Rug under dining table? Or not? - YouLookFab Forum

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Rug under dining table? Or not?

K.M.

Veteran

Do you keep your dining table over a rug or directly over the floor (hardwood, tile, etc--I suppose this doesn't apply to carpets)? What do you think are the advantages of each?

I keep mine directly on the wood floors because I find that it's better for clean-up, but I prefer the look of a rug under. I'm on the fence whether to opt for form or function here... Thoughts? Experiences?

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24 replies

Latest reply was from unfrumped

Anonymous

I had our dining table on hardwood floors for years - until last year when I decided to give my living room area rug a new life and try it under the table. Loved it - the look , the coziness , and the finished look it gave my dining room. Of course chairs don't slide in and out anymore - you have to pick them up to move them, but it was not a big deal. It was also not at all an inconvenience to vacuum - now I don't have little kids making a mess eating , so there is that.....

I'm without one at the moment as I just repainted my dining room and changed the colour scheme. Rug had to go. But I will definitely replace it for next winter.

Anonymous

No rug under my dining room table. I like to be able to clean with a swiffer and prefer that I can slide out my chairs easily

K.M.

Veteran

lisap: I do have a little child potentially making messes... had forgotten about that. Mostly her messes vacuumable, but I suppose at some point they might not be...

Diana

Veteran

Just thinking about dropping food on the rug and trying to clean it makes me shudder. Ever dropped rice on carpet? Ugh. So, yeah, that's my way of saying, no way will I ever have any sort of carpeting anywhere near where food is regularly prepared or consumed.

K.M.

Veteran

Diana, Lara, and lisap, you're all reminding me of why I don't have a rug in the first place! I'm a neat freak and a germaphobe, so I guess that explains. Lisap, your description of the look of the room with a rug still appeals to me. Maybe one day there'll be a magic self-cleaning rug that looks like a million bucks. Just like I hope one day there'll be a magic pair of comfortable, warm, stable, bunion-accommodating shoes that feel like sneakers but look like stilettos.

Anonymous

I also have covers for the dining room chairs. No little kids but a lot of elderly relatives who spill and make a lot of messes.

Deborah

Veteran

I adore the look of both. Rugs looks fab with a lovely table centered upon them, but I also like the simple clean floor look. The rug is wonderful for grownups but not so great when children are eating at the table!! Need I say more?

Jeanie

Veteran

I vote no rug. The look is pretty but I tried it once and realized that it is just too hard to clean. Stuff kinda migrated through the rug and I didn't feel the area was clean unless I moved the table, took up the rug and washed the floor underneath.

Summer

Veteran

I like the look of a rug under a table but, personally, I prefer a bare floor for practicality.

kkards

Veteran

i do have a rug under my dining room tab, because i think it anchors the table. but i have no rugs in the kitchen were food is prepared, and actually refer not even to have wood floors in the kitchen as when i cook, i'm a mess. but i'm a pretty neat eater.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

We have a rug under the dining table, over our hardwood floors, but we have an open plan living/dining room area, and a rug in each space helps to define each area and ground the dining table. Also, the floors are cold in the winter, and the rugs help soften noise in the high-ceilinged space. Since we have no window treatments (big windows looking out on the woods, and vaulted ceilings, with lots of wood (ceiling and floors), the rugs were a needed touch of softness in the space.

They are both patterned rugs (same pattern, but in two color variations), so any truly stubborn spill stains are hidden, but it really hasn't been a problem for us, and I say that as someone who has had sloppy teenagers in the house a lot, and a number of parties too. But then, dogs are good for quickly getting rid of any food that drops on the floor.

I like the look of it in the house as we currently have it decorated, but I would consider changing up the look when we redo our kitchen, which is also open to the living/dining space -- at that point we might redo all the floors on this level, and maybe forgo a rug in the dining room.

viva

Veteran

Our space sounds a lot like Janet's.

I miss our dining area rug. We had a beautiful patterned one under the dining room table, and it added warmth and definition that I loved and still miss, but when our dog was a puppy he chewed it to bits, and we never replaced it. Cleanup is easier now, but we typically eat at our island -- so I would not mind dealing with the occasionally challenging cleanup of a rug. I definitely prefer the look of a rug. Just have to find one and budget for it.

doubleh

Veteran

I'm an interior designer and I do like using rugs in dining rooms to anchor the room, as kkards said. It also helps define spaces in an open plan, like Janet's. I have one in my own dining room bc my chandelier is not quite centered in the room and using a rug with the table helps fool the eye that everything is centered/symmetrical. I also have a 5 yr old so have an Indoor-outdoor rug that can be hosed down. (you can find higher quality ones that look more interior-ish).

K.M.

