Office Rugs

Choosing a rug for a home office is highly personal. However, choose a rug that can withstand the high traffic an office usually sees. Sam Presnell from The Rug Gallery discusses how to choose a durable rug for an office. Listen or read more to find out about office rugs.

John Maher: Welcome to The Rug Gallery with Sam Presnell. The Rug Gallery is an oriental rug company and carpet store in Cincinnati, Ohio. I’m John Maher and I’m here with the owner of The Rug Gallery, Sam Presnell. Hi, Sam.

Sam Presnell: Hi John.

John: Sam, today we’re talking about office rugs. When would a homeowner want to put a rug in their office?

Sam: Well, one of the great things about offices, I would say majority of the time is they usually have a hard surface, like a hardwood floor in there. It’s perfect for using a rug. A lot of times, it is an area that people look  at as more of a formal, dressier area — usually, some nice woodworking in there. There is usually a nice desk or a quality piece of furniture in there, and so it really leans itself to a really attractive rug.

Best Rugs for Office Spaces

John: Are there any particular types of rug that might be best for office use?

Sam: Again, depends on if it’s a man or woman. I would have to say that the taste of a man is usually a little different than a woman. A man would probably want something a little more intense in color and a little bolder, more geometric in design or maybe more tribal or something leaning towards that design aspect. Whereas a woman would maybe use something a little softer in color and probably a little more floral or curvy-lineature in its origin. Different rugs carry different people and everybody’s different. It depends on, I guess, who runs the house, and is the office really yours or is it your wife’s? I always say, I get the garage in my own house so I can’t complain, I guess.

Wear and Tear of an Office Rug

John: [laughs] Are there any do’s and don’ts in terms of putting a rug in an office?

Sam: There really isn’t. The big problem with rugs in an office that you’ve got to be concerned about is the wear and tear of that chair that goes back and forth. It’s usually on rollers and it’s a very small area and it depends on your weight and how much you use that office. You can really grind that rug, and depending on the fiber that [it] is, you can flatten it, you can break it or tear it off and basically get wear into a rug very quickly. I always recommend using those plastic pads on the rug, when you do have that situation and that it really relieves all those issues that I’m talking about.

Rug Placement in an Office

John: What about the kind of orientation of the rug in an office? Are you talking about putting it sort of as you’re sitting and facing the desk, you’d have a rug on your side of it or would the rug go all the way under the desk and maybe into the front of the desk where maybe you’d have a guest come in and sit with you or something like that?

Sam: That’s a personal thing. I don’t think it’s a right and wrong as far as design goes, everybody has their own sense of what they want to see. A lot of times in an office, some people just use one room, one big rug and basically two to three feet off of the frame of the wall is where the rug goes and they wanted to fit the proportion of the room.

Then, I would say, more times that I’ve been aware of, it’s really just finding that open space; maybe the front legs of the desk sitting on it. There’s usually a little seating area, I would say or an open area at the front side of the desk, it just defines that space in front of the desk is really what I see, I would say more times than not.

John: All right. Well, that’s great information and good advice Sam, thanks again for speaking with me today.

Sam: You’re welcome, John. My pleasure always.

John: For more information about Sam, The Rug Gallery and oriental rugs and carpets. Visit ruggallerycincy.com, rug gallery C-I-N-C-Y.com. Or call 513-793-9505. Make sure you catch the latest episodes by subscribing to our podcast on iTunes. If you can take the time to give us a review as well, I would appreciate that. I’m John Maher see you next time on The Rug Gallery.