Choosing rug colours for your room's light

The most common colour mistake is choosing a rug under shop lights, taking it home, and finding it looks nothing like you remembered. Colour is never fixed. It shifts with the light in your room, the floor it sits on, and the walls around it. A little planning makes the difference.

Start with your light

North-facing rooms in Melbourne get warm, generous light for much of the day, which flatters warm tones: madder red, wheat, walnut, antique gold. South-facing rooms get cooler, steadier light, which suits cool tones: indigo, sage, greys and soft blues, all of which stay calm rather than turning muddy.

Work with your floor

• Warm timber floors love greens, blues and creams, which give the eye a rest from all the brown.
• Grey or concrete floors come alive with a warmer rug, or lean into the tone with a soft grey erased design.
• Dark floors carry pale and marbled rugs beautifully, letting them glow.

Bold or quiet?

If your walls and sofa are neutral, a rug is your chance to add colour and pattern with a medallion piece. If the room is already busy, a tonal or erased design gives you texture without another competing pattern. A rug should either be the star or the calm, rarely both.

Choose the colour you'll still love in five years, not the one that matches this season's cushions. Cushions are easy to change. A good rug stays.

Most of our designs come in several colourways, so if you love a pattern but not the shade, ask. Tell us the light your room gets and the tones you live with, and we'll match it. See the range, or read how to size your rug next.