The rug is almost always too small.

Standard sizes

Living room: front legs on

• Front legs of every seat sit on the rug — that's what ties a group together. All-legs-on reads grander; no-legs-on reads like a bath mat.
• Rug wider than the sofa by at least 6″ per side. An 84″ sofa wants ≥ 96″ of rug — that's the 8 × 10, not the 5 × 8.
• Leave 12–18″ of bare floor between rug and walls so the room keeps its border — the usual convention, worth verifying against your own room rather than treating as a rule.
• Sectionals take the 9 × 12 — both legs of the L should land on it.
• These are conventions, not published standards. The Carpet and Rug Institute publishes no sizing guidance at all, and major retailers contradict themselves on a single page. Treat every overhang figure here as a styling hint to verify against your own room and your own sofa — not as a constraint. The one number that is not a matter of taste is whether the rug physically fits, and that one Poché measures.

Dining room: chairs stay on

The rug should hold the chairs pulled out, or every dinner ends with a chair leg off the edge: table footprint + roughly 24″ on every side is the usual convention — retailers publish 18″, 24″ and 33″ for the same case, so verify it against your own chairs. A 72 × 36 table needs 120 × 84 — the 8 × 10 sideways. Eight seats and up, it's the 9 × 12.

Bedroom: the reveal

• Queen: 8 × 10, slid so 18–24″ of rug shows on both sides and the foot. The headboard end sits off the rug — nobody stands there.
• King: 9 × 12, same placement — about 16″ shows each side, a touch under the band, and it is the biggest standard rug there is.
• Twin: a 3 × 5 beside the bed does the same job for less.

Common questions

What size rug do I need for a living room?

Most living rooms want an 8 × 10, which is 96 × 120 inches. The usual test is the sofa: the convention says the rug clears it by about 6 inches on each side, so an 84-inch sofa wants 96 inches of rug — a styling rule with no standard behind it, so treat it as a starting point. Sectionals move up to the 9 × 12. A 5 × 8 floating in front of a full-size sofa is the mistake almost everybody makes.

What size rug goes under a queen bed?

An 8 × 10, slid down so it starts under the lower two-thirds of the bed and shows 18–24 inches on both sides and at the foot. The headboard end sits off the rug — nobody stands there. A king takes the 9 × 12 with the same placement. Beside a twin, a 3 × 5 does the same job for far less rug.

What size rug for a dining table?

The rug has to hold the chairs pulled out, or every dinner ends with a chair leg off the edge. Take the table footprint and add roughly 24 inches on every side: a 72 × 36 table wants about 120 × 84, which is an 8 × 10 turned sideways. Eight seats and up — an 84-inch table — it is the 9 × 12.

Should furniture legs sit on the rug?

Front legs of every seat on the rug is the workhorse rule — that is what ties a seating group together. All legs on reads grander and costs more rug; no legs on reads like a bath mat. For a sectional, both legs of the L should land on it. Treat these as styling conventions rather than published standards, and verify them against your own room.

How much bare floor should show around a rug?

The usual convention is 12–18 inches between the rug and the walls so the room keeps its border — a styling hint, not a published standard; nobody sets one. In a narrow room that band can tighten, but a rug run wall to wall stops reading as a rug. For a runner in a hall or a kitchen work zone, leave 4–6 inches of floor on each side.

Pieces that fit

Every row is a size this guide just settled, handed to the merchants as a search. It is the same dimension-seeded lookup Poché runs from a rug footprint on your plan — no product is being recommended here, only a size.

Some of the links above are affiliate links: if you buy through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we show you — results are ranked by fit, never by payout.