It’s time for a new rug.
The last time we bought one was five years ago when we first moved into our new home. We have laminate floors, which, to be clear, we love. But they’re quite hard and cool underfoot. So, an area rug for the living room was an absolute must to add comfort and warmth to the space.
Back then, we opted for a white rug with black geometric patterns. But it’s seen better days. And now that we have a baby, a white rug (if we can still call it white at this point) is asking for trouble. So, we’re ready for a replacement.
We figured this was a good opportunity to continue adding more colour to our home, which was previously heavy on greys and whites. In recent months, we’ve started the transformation by painting the walls in our bedroom blue and applying a blush wallpaper in our little one’s nursery. For both of those home decor projects, we used Roomvo to help us select a product, which made for a much quicker — and far more enjoyable — shopping experience than anticipated.
We’re excited to do the same using the Roomvo-powered rug visualizer over at The Rug Company, a leading international brand for contemporary handmade rugs.
Here’s how I got on.
Step 1: Upload photo and explore designs
To start things off, I’ve uploaded a photo of my living room — sans our existing white rug — that I quickly snapped on my phone. As you can see, it’s looking pretty bare without a rug.
Now, I’m going to use the filter option on the left panel to ensure I’m only presented with rectangular rugs in shades of blue, red, orange, and beige, as I believe those will be the best fit for our space. Hopefully, this will help save time as I browse the product catalog.
There are still a lot of great options to choose from — seriously, some of these are beautiful — but I’ve narrowed my search to three particular rugs: Jude Bright, Jude Neutral, and Illusion.
Step 2: Visualize products in the home
This is where the fun begins.
With the click of a button, I can now see how each rug will look in my space. Not only that: I can also move the rugs around the room, place them underneath my furniture, rotate them, and experiment with different sizes — almost as if I were trying them out in real life.
Let’s have a look.
Jude Bright
This was one of the first rugs that caught my eye, mostly because of the colours. They’re stunning. And they match our existing colour scheme almost perfectly — from the blue and pink of the cushions and chair, to the green of forests on the wall art, to the grey of the sofa and walls. When you combine the vibrant colours with the simplicity of the design, this rug feels striking and classy at the same time.
At first, I previewed a larger-sized rug that covered most of the floor, but that felt a little too loud for my taste. Instead, I found that the 2.29m x 1.52m option, which I put in the middle of the space without touching any furniture, strikes the right balance.
Jude Neutral
Look familiar?
This is the same rug as above, with a more neutral palette. For this reason, the larger size doesn’t appear as overwhelming in this case. As you can see, I’ve selected a 3.66m x 2.74m rug and placed it underneath all four legs of the sofa and chair.
We don’t have any cream tones in our space, so I wasn’t sure if this colour scheme would work. But after seeing the rug visualized, I like how it brings some new colours into the room, without clashing with the existing ones. The white and grey of this rug, albeit subtle, helps bring the room together. And, as it turns out, I think the cream complements our existing colours quite well.
It definitely makes the space feel warmer and cozier, if nothing else.
Illusion
Compared to the rugs above, I see this one as a nice in-between. It’s not as vibrant as Jude Bright but has more colour than Jude Neutral. Once inserted into the room, I like how the different shades of pink, blue, and grey on the rug accentuate our existing decor without overpowering it.
In this case, I’ve gone with a medium-sized 3.05m x 2.13m rug and placed it under the front legs of the sofa and chair, which, again, feels like a happy medium compared to the previous two options.
This certainly feels like a strong contender.
Step 3: Compare favourites
As much as I was struck by Jude Bright at first, I’m going to have to rule this one out. I still love the colours, but they were more dominant than I expected once I saw them come to life in my space. That led me to the smaller rug, but if I’m honest with myself: it just feels out of place.
So, it’s down to Jude Neutral and Illusion.
To help with my decision, I’m going to use the Compare feature, which allows me to see the rugs side-by-side and use the slider bar to go back and forth between the two options easily. Hopefully that gives me some clarity. For the purposes of the comparison, I’m going to make both rugs the same size.
Even though Illusion brings in more colour, one of our main goals, I can’t get over how warm and cozy the space feels with Jude Neutral. I think that’s partly due to the colour scheme. But looking into the product specifications (which I accessed by clicking on the information icon at the bottom of visualizer when in the comparison mode), I can also see that Jude Neutral is made of 100% wool, whereas Illusion is partly silk. As I understand it, wool is more durable and resistant to wear and tear, which is an important consideration for our family.
Seeing the two rugs side by side, you can definitely notice the difference. Illusion is thinner and has a slight sheen, while Jude Neutral appears more dense and plush.
Ultimately, it makes the space feel like home.
Step 4: Make a decision
So, Jude Neutral is the winner.
Ironically, it has the least amount of colour among the three rugs I considered — I mean, the word “neutral” is literally in the name. But sometimes, you don’t know what you really want until you see it.
That’s why room visualization has become such an important step in shopping for home decor — especially for someone like me, who prefers to do most of my shopping online when possible. We bought our first rug online, too. But in that case, we didn’t have the luxury of previewing it in our space beforehand, which made me more uncertain. In this case, I know exactly what I’m getting, and I feel confident knowing I’ve made the right choice for my home.
At the end of the day, that’s all that really matters.
