Abstract Rugs: How to Choose a Piece of Art for the Floor

Some rugs are chosen to sit quietly in the background. An abstract rug is chosen to be looked at. Painterly washes, faceted planes of colour and loose, gestural marks give a room a focal point in the same way a large canvas does, and on the floor they have the advantage of being seen from every angle. Choosing one well is closer to buying art than to buying a floor covering, so it pays to think like a collector. Here is how. Browse our full range of modern rugs.

What makes a rug abstract

Abstract designs range from the barely-there to the fully expressive. It helps to know which you are drawn to before you start.

• Painterly and gestural designs look as though they were made with a brush: visible strokes, washes and blends of colour.
• Geometric abstracts use blocks, planes and broken grids, often with an architectural feel.
• Atmospheric designs work in soft clouds of colour and shading, with no hard edges at all.

Designs worth knowing

• Harlequin Monolith stacks tall blocks of vertical strokes side by side, each block a different colour, so the rug reads like a wall of painted tiles. Cinnabar/Amber mixes plum, rust, ochre, blush and ivory.
• Harlequin Sumi Reflect is described by Harlequin as blending oriental elegance with a touch of Kandinsky: folded, faceted planes of abstract colour. Because the design has no repeat, each size is effectively a different composition. See Fern/Pistachio.
• Estella by Brink & Campman is a collection of painterly abstracts and graphic geometrics hand-tufted in a wool and viscose blend, where the viscose catches the light and lifts the colour. Browse the Estella collection.
• Brushstrokes brings abstract, painterly designs with a metallic sheen and a soft high-low texture. See the Brushstrokes collection.
• Celestial by Nourison is inspired by the cosmos, with depth, movement and painterly colour and subtle abrash shading. See the Celestial collection.

Choosing like a collector

Start with the colour you will live with. An abstract rug usually contains several colours, but one or two will dominate from across the room. Stand back from the image and ask what you see first. That is the colour your walls and furniture need to work with.

Look at the composition at your size. Many abstract designs change character with scale. A large piece shows more of the structure, while a smaller one may crop the design to a fragment. Where a design has no repeat, as with Sumi Reflect, look carefully at the size you are buying, not just the hero image.

Decide where it will be seen from. A rug viewed from a doorway or a staircase is seen whole, like a painting on a wall. A rug under a dining table or a bed will be largely hidden, and a bold composition can be lost. Abstracts are at their best in open floor space.

Consider texture as well as colour. Many abstract rugs combine fibres or pile heights. Viscose blends add sheen; high-low textures add relief. These details change with the light, so think about whether the rug will be lit by daylight, lamplight or both.

Building a room around it

• Keep the furniture simple. Plain upholstery and clean shapes let the rug be the art. If the sofa is patterned too, the two will compete.
• Pull out one accent. Pick a secondary colour from the rug, perhaps the ochre in a rust-led design, and repeat it once or twice in a cushion, a vase or a print.
• Be careful with other art. A strong abstract on the floor and an equally strong canvas on the wall can work, but only if they share a palette. Otherwise, let one lead.
• Give it breathing room. A neutral room is the perfect gallery for an abstract rug. Our guide to styling a statement rug in a neutral room goes into more detail, and if you do want to add more pattern, see how to mix patterns.

Where abstracts work best

Open-plan living spaces, where a rug defines an area and is seen from several directions, are ideal. So are entrance halls with a generous floor, home offices where a rug is seen all day, and contemporary bedrooms where the rug extends well beyond the bed. In period rooms, an abstract rug can be a striking counterpoint to cornicing and panelling, provided the colours pick up something already in the room.

A decorator's note

We always encourage clients to choose an abstract rug the way they would choose a painting: by how it makes them feel, then by whether it suits the room. If you have fallen for a design but are not sure it will work, send our team a photograph of your space and we will happily give you an honest view of the scale, colour and placement.