From the Ground Up: A Guide to Choosing the Right Rug
With Danielle McEwan, Founder & Creative Director, Tigmi
Rugs are where Tigmi began. One of my earliest childhood memories is running around the patterned lines of our family living room rug - a piece that eventually inspired our Cesca design. Years later, sitting in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, watching wool being spun and coming to understand the immense artistry that goes into preparing raw materials before a single knot is tied, cemented my love and appreciation of artisanal rugs.
To me, a rug lays the true foundation for a room. It outlines a physical area, but more than that, it sets the tone for how you actually want to live in the space. A rug can completely transform a space: bringing warmth, grounding furniture, or introducing texture, color, and story. Sometimes it’s the piece everything else responds to; other times, it’s the element that finally makes a room feel whole.
In our early days, I spent endless hours sourcing vintage pieces, drawn to their materiality, their history, and the way they had aged through decades of life. Living with those rugs shaped how I view design today. Over time, that reverence evolved into creating our own collections at Tigmi- working with raw fibres, traditional techniques, and master artisans to create contemporary pieces that keep that soulful, handmade quality alive.
While there are practical considerations when choosing a rug, I always encourage people to keep the process intuitive. Scale and material matter, but so does the mood you want to evoke. Here is what I’ve gathered along the way.
Scale & Placement
The most common mistake I see is going too small. I will almost always urge someone to go larger than they initially think. A generous rug gives furniture a place to belong and elevates the proportions of an entire room. A small rug floating isolated beneath a coffee table tends to do the exact opposite.
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The Tape Trick: Before committing, map out the dimensions on your floor with painter’s tape. It gives you an immediate, visceral sense of scale that numbers on paper just can't match.
Living Rooms
I like the rug and furniture to feel intimately connected. At minimum, aim for the front legs of your sofa and side chairs to sit comfortably on the rug.
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Smaller spaces: A generous rug extending beneath the front half of your seating feels intentional and expands the room visually.
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Larger spaces: Let the main seating sit fully on the rug. It creates a serene, unified anchor rather than a collection of separate furniture islands.
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Open-plan living: Rugs are magic here, they create "rooms" without the need for physical walls. Use them as soft boundaries between living and dining zones.
Dining Rooms
This is the one spot where I lean into practicalities: your dining chairs should stay fully on the rug when pulled out to sit down. Chair legs catching on a rug border every night will drive you crazy.
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Allow roughly 60–75cm beyond every side of the dining table.
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Match the rug shape to the table geometry (rectangular to rectangular, round to round) although an oversized square rug under a round table can be a striking exception.
Bedrooms
I like to think bedrooms deserve softness underfoot. With a Queen or King bed, I prefer placing a generous rug horizontally under the lower two-thirds of the bed. You get that inviting feeling of stepping onto pure warmth every morning, while still keeping the design visible. If space is tight, a pair of tactile runners on either side of the bed offers that same quiet luxury.
Hallways & Entryways
These transitional spaces are so often overlooked, yet they are wonderful canvases for pattern, age, and personality.
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For runners, leave a bit of visible floor framing the edges rather than wall-to-wall coverage.
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In entryways, always check your door clearance before falling in love with a high-pile rug.
For more detailed room-by-room sizing and placement, see our Rug Size Guide.
Understanding Materials
When I think about fibres, I consider how I want a space to feel and how it will be lived in, rather than picking a material in isolation. High-traffic zones call for dense, low-pile weaves or sturdy plant fibres, while private sanctuaries like bedrooms invite plush, inviting textures.
Resilient, naturally dirt-repellent, and deeply grounding. It holds warmth and character, softening and evolving gracefully over time.
In the Atlas Mountains, wool density changes with altitude — thicker and heavier high up in the cold, lighter in the valleys. We harness raw Afghan wool in our Sahara and Dune collections using traditional hand-knotting, letting natural tonal shifts bring subtle movement to the floor.
Unrivaled softness and subtle luxury. Remarkably durable despite its delicate reputation.
Our Cashmere collection is perfect for bedrooms and personal living spaces where you're walking barefoot and truly experiencing the tactile quality underfoot.
Honest, textural, and earthy. Offers a grounded, unpretentious foundation with rich natural variation.
Luminous and dimensional. Captures light and shifts subtly in tone as you move around the room.
In our Le Marais collection, we blend fine silk with New Zealand wool. The wool provides structure and durability, while the silk catches natural light, breathing movement into geometric patterns inspired by Parisian mosaic floors.
Craft & Construction
The more time I spend watching the weavers at their looms, the more fascinated I am by how construction dictates tone. The same raw fibre can feel entirely different depending on how it’s crafted.
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Hand-Knotted: An intricate, time-honored process where every individual knot is tied by hand. A single piece can take master artisans months to complete. They offer incredible longevity, many of the vintage Moroccan rugs I sourced early on had already lived full lives for 50 years, only gaining character with age.
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Handwoven & Flatweave: Built without a raised pile by weaving warp and weft threads together. They offer a lower profile, crisp structure, and a tactile, clean aesthetic.
The beauty of a handmade rug lies in its subtle variations. The slight shift in a dye batch, the faint variation in weave tension, these aren't flaws, they are the human touch telling the story of the hands that made it.
The Interplay of Old & New
Mixing vintage and contemporary elements has always been second nature to me. You don't need a vintage rug to sit in a historic home, nor a modern design to sit alongside contemporary architecture.
A sun-faded vintage piece introduces soul, history, and warmth to modern, minimalist architecture. Conversely, a modern rug can breathe fresh energy into classic antiques. I don't look for things to match perfectly, I’d much rather pieces hold a thoughtful conversation with one another.
When it comes to Colour & Pattern, I listen to what the room already possesses. If you have bold artwork or dramatic architectural features, let the rug be a quiet, highly textural backdrop. If the architecture is simple, let the floor lead with rich pattern or depth.
Tip: Always look at rug samples in your actual home light. Silk and natural wool change dramatically from soft morning light to warm afternoon sun.
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Start from the ground up, trust your intuition, and let the rest of the room follow.
Ready to find your rug?
Explore the Tigmi Rug Collection, find your fit with our Rug Size Guide, or book a complimentary consultation for personalised advice.
FAQ
Which size rug is best for my living room?
If you are torn between two sizes, go larger. At minimum, the front legs of your seating should rest on the rug. In larger spaces, anchor the room by placing all furniture legs fully on the surface.
How far should a rug extend beyond a dining table?
Allow 60–75cm on all sides so dining chairs stay on the rug when pulled back.
What is the practical difference between hand-knotted and handwoven?
Hand-knotted rugs feature a raised pile tied knot-by-knot, offering deep cushioning and density. Handwoven flatweaves have no pile, making them lighter, flatter, and structural.
Are variations in texture and color normal?
Yes, absolutely. They are the defining hallmark of an authentic handmade piece, showcasing natural fibre variations and artisan craftsmanship.
Can I see Tigmi rugs in person?
We’d love to welcome you. You can experience our collections at our Byron Bay showroom, or explore our tactile material samples delivered directly to your home.