You can’t fit a square peg in a round hole, but a round area rug goes nicely in a square room. Round area rugs add pleasant contrast to the lines and angles of a typical building, but you should not just purchase the first one you come across. It takes some careful thought to determine the best kind of round area rug for your needs.
Will you be using the rug in a well-trodden area of your home or office? If a rug does not have non-slip material on the bottom, it may not be worth shelling out the money for a round rug pad, which run around $35 (as opposed to $5-10 for rectangular). You will have to find some way to keep the rug from sliding and bunching when you walk on it, and short of tacking it permanently to the ground (making cleaning difficult) or placing heavy weights on the sides, you may have a hard time without non-slip material forming the base of the rug.
Durability also comes into play when considering the functionality of a rug. Factory-made rugs, while cheaper, will wear out in a much shorter time than hand-made rugs. Paying $175 now for a quality rug that will last ten years is better than paying $60 every two years for that same amount of time (adding up to $300 in the long run).
The practicality of a round area rug is debatable in situations where you will place furniture over the rug. An oval or circle-shaped rug will fit a 5′ x 10′ space in a very different way than a rectangular rug. If you do choose to go with a round area rug, a good rule of thumb is to add a buffer of a foot or two to each side of the furniture you are placing the rug beneath.
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