The best rug size to place under a king bed is 9×12. You can use an 8×10 foot rug if you would only like the rug under the lower portion of your bed. If you would like your entire bed and nightstands on the rug, then a 9×12 foot rug is the smallest recommended size.
- 9ft by 12ft is the best size
- 8ft by 10ft is good for just the lower half of the bed
A king bed is the largest common bed size, measuring 76 inches wide by 80 inches long. Given its large size, finding the right size rug is not easy. A rug that is too small can make the room look smaller. If it is too small to even reach the width of the bed, it will look very out of place. However, a rug that is too big and extends too close to the walls can swallow the room.
We will go over a few guidelines and furniture arrangements so you can find the perfect rug size for your king bed.
What are the benefits of having a bedroom rug?
Adding a rug to your bedroom can add a pop of color or texture to the room. With all the different rug styles and materials, it is easy to create a unique vibe for your bedroom.
However, it is not just the aesthetic reasons that make rugs so popular in the bedroom. It makes the room seem warmer than if you were to step onto a hard floor in the morning. It is also much softer than hard flooring. This makes a rug more comfortable to stand on. According to The Spruce, it also reduces the impact on your feet. (https://www.thespruce.com/the-benefits-of-area-rugs-4016908)
General guidelines for selecting the rug size:
Firstly, you don’t want a rug that is too small. According to Wayfair, a bedroom rug should extend at least 18 to 24 inches past the sides and end of the bed (https://www.wayfair.ca/sca/ideas-and-advice/guides/how-to-choose-the-right-rug-sizes-T2572). Given that a king bed is 76 inches wide, your rug should be a minimum of 10 feet wide.
Likewise, you don’t want a rug that is too big. This is not as straightforward, and also depends on the layout and size of your room. In general, the edge of the rug should not be closer than about 6 inches to the wall. If you have a dresser, there should be at least a few inches from the feet of the dresser to the edge of the rug.
There are two main layouts for bedroom rugs. The first is having a rug under the lower two-thirds of your bed. The other layout is having your entire bed including the nightstands on your rug.
Placing a rug under just for the lower part of your bed.
In this layout, the rug is placed under the lower two-thirds of your bed. This layout leaves your nightstands completely off the rug. If you have a bench at the foot of your bed, then the bench will be fully on the rug.
A rug that is 8×10 feet will fit this layout. It will give almost two feet of rug space on each side of the bed. This will also leave about two feet of rug extending past the base of the bed.
If you have a bench at the foot of your bed, you can still use an 8×10 foot rug. However, it may only make it under the lower third of your bed to extend past the end of the bench. Or, you could get a larger rug such as a 9×12 foot rug to have two-thirds of your king bed and your bench on your rug.
Placing a rug under your whole bed and nightstands.
If you would like your nightstands to also be on the rug, the rug needs to be wide enough to fit the whole of the nightstand. According to Dimensions, the average nightstand is about 20×20 inches (https://www.dimensions.com/collection/bedside-tables-nightstands). If you have a king bed, you may have larger nightstands in order to match the grandeur of the bed.
To accommodate the average-sized nightstand, your rug will need to be at least 10 feet wide. Given that your nightstands are likely larger than average, a rug size of 12 feet wide would be ideal.
As for the length of the rug, if you do not have a bench at the foot of your bed, then a rug that is 9 feet long would fit the best. If you do have a bench at the foot of your bed, you may want a rug that is longer.
The standard-sized rug that is best suited for this nightstand arrangement is a 9×12 foot rug. If you have a bench at the foot of your bed, you could still use a 9×12 foot rug. There would just not be much rug extending past the end of the bench. Or, you could get a larger sized rug like a 10×14 foot rug.
So what rug size is best?
In most cases, a rug of 9×12 feet is the minimum recommended size for a king bed. You can get away with a smaller rug such as an 8×10 only if you want just the lower portion of your bed on your rug. However, if your room allows for a larger rug, you can go even bigger than these recommended sizes.
