Hi.  I'm Rebecca Robeson with Robeson Design Studio in San Diego California. Today we have another DIY video for you and I can't wait to show you.  Your going to love it...

If you've ever found that you need some area rugs that are kind of an unusual shape, or an odd shape, a different size that you can't find anywhere else; well i have a tip for you; something we did in a project.  We have this long oval ottoman; right here in the entrance of this bathroom.  We wanted to do an ovalesque shaped rug.  Do you have any idea how hard it would be, actually impossible, to get a rug shaped like this?  So we bought a rectangular rug, we turned it over, and we drew out exactly the shape we wanted, and literally cut.

After we did that, we were so proud of ourselves we thought, let's keep going.  Here you can see this rug literally has been cut.  Just snipped; nothing special.  It doesn't unravel, it doesn't move, It doesn't even shed.  It's the perfect, perfect answer to that rug issue when you can't quite find the right size, or the shape, or the color that you want.  Make it!  Now there's a tip for ya.

Here is what you'll need:

• Measuring Tape,
• Screw
• Sharpy,
• Box knive
• Scissors
• Card Board

Making the Guideline Template

Flip over the carpet you have and make sure it's got this tough mesh on the bottom.  That's the kind of carpet we're going to be working with.  Now place the object, in our case, the table top, on the other side of the carpet.

For this particular project, we chose to make the rug 7 inches bigger around all sides of the tabletop.  We chose 7 inches because once you scoot the chair all the way into the table, you see that the back legs of the chair are still on the rug. If we'd made it any bigger, you wouldn't have that clear path, and you'd be staggering as you walk from rug to wood.

 

Now you see we have our person scooted in as far as anyone would comfortably go, and that back chair leg doesn't conflict with the rug, so you don't get any bunching.  And you see that When  we scoot them back, far enough to get in and out, that front leg doesn't actually come off the carpet.

Now it's time to make that guideline template.  You need a piece of cardboard that is more than 14 inches in both directions.  So here I've got my cardboard box and I'm going to mark the center with a sharpie.  Now that I've marked my center, I'm going to take this cardboard tube, which could have been a [flat] strip of cardboard; it's just what I had.  I'm going to poke the screw through it, and I'm going to stick it into that center point we marked on the box.  Then I'm going to measure, 7 inches from that screw hole up that tube.  Then I'm going to poke a hole in it [the tube] with a sharpie; face that sharpie down and voila...instant compass!

Once you're done drawing that circle, let's go ahead and cut that out. Now here I've already cut out my circle.  I've poked the hole in the center and I'm using this large sharpie, only so that you guys can see it easier.  Otherwise, I would use my regular Sharpie.  

Marking The Guideline

Take your template, place it at the edge of the table and just roll it around.  Now take that box knife, and just push the blade down into the rug.  You'll see here as I slice along, I'm going to show you what it looks like.  As soon as I cut this, it's all together.  Nice clean edge; nothings coming off.  So keep on cutting and make sure the depth of your blade doesn't cut through so far that you damage the blade or any surface below.  Make sure you're working over a surface that the blade won't harm.  Finish cutting off the rug and you're done.

So, how bout that Greyson?  Isn't he somethin? He can do just about anything.  Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think.  Not about Greyson. Just what you think about the carpet idea. Isn't that cool.  I bet there's places you can use that in your own home.  Leave me a comment and let me know.

From inception to completion, the Robeson Design Team works concurrently, handling every detail of your home redesign providing for a quick, succinct and reliable design experience.  www.robesondesign.com

 

Take-A-Ways

I was surprised to see how effortless it is to modify a rug and how professional it looked after using only a box cutter and no finishing touches.  This little secret will come in handy for a lot of interior decorators.  Here are some take-a-ways to keep in mind if you ever need to modify a rug.

• This only works with rugs that have a mesh bottom
• Use the object that will be placed on the rug as a guide for the size and shape
• Consider functionality when deciding on a final size for the rug