We just went through the same think for our living room. That's why I have a designer. It makes these questions so much easier.

Here is what you need to do. First, decide on furniture placement. Next decide if you want furniture on the rug. Then measure the area.

I personally don't like furniture on area rugs because I don't like all the wood covered especially when the legs on the seating are open like yours and the floors are so pretty. I do like front legs on the rug and an ottoman to a chair but that's it. Many would disagree but I like showing off my floors.

I agree with the above comment. The general rule is to decide in advance on the furniture placement. Then figure out which furniture the rug will be under...For example, you could arrange a 9 by 12 (or larger) carpet under the sofa and 2 or 3 chairs. Or, you could decide that the sofa will not be over a carpet, but the carpet will be in front of the sofa and the coffee table will be over the carpet and, maybe, one of the chairs.

The purists say that you should avoid having any piece of furniture partly on a rug and partly not on the rug. I think that's probably a good rule of thumb. But in our case, since we have a strange living room (I won't go into the details unless you think it would be helpful to you to know) we have recliners that are off the rug, but the footrests are on the rug. One of the recliners is half on and half off the rug. Can't be helped because of the weird dimensions of the rooom. But I do not think it looks so bad, and I'm very, very fussy about those things.

I think you should try to go by the guidelines, but if you have to deviate, it won't be a disaster if your overall plan and color scheme works. If the whole room comes together, as a visually appealing unit (whatever that means,you'll know it when you see it), you can break a rule or two without anyone noticing. Or, if they notice, it won't bother them.

Just to give you an idea. This is my family room. My sofa legs butt up to the rug. The front legs to the ottomans are on the rug.

Thanks everyone!

My biggest concern is that I have a split staircase so there's a small jut into the living room. If I get a larger rug, there won't be a defined, side walkway into the dining room which also has one of the entrys into the kitchen. You would have to walk with one foot on hardwood and one on the rug.

They don't seem to make a size that would enable me to have the furniture on the rug and still walk around it, if you get my drift.

Yikes, I'm leaving for Chicago in an hour and a half! Do I need a side walkway into the dining room that's bare wood?

Maybe I could get a square rug instead of rectangular?

Help!

The sofa and settee are just gorgeous. If I were you, I'd either get a rug the size and placement as presented in the model home (5x8?), OR a larger rug (8x10) with both sofa and settee placed on top.

All woodwork white, imo.

No, you don't need a walkway--again, imo. Although a fuller pic would give me a better idea of your concern. :)

Both my LR and Den have 8 x 10 rugs. I wanted small rugs because I want to floors to show...They are placed so that you can walk into these rooms without stepping on the rugs (if you choose to) My hubby is a avid gardener and is always muddy. I have my den rug placed so that he can run in and out of the house without stepping on the rug in the den. I also have my rugs floating...I know this is a no no, but that's the way I like it.

Joann

Here is another suggestion. Find a broadloom carpet you like and have it cut to the dimension you require. Any rug store can band it.

It's what we are doing since the size we require is odd and we also have a walk way to the FR from the front door for which we do not want rugged. We found a gorgeous tone on tone patterned rug. Since the rug we chose is a certain width we are able to get another piece from it for our entrance from the front door.

I agree that a rug that causes you to walk to the dining room with one foot on the rug and the other off would not work. (Do I understand you correctly?) Have you considered getting two rugs? If you like the look of Oriental carpets, either real ones or machine made, combining them can make for a really nice look. We did that in our living room. The rich combination of colors is stunning. Would a runner work for your pathway to the dining room?

I'm confused, which rug are you looking for the LR or DR?
My suggestion is to buy a cheap returnable rug just to try out the size.
To give you an idea, our family room is 22 ft long and I only have an 8 x 10 in there. I also have the rug placed so that we can come in from outside and get to the other rooms without walking on the rug in the family room.
I like a lot of floor showing as stated above. You can get from my back door to the rest of the house without bring the dirt onto the rug.
Also I have 16" of space between the two brunch tales in front of the sofa so we don't wear out the rug in front of the sofa.
Come to think of it, only the dogs walk on the rugs LOL!

There is a lot of wood showing, but that's the way I like it.
Remember it's your house so it's your rules.
Besides the dogs, the brunch tables are the only thing that anchors the rug down in the family room, same in our living room, only the coffee table anchors it down.

Hi from downtown Chicago!

Nice pictures everyone. Lol @ cliff and joann, just the living room for now. I might just have to do a floating rug. The rooms are pretty small.

Rug shopping is really strange here. It's like mattress or car shopping. Everything is supposedly 70% off (of what?). Salesmen keep stalking you. It's giving me the creeps. No wonder people buy online. It's nice to see them up close and personal, though.

One good thing about a floating rug is that the smaller size (and price) will let me get something nicer, I suppose.