Veteran

Janet, your home sounds gorgeous from your description! I'm imagining the windows opening onto the woods and the high ceilings...

My place is also an open space, so as many of you pointed out, a rug would help define each area (living vs. dining) more sharply.

Doubleh, thanks for the pro advice! I will look into indoor/outdoor types. I'm still on the fence but I want at least to look at some rugs and see what they might look like.

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

I have a rug under my dining room table. I wanted to add pattern and texture to the room and rarely have little people eating in the DR. I feel that everything in my home should be liveable so if I was really worried about a stain, I would have skipped the rug.

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

DoubleH, I just imagined hosing down the rug in the dining room! Whoa, what a concept. (I know you take it outside, right?)
Anyway, I opted for no rug over the hard wood floor in the dining room, but I have to admit the room has a kind of unfinished look. I wonder about a sisal rug--it would be easy to vacuum.

doubleh

Veteran

Haha, Firecracker- I would LOVE that. Unfortunately, no, it does require some dragging. But, on a daily basis, if the kid spills or something gets ground in, the rug can be a bit "abused" to remove it.
And fwiw, I do like the look of no rug too. It has to be the right space though. For my own home I tried it and the dining table just floated (physically moved) all over the room and drove me crazy!

Laurie

Veteran

Can you post pictures of your dining room and how it sits with the rooms that are around it? That could make a difference.

We are getting a new dining room table and chairs and I asked our designer friend if we should now put a rug under the table. he said not to because our dining room opens into our living room, with hardwood running through both, where we have a beautiful rug from Turkey that we bought 2 years ago on a trip. He feels a rug in the dining room would detract from the beauty of that rug. I agree.

If the rooms adjacent to your dining room do not have floor coverings, maybe it would add a nice design element to put a rug in the dining room.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

HH, that point about the dining table moving is an excellent one! My husband and his sons are BIG guys -- all over 6'5" and 200 lbs, and the slightest lean on any furniture can send it moving across the hardwood floors if there's not something to anchor it. LOL

Janet

(website)

Veteran

This gives an idea of how the rugs work in our dining space. Sorry the photo quality is not better -- the windows are bright in the morning because they face east so everything in the foreground comes out dark. But you can see how we chose two rugs that are not identical but echo one another. The busy pattern masks any spills, not that we've had anything significant. They were from Arhaus, so not expensive, but they seem quite well made.

When we renovate the 27-year-old kitchen, we'll redo all the floors on this level -- this color of hardwood floor is a little too orangey for us (says the couple with a pumpkin colored sofa!). And we want to reface the brick fireplace with some sort of lighter colored stone. Yeah, that will be a big project!

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KikiG

Veteran

My space is open, and my floors are pretty. No rug, I like the flow, and the table is a nice contrast to the floor. If I did have a rug, I'd have a bound edge natural colored sea grass-type rug. I have one in another room (under my dining table in a different house) and it came from Overstock and was a fabulous value.

K.M.

Veteran

Doubleh and Firecracker: The one issue with a hose-able rug is that I live in a condo building. So it would be a bit of work to drag the rug outside, and then I'm not sure neighbors would appreciate me hosing it on the frontyard!...

Laurie, what an interesting point about one rug as the focus of the room. We do have a rug for the living area that I love; it has an abstract geometric pattern in saturated colors that is very modern.

The issue is that the space for dining/living is one unified rectangle, but not a very long rectangle--more of a squarish rectangle. So the dining table will be relatively close to the living area. In this sense it would be nice to separate the two areas visually with two different rugs. I also wonder if the fact that we have a rug in the living area makes the dining area look unfinished for not having one.

Firecracker, I thought about a sisal rug. I like the look and I imagine it would be practical. My mom used to have a very heavy marble table (marble legs and top, but modern design) and she had the sisal rug cut around the legs of the table and split into two halves so she could slide it in and out of place for vacuuming and rug cleaning. Then she replaced the table with a lighter wooden one, and decided she never wanted a rug there again!

Janet, thanks for sharing the pics. What a gorgeous space! Such beautiful light, and I actually like the floor tone!

KikiG, interesting point about contrast. The contrast in my case is low. The floors are a medium-dark honey and the table is walnut (medium brown). I suppose that would be an argument in favor of a rug.

RGRoberts

Member

Hi there, one can ensure that their floors are protected from the scuffs and scratches that chairs or any table will make as they slide around and you also provide a good surface for your furniture to sit on. I prefer to use chair mats as I think it is a good way to keep the floor clean.

unfrumped

Veteran

If you are going to be in a house for awhile, or if you're artistic or have a friend who is, you could consider floor painting/stenciling to get the cozy, defined look but keep the easy cleanup.