Well I have lots of rugs , some of them on top of others and multiples in the same room. The reason they all go is that they are all Orientals. You can get away with a lot if you use Oriental rugs and layer them. Most of mine are tribals but not all. They are mostly in earth tones but not all...many are primary jewel tones.

I would help to see your space. Also to know what budget you are thinking and if you already have a style in mind and color palette. All these things play into having the desired outcome when you are making such a big decision.

If you want to see Orientals I can post pics but it is a particular look. c

We don't have multiple rugs in the same room, but we have an open floor plan in which our area rugs can be seen from several rooms. The first photo is of our foyer rug that can be seen from the LR and DR.

The second photo is of the DR and the third is of the LR. The DR leads into the sun room that has a different rug as well.

The rugs are different in design and color but seem to come from a common "family" so they don't look odd together.

Hope this helps.

I have two large area rugs in the LR that don't match. Not even the same style. But it works. Both have a touch of rust in them, and both have shades of light green or a light turquoise.

Front of room:

{{!gwi}}

Back of room:

Mona, good to see you around!

Oooh, all of these rooms are so pretty. Thanks for sharing the pics! I see there is no problem mixing orientals. That is at least a start for me.

Monablair do you live in FL? I'd love to have tile throughout, but I'm in MD and not near the beach or anything. Tile in a living room here would be very out of place with the local "flavor", sigh. So wood it is. With lots of rugs, lol.

I'll post some pics of the room soon. Right now there are so many distracting elements in there that will be gone soon, so I'm waiting till the room is more of a blank canvas.

I''m not sure why you'd need a rug to protect the wood floor. ??? We have wood throughout our main level and also on our stairs and while we do have rugs scattered throughout they're for decorative value. Are you having a softwood installed? Maybe that's it. We have multiple pets, little kids (one of whom has adaptive equipment), and live in a four-season climate: our main entrances / exits are onto the wood floor and we've lived here 4.5 years without a problem (to the wood). And I'm just so-so about vacuuming / washing the floor.

That being said, we do also have many rugs because I like 'em! They all have sentimental value and they do have the one overriding theme: I picked 'em!

I've never had a wood floor so I don't know why I need rugs to protect them, lol!

I just know from the carpet that the one area where my stairs meet, gets a traffic pattern in it pretty quickly, even on quality carpet. So I assumed that the finish would wear off of the wood quickly in that area if I don't protect it.

I am not getting a soft wood, I'll be getting the hardest wood with most layers of poly I can afford!

rmkitchen what kind of wood do you have and do you know what type of finish (protection) is on it? Thanks!

Sure -- we have red oak stained dark with three coats of a gloss finish (Bona), but the Bona gloss is basically a satin. Our floors are gorgeous! I love the ebonized finish, however a dark color shows everything, and with pets and the flotsam and jetsam of everyday life ... I don't recommend it. With that being said, I still love it and the dark color makes my heart sing, so it's worth it (to me)!

Here's a picture which shows both the color and the (low) level of gloss (I'd wanted a basketball floor! -- not really, but glossier):

Mixing oriental rugs is pretty easy, especially old ones as the colors are softer and they are already broken in. (if that look appeals to you)

A terrible pic and room needs work, but in case it helps:

I have similar look to Monas...antique oriental in DR with a HomeGoods oriental look in the entry, and a HomeGoods thick wool rug in LR. I just added a small latex backed flat sisal type to the LR next to patio door. It all works. Had some matching rugs before but the look started to annoy me so I garage saled some and only kept the runners.

Red

Yes I think multiple rugs can work, and I have done this myself. For some reason, I do think the equation gets trickier with runners. I don't have any runners for this very reason.

When you walk through our formal entry, you are standing in the foyer looking straight ahead at the Great Room/Living Room and Dining Room. One big space but the foyer is defined visually by reclaimed beams. I have a 5x8 rug in foyer, a huge custom rug in Great Room that is made from carpet, and another rug in Dining Room that is an 8x10. None of the rugs match (although the rug in Great Room is same leopard carpet I have in my Office.) I think it looks fine, BUT the Dining Room rug is really not visible unless you are standing along perimeter of GR/DR. I plan on replacing the DR rug (which I had before we built), because: 1)it is too small for my table when the extra leaf is used 2) Would prefer to use lighter colors and a different pattern. Point being that even though I don't like it, I think it works and when it is replaced it will be with something that is different than the other 2 rugs in eyesight.

I would like to suggest you that you can use multiple area rugs,even they are matched or unmatched,it depends on that area where you are going to use multiple.You can get ideal suggestions and suitable area rugs for that area at natural area rugs.Avery good place to get best quality,and well designed area rugs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Custom Rugs