A new room is much like a blank canvas. It’s full of promise and opportunity—yet it can also be intimidating to take those first strokes, or start your room design. If you are lost in how to start designing a room, whether it’s a master bedroom, living room or even dining space, it may help to look down first. By designing from the ground up, you can easily pick a style and coordinate your furniture, home décor and accessories, resulting in a room with focus, flow and personality.

Whether you have hard wood flooring, luxury vinyl flooring, linoleum or even carpet, an area rug can enhance your floor and bring warmth and comfort into your home. However, they do so much more than add cushion underfoot. An area rug can make or break a room, so it’s important to consider the tone you’d like to set by decorating with rugs.

Think of area rugs as artwork for your floor. A great rug can help focus your design and set a tone for the entire room. Want a luxurious master bedroom? Consider a one-of-a-kind, hand-knotted area rug that features a traditional design in a plush wool material. Need living room rug ideas? A mid-century modern rug can bring a show-stopping geometric pattern into your space that complements transitional to contemporary furnishings and home décor. Are you looking to create a serene guest bedroom? A rug featuring cool blues and greens and an organic pattern is reminiscent of the ocean and sky, and a calming design element that can make your guests feel comfortable and rested.

Consider these trending area rug designs and rug tips for bringing style and comfort into your home.

Moody Blues

Set the mood in your room with a beautiful blue area rug. Choose from serene sky blue or rich, blue-greens of the ocean. Blue tones can bring a calming effect to your surroundings, making them an ideal choice to create a peaceful bedroom. Blues can also be a great fit for work spaces, as they can help create a calm environment where you can be productive. However, blues aren’t limited to these rooms. Blue area rugs are trending all over home design. Choose a rug featuring neutral blues and beiges or greys to bring texture and understated visual interest to your family room or den. On the other end, a blue traditional design can be statement piece in your living space.

Since blue hues are so popular, it’s easy to select complementary wall art, lamps and other accessories in the same shades as your favorite area rug. Follow the rule of three by choosing three or more pieces in the same blue shade for your room, and you can easily create a cohesive design and well-rounded, yet visually interesting space.

Jewels Are a Room’s Best Friend

Rich saturated colors are trending all over home design, and these stunning reds, purples and blues can certainly make a bold statement on your floor. Choose a rug featured jewel tones to create a luxurious space in your living, dining room or bedroom. Styles are diverse. Select a transitional rug for your casual living space or a contemporary rug featuring rich jewel tones for your urban loft or modern home.

Since jewel tones bring the drama, you can stick with neutral furniture. Choose a simple leather or upholstered sofa and chair to create a conversation area in your living or family room, or you can pair a jewel-toned area rug with a soft, linen upholstered bed to create contrast in your master bedroom. Add a piece of wall art, a few throw pillows and a throw blanket that feature the same jewel tones as your rug, and your ground-up room design is complete.

Swirling Geometric Rugs

Area rugs featuring geometric patterns can be used as a focal point in your room or an intriguing accent, guiding your eye to a particular area in you space. While we are still seeing geometric rugs with bold diamond and square patterns, we’re also seeing a big emphasis on curves. Softer circles, curves and swirls are big this year, either on traditional rectangular shaped rugs or on oval shaped rugs. These patterned rugs are a great way to bring visual interest to your room in a subtler way, and they can blend better with a wide range of styles, including transitional, casual and modern.

Earth to Rug Trends

There are many ways to pay homage to nature in your living room area rugs and more. Choose an indoor – outdoor rug design that features a natural looking material, such as a sisal aesthetic, as a great way to bring an earthy texture inside your home. Of course, earth-based trends aren’t limited to the rug material itself. You can also bring in a hint of the outdoors by choosing a wool or polyester rug that features a nature-inspired pattern—either literally with flowers and other natural elements, or by choosing an organic pattern that suggests water, the sky or more.

Love nature-inspired home design? Read our blog about bringing the outdoors in for more ideas.

You can also get more area rug design ideas in our breaking the area rug rules post.

These area rug options are some of the hottest trends available now. However, there are limitless options. Choose an area rug that inspires you either through a favorite color, pattern or style, and you’ll bring home inspiration for your surrounding room design as well. Bottoms up!