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21 Ways to Arrange Carpet Tiles Like a Pro
Some Great Patterns to Try In Your Own Brave Custom Rug
Houzz Contributor. Hi There! I currently live in a 1920s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected."
I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia. I've been writing about design online for quite a few years over at Hatch: The Design Public Blog.
Houzz Contributor. Hi There! I currently live in a 1920s cottage in Atlanta... More »
Carpet tiles are one of the biggest "I wish I'd thought of that" ideas I've ever seen. The possibilities for creating custom patterns and sizes are endless, or would at least require using that pesky factorial (!) thing from pre-calculus, or trig, or one of those high school math classes I still have nightmares about. But we don't need to figure out the equation, we just need some inspiration for how to arrange ours.
I've rounded up a range from Houzz designers that includes solids, shaggy, stripes and even a cow print, and tried to put into words how the designers have arranged them. If you've created a custom rug with carpet tiles, please share it with us in the comments!
I've rounded up a range from Houzz designers that includes solids, shaggy, stripes and even a cow print, and tried to put into words how the designers have arranged them. If you've created a custom rug with carpet tiles, please share it with us in the comments!
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| Start with a patterned tile that draws you, then grab some solid color choices from it. This image is a great example of the endless mix-and-match arrangements you can make with carpet tiles. |
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| Go for a checkerboard pattern. This basic yet vibrant pattern is a great pick for a child's room, playroom or rec room. |
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Alternate stripe orientation in a checkerboard pattern. This area rug is composed of tiles that have a light striped grain running through them, and the vertical and the horizontal have been arranged in a checkerboard. The subtle pattern of straight lines and squares grounds this mid-century inspired room.
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Try a three-tile checkerboard. Keep one tile consistent (here it's the striped tile), and use the other two colors interchangeably (blue and tan here).
"FLOR tiles are great for families with young children as they are really durable," says interior designer Rachel Reider, "and you can replace one if it gets dirty rather than having to replace the whole rug. They also come in a million different colors and patterns, so you can customize it to your color palette and theme."
"FLOR tiles are great for families with young children as they are really durable," says interior designer Rachel Reider, "and you can replace one if it gets dirty rather than having to replace the whole rug. They also come in a million different colors and patterns, so you can customize it to your color palette and theme."
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| Pay attention to the diagonal. Here the pattern lines up three different colors in diagonal lines. |
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Mix with six. This pattern uses six colors which pick up on other prints and solids in the room, particularly the chocolate brown of the chair, crib and branch on the wall. Notice that the chocolate, the darkest color, is used sparingly in the pattern.
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| After you've chosen your color palette, throw a few different patterns into the mix. This designer has used a few different striped tile patterns in one area rug. |
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| Try orienting patterned tiles in different directions. Here the stripes run both vertically and horizontally throughout the composition. If you look really carefully at the pattern here, you'll see that the stripes on each tile vary from top to bottom, and thus the variation not only goes 90 degrees but also 180 degrees...oh, I'm having high school math class flashbacks again...I need to move on. |
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| Try a two-tile wide runner that alternates stripe orientations. |
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| Alternate a solid and a stripe on a two-tile wide runner. Carpet tiles are a great choice for spaces that call for an unusual size not available off the rack. |
Create a custom runner with unexpected edges. Grab a box of Prismacolor pencils and plan designs like this one on graph paper before hitting the carpet tile store.
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Define the dining area. Carpet tiles are a great solution for under the dining room table. They are durable and easy to clean, and you can customize the size for the table and chairs area very well. Pull out all of your dining room chairs a bit beyond the table's edge to find the minimum area you'll need to cover.
by decordemon
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Create a pattern with a pattern. These tiles create the effect of a big cow print cut into squares and collaged onto the floor.
"Something I often do to save tons of money on labor costs is go directly over totally-level-and-totally-sound-but-offensively-ugly flooring with FLOR tiles," says decorator and Houzz contributor Brian Patrick Flynn. "Unless the job calls for investing tens of thousands of dollars in exotic stone or wood, I'll opt to punch color, pattern or texture with the lower price-point styles, then give clients tutorials on how to lay them out and cut them to size."
"Something I often do to save tons of money on labor costs is go directly over totally-level-and-totally-sound-but-offensively-ugly flooring with FLOR tiles," says decorator and Houzz contributor Brian Patrick Flynn. "Unless the job calls for investing tens of thousands of dollars in exotic stone or wood, I'll opt to punch color, pattern or texture with the lower price-point styles, then give clients tutorials on how to lay them out and cut them to size."
by Studio Zerbey
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Don't feel bad about simply going for a solid color. While I've been showing you a tile arrangements that have a lot of movement, you don't have to go bananas with composition. Some rooms call for a solid color.
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| Feel free to go wall-to-wall. You don't have to arrange carpet tiles area rug-style; all it takes is a few careful cuts to go wall-to-wall. |
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| Create your own Mondrian-esque creation. (m) + Charles Beach Interiors uses these European-style carpet tiles on many interiors to create a unique design for each of their clients. |
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| Develop a good eye with experimentation and practice. I cannot figure out if there is some sort of geometric pattern to the way these carpet tiles were laid or if it was just a person with a good eye playing around until he got it right. Either way, it's a great example to study when arranging your tiles. |
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Once you get comfortable, go wild. I spied this arrangement of tiles on the Modern Atlanta tour a few years back. They did a great job of matching the palette on the rug to the palette in the room; it provides the only large swath of pattern and enlivens the arrangement solid-colored pieces.
| Once you're comfortable with squares, move on to rectangles. Designer and builder Jordan Iverson loves to make the most of carpet tiles. "What I like most about carpet tiles is their nearly endless design possibilities and ease of install and replacement," he says. "The colors, patterns, textures and designs you can come up with are basically just limited by your imagination. I’ve used them in some way in each of my custom home projects over the last three years." |
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by The Red Jet
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| Pull out the utility knife and get into triangles. Blogger Red Jet Whistle created this custom rug from carpet tiles! |
Be brave; use shag tiles in a checkerboard pattern. Jordan Iverson also tipped me off to the fact that carpet tiles also come in a shag version. At first my quick glance at the thumbnail version of this photo made me think the pattern was made of simply shadows. This option really shows how unlimited the possibilities are when using carpet tiles.
More:
11 Area Rug Rules and How to Break Them
The Magic of Showstopping Carpets
More:
11 Area Rug Rules and How to Break Them
The Magic of Showstopping Carpets
Ideabook published on May 25, 2011.
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