SFGate

by Jessica N.

Area Rug in Octagonal Room

I'm having trouble figuring out what shape area rug I need in my octagonal family room. The sofas and tables and throw pillows will all be replaced, though the chairs and the furniture arrangement will remain. 2 identical sofas in an L configuration with the chairs across. The problem seems to be rooted with the area in front of the fireplace - there's a raised stone portion of floor directly in front of the fireplace that the rug can't cover, so that's throwing me off.

I was thinking of a square or rectangular rug, but in both cases it seems I could get the sofas on it but the chairs wouldn't be on it in order for the rug to clear the fireplace floor portion. If I pull the rug back far enough to clear so chairs and sofas can all be on the rug, they'll be quite a bit of space between the TV/entertainment center and the rug. I don't think the TV needs to be on the rug, but it might look strange with so much space there, right? If I pull the chairs in closer so they'd fit on the rug, they'd be blocking the walkway between the chairs and sofa, and also blocking off the fireplace visually. This room opens to our kitchen and foyer so it has to look nice from afar as well as being functional.

Do I need to get a custom octagonal rug cut? Not sure I'd like the look of that. I don't think a round rug would work with the shape and style of room either. Another thought I just had is would it look weird to get a rectangular or square rug in the appropriate size, but just cut that one side so it was a few inches clear of the fireplace floor? I'm likely going to a carpet store and will have them cut and bind a rug to the size I need, so I assume they could do something like that - but that might look really odd too.

Help?!? Any thoughts or ideas are appreciated.