I hope not as I have a area rug over my regular rug and I think it looks great.. so if you like it then who cares if it's considered wrong :)

Why not? Especially if your carpet is a light neutral.

perfectly fine to do an area rug over carpet

I remember my design teacher saying it was something we shouldn't do. I remember because at the time I had an area rug over carpet. I think you should generally try to avoid it but if there aren't any other options, I say why not.

I did it when we lived in an apartment. I won't lie, several people did come in and point out my design "mistake", but none of them were living with off-white walls, off-white carpet, off-white trim...

For what it is worth, those people would have found anything to pick apart.

I think it looks fine. I did it years ago and it really made a difference in our LR.

Rugs ground a room IMO no matter what lies beneath them.

We just recently added hardwoods throughout, but for the first 10 years, I used a rug over carpet, and was happy with the look. If you like it, then go for it!!

Layers of rugs can be very luxurious (see photo above! :)) and a rug can add so much to your room. Yes, go ahead and do it. Don't be swayed by others' imaginary rules!

Plenty of professional designers have layered rugs. Do what you like!

I don't think its a no-no across the board.

Depending upon the pile of the rug underneath you may need to use some kind of intervening pad.

I have put rugs over flat carpet like berber with no problem, but a rug over even a short pile will rumple up and travel all over the place unless it is pretty well anchored on the edges by furniture.

I think the real issue is wall-to-wall carpeting itself being incredibly bad taste, dated, and unhygienic. If that wasn't bad enough, it removes a lot of versatility which is why throwing a rug over the top is not a good idea. It screams "yeah I really don't need this tacky carpet here, see I even own an area rug that would look better!".

Either own the carpet and have it stand unashamedly or rip out that late 20th century abomination so you can properly decorate.

We tried it over our carpet, and had the problem of it moving and creating a trip hazard. What are your recommendations - a lighter weight area rug, a thing (don't know what it's called) under it to keep it from moving? The way our furniture is, it's impossible to anchor all the way around.

Area rugs over carpet look like poo.