TL;DR
Get decor and gifts delivered free with Prime
- Fast, free delivery on millions of items
- Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
- Member-only deals all year
Irish rug designer Luke Irwin recommends arranging old Financial Times pages on the floor to help visualize a rug’s size in a room. In a Livingetc interview, he also advises fitting furniture fully or at least by its front legs onto the rug, depending on the space.
Rug designer Luke Irwin, whose reported clients include The Rolling Stones and members of the British royal family, has shared a simple way to test rug dimensions at home: lay old copies of the Financial Times on the floor to approximate the area a rug would cover. In an interview with Livingetc, Irwin said the exercise can help people judge scale before committing to a rug, an item he considers a foundation for a room’s furnishings.
Irwin’s advice addresses what he called the most difficult part of choosing a rug: getting the size right. As a general guide, he said that in a large open-plan space, all the furniture should sit entirely on the rug. In other rooms, he recommends putting at least the front legs of the furniture on it. He said a layout where furniture is partly on and partly off can look odd.
To make dimensions easier to imagine, Irwin suggested spreading out old Financial Times pages on the floor. He described the paper’s color as suitable for visualizing scale and said the exercise was instructive. The interview does not specify how many pages to use or provide a measurement conversion, so the newspaper functions as a practical visual aid rather than a precise sizing formula.
Irwin said the three main considerations are design, color and size. He described pattern as relatively easy to judge by whether someone likes it and thinks it suits the room, while color can prompt more prolonged comparison between similar shades. He said that, in his experience, people often end up choosing the first combination they considered. That is his personal observation, not a tested rule for shoppers.
A Simple Test for Rug Scale
Rug dimensions affect how furniture relates to one another and whether a seating area reads as a defined part of a room. Irwin’s newspaper method offers a low-cost way to picture a rug’s footprint before purchasing or commissioning one, while his furniture-placement guidance gives homeowners a starting point for judging proportions. It may be especially useful when a room is open-plan, where the rug can help mark out a zone without walls.
The advice also draws attention to a common design decision that can be difficult to reverse after a rug is ordered: its size. A paper layout can make the intended coverage easier to see, but it cannot replace measuring the room and furniture. The source does not present the hack as a guaranteed way to choose the perfect size; it is a visualization aid based on Irwin’s professional experience.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Irwin’s Bespoke Rug Practice
Livingetc reports that Irwin established his namesake studio in 2003. The business designs and makes custom, hand-knotted rugs, with pieces made to order and options to personalize dimensions, colors, weave, textiles and design. The interview describes Irwin as an Irish designer working in London, with rugs knotted by artisans in workshops in Jaipur and New Delhi and in Nepal.
The publication says his clientele has included musicians such as U2 and The Rolling Stones, former U.S. President Barack Obama and British royals. Those details provide context for the interview, but the feature’s practical news is his guidance on choosing rugs, particularly the newspaper technique for estimating scale. Irwin describes rugs as a foundation that brings a room’s different elements together, and says he is drawn to the textures of places where people have lived before.
“A great hack for being able to visualize the perfect size is to lay out an old copy of the Financial Times on the floor.”
— Luke Irwin, speaking to Livingetc
Limits of the Newspaper Method
The interview does not give the dimensions of the Financial Times pages, say how many pages are needed to represent a particular rug, or explain how the method accounts for irregular room shapes and furniture placement. It also does not provide a specific rug-size chart or measurements for different room types. Irwin’s suggestion is therefore best understood as a way to visualize area; exact sizing still depends on measuring the room and deciding how the furniture should sit.
The supplied report does not state when the interview was conducted. It also does not independently document the named clients or give details about individual commissions, so those references are attributed to Livingetc’s account rather than treated as independently verified here.
Measure Before Ordering
Readers considering a rug can use Irwin’s newspaper exercise to sketch a likely footprint, then measure that area and check the position of each piece of furniture before buying or ordering. In an open-plan room, his rule of thumb is to fit all furniture on the rug; elsewhere, he suggests placing at least the front legs on it. The article does not announce a product launch or other next milestone: its focus is design advice, and any further sizing decision will depend on the dimensions and layout of each room.
Key Questions
What is Luke Irwin’s rug-sizing hack?
He recommends laying old Financial Times pages on the floor to help visualize the area a rug would cover. The newspaper is a visual aid, not a precise measurement standard.
How should furniture sit on a rug?
Irwin’s general advice is that all furniture should sit on the rug in a large open-plan space. In other settings, he recommends having at least the front legs of the furniture on it.
What should shoppers consider when choosing a rug?
Irwin identifies pattern or design, color and size as the three main elements. He says size is the most difficult to judge, while color choices can involve comparing similar shades.
Who is Luke Irwin?
He is an Irish rug designer whose namesake studio, established in 2003, designs and makes custom hand-knotted rugs. Livingetc reports that his clients have included U2, The Rolling Stones, Barack Obama and British royals.
Source: rss
Fall Picks
fall essentials
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
