Rugs as a design element: an interview with interior designer Anna Bergner

Introduction

Which rug suits which room? The question usually comes up right at the end of an interior project – once the living room wall colour and the furniture, the sofa, the cabinets and the coffee table, have long been settled. Yet this is exactly the point at which it is decided whether a room feels harmonious or whether something is still missing. We spoke to Anna Bergner. Through her online interior consultancy she plans complete living concepts and develops individual solutions, tailored precisely to what her clients want and how they live.

1. How do you approach choosing a rug on a new project – what comes first, the rug or the rest of the interior?

For me the wall treatment actually comes first – only if the walls are not simply going to stay white, of course. So the first thing I settle is the wall colours. After that comes the furnishing itself. And right at the end come the textiles: curtains, rugs and accessories such as lamps.

I deliberately leave the rug until relatively late. The reason is simple: there are countless models, materials, colours and patterns. Once the interior concept is in place, it becomes far easier to decide which rug really is perfect for the room.

2. What part does the rug play in how a room feels, particularly in small rooms?

The floor – and for me that includes the rug – has a decisive influence on how a room feels.
With a rug you can deliberately change the effect of a floor, or visually improve a floor covering that is not quite right.Very dark floors are one example, whether parquet or concrete. They form a dark base and often make a room feel smaller and darker. In small rooms especially, I therefore recommend a pale rug in restrained colours, to lift the room visually.

With very busy floors as well – heavily patterned tiles, say, or vinyl with a striking grain – a large, plain rug can work wonders. It covers a good part of the floor and brings noticeably more calm into the room.It is similar with floors that have a greyish, cool undertone. If what you actually want is a warm, comfortable atmosphere, a rug in warm shades can balance that coolness beautifully and make the room feel more harmonious. As a rule: in small rooms especially, pale rugs in the largest format possible often make the space feel bigger, while creating a calm, harmonious base for the whole interior.

3. What do you look for in material and quality – and where is it worth investing?

I look first at who the rug is actually for. Who lives in the home? Are there children or pets? Does the rug need to be especially easy to care for, robust or hard-wearing? Or is there someone in the household with allergies? All of these feed into the choice.After that it is about how the room is used and the effect you want. A hallway in heavy daily use makes quite different demands from a living room or bedroom, where comfort comes first.

So in heavily used areas such as a hallway or kitchen I tend to recommend a short-pile rug. It is easier to care for and stands up better to daily wear. For living rooms and bedrooms, on the other hand, high-pile, shaggy or densely tufted rugs work particularly well. They give a soft, warm surface and create a cosy atmosphere immediately.

4. How do you combine rugs with wall colours? (You have some fascinating pieces about this on your site.)

Yes – it is of course really important that the floor fits the overall concept. By floor I mean primarily the floor covering: parquet, vinyl or tiles, for example. I see the rug more as a design element or an accent, rather like curtains.With curtains it matters to me that they stand out in colour from the wall. In the same way, a rug should differ in colour from the floor. For me that is actually one of the most important points, because rug and floor meet each other directly. With the wall there is no such immediate connection.

Naturally the rug should also suit the room's colour concept. What is decisive, though, is that it harmonises with the floor while still standing apart from it – through a lighter or darker shade, for instance.
The greater that contrast, the more the rug becomes a focal point and the more present it feels in the room.

5. Classic oriental or modern – when do you recommend which to your clients?

I genuinely have no rigid rules. I always take my lead from the inspiration my clients bring me. Usually I receive Pinterest images, and a style or particular preferences can often be read from those already.If I keep seeing oriental rugs, for example, then that naturally feeds into my recommendations.When the direction is not entirely clear, I go with my instinct. I ask myself: what suits the room best?

What might the people who live there like? And sometimes I use a rug quite deliberately to introduce a small break in style. An oriental rug can look incredibly exciting in a modern living room and give the space more personality.

In general, though, I have found that vintage rugs, with their slightly washed-out look, are incredibly versatile. They combine with very different interior styles and often feel particularly harmonious. If I had to pick one rug style, that would probably be my favourite.

6. What is the most common mistake you see when people choose a rug?

A mistake I see again and again is the wrong rug size. Sometimes rugs are simply too small, so that barely more than the coffee table fits on them. For the feel of the room, that is far from ideal.As a rough rule of thumb: the rug should be big enough for about two thirds of the living room furniture to stand on it. The sofa does not have to sit on it completely, but at least the front feet should. Ideally the edges of the rug even disappear slightly under the upholstered furniture. That makes the room feel considerably more harmonious and coherent.

Another common mistake is the choice of colour. The rug should harmonise with the floor but still stand clearly apart from it. Sometimes the colour combination simply does not work; sometimes rug and floor are in almost exactly the same shade, and then the rug disappears visually.I like to compare it to a white curtain in front of a white wall. It can work if you are after a very calm, airy effect. In my experience, though, rooms feel more alive, more refined and gain more depth when there is a gentle contrast between floor and rug.

7. A particular project where the rug changed the room – would you tell us about it?

One project comes to mind straight away. My clients had just moved into a new flat. The open living area consisted of four zones: cooking, dining, living, and a lounge area in a bay with floor-to-ceiling windows.The challenge was that the living area and the lounge should feel like one whole, despite being used differently. In the bay the clients wanted comfortable upholstered furniture for sociable evenings with friends, while the main seating was intended mostly for watching television.

The greatest challenge was the rug. A classic rectangular rug would not have picked up the unusual shape of the room. After a long search I finally found an asymmetric rug, a sort of kidney shape, that visually tied the sofa, the chaise longue and the armchair together.I like to compare it to a tray: several decorative objects placed on one immediately read as a unit. In the same way a rug gives furniture a visual frame and makes the whole area feel harmonious, as though it were made in one piece.

8. Your most important tip for anyone currently looking for a rug?

My most important tip would be: use rugs deliberately as a design tool. They give rooms more depth, warmth and comfort, and often it is the rug that finally makes an interior feel lived in.In living rooms and bedrooms I particularly like working with rugs that bring plenty of structure – high-pile rugs, thickly tufted rugs, or pieces with a high-low structure.

Their texture makes them feel more alive and more refined than a flat short-pile rug, and they create a particularly cosy atmosphere.The choice always depends on the room, of course. In heavily used areas a short-pile rug is often the more practical solution. But where comfort is the point, I would always reach for a rug with more structure and texture.

Interview: Morgenland × Anna Bergner, interior designer