Bedroom rug placement has one test, and it is more useful than any proportional rule:
When you get out of bed, on either side, your feet land on the rug on the first step.
If that is true, the placement is right. Most of what follows is how to make it true in awkward rooms.
The standard arrangement
Rug centred on the bed, starting about two-thirds of the way down its length, extending 45–60cm past the sides and the foot.
This puts rug where you step, no rug under the headboard where nobody sees it, and a consistent margin all round. It is cheaper than running the rug fully under the bed and it looks better in most rooms — see sizing bedroom rugs for the figures.
Centre it on the bed, not on the room. The bed is what the rug relates to. A rug centred on the room while the bed sits off-centre reads as two unrelated decisions, and in a bedroom the bed always wins.
Bedside tables
Three options, and the middle one is the problem.
Fully on the rug. Generous, and it makes the whole arrangement read as one zone. Needs the rug to extend past the tables, which usually pushes you a size up.
Fully off the rug, with the rug passing under the bed between them. Clean, cheaper, and completely legitimate.
Two legs on and two off. This is the version that looks accidental — and it rocks, which matters for something holding a glass of water. Avoid it.
If the tables are close to landing half-on
Move the rug rather than the tables. Sliding the rug 15cm further under the bed usually resolves it, and it costs nothing. If it does not, take the tables fully off and let the rug pass under the bed — that reads better than a compromise.
The awkward cases
Bed against a wall. Run the rug along the open side — either a large rug passing under the bed and extending into the room, or a single runner down the side you get out of. Do not centre a rug in the middle of the floor as though the bed were not there.
Small room. Two runners, one each side, or one runner if the bed is against a wall. This solves the actual problem — where your feet land — without a rug crowding the skirting. It is the honest answer for a small bedroom and it looks intentional.
Very large room. Consider two zones: the bed rug, and a separate smaller rug under a chair, window seat or dressing table. One vast rug covering a large bedroom often reads as fitted carpet that stopped short.
Bay window. A round rug in the bay works where a rectangle fights the curve, and it gives the alcove its own identity rather than making it a leftover.
Door swings inward. Check it before buying. A rug edge under a door is caught every time the door opens, and that edge wears first — rug pads will not save it.
Sloping ceilings or attic rooms. Place the rug relative to the usable floor rather than the room outline. The area under the slope is not walked on and does not need covering.
Two rugs
Layering works well in bedrooms and for a specific reason: it lets you put a small good rug in a room that needs large coverage.
A large flat base — jute, flatweave or plain wool — sized to the room, with a smaller Moroccan, Persian or vintage piece on top beside the bed. The base fixes the footprint; the good rug goes where your feet land.
Two pads, and keep the base flat so the stack does not wobble underfoot in the dark — how to layer rugs.
Orientation
Follow the bed. The rug's long axis runs the same way as the bed's, which in most rooms also means it runs with the room's long axis.
Mind the nap. Pile has direction, and the rug reads darker and richer viewed against the nap. Orient it so the pile runs away from the bedroom door — that is the view you get on walking in. Run a hand along the rug's length to find it — the anatomy of a rug.
Getting it to stay put
A pad cut 25mm smaller than the rug on every side. It stops creeping, protects the foundation, and adds the underfoot cushioning that is most of the point in this room — what size rug pad do you need.
Bedrooms are also where a rug moves least, so if the bed sits on it, pure felt is enough and you can skip the rubber layer entirely — useful if the floor is oiled or waxed, where rubber can mark. Rug pads by floor type.
Then best materials for bedroom rugs covers what to actually buy, which in this room is a different answer from anywhere else in the house.
Common questions
Where should a rug go in a bedroom?
Under the bed, starting about two-thirds of the way down so it extends past the sides and foot. The test is simple: your feet should land on the rug when you get out of bed, on both sides, on the first step. Everything else is secondary to that.
Should bedside tables sit on the rug?
Either is fine, but be decisive. Tables fully on the rug reads as generous; tables fully off with the rug passing under the bed reads as deliberate. Tables with two legs on and two off is the version that looks like an accident, and it also rocks.
Where does a rug go if the bed is against a wall?
Run it along the open side, either as a large rug passing under the bed and extending into the room, or as a single runner. Do not centre the rug in the room independently of the bed — it will read as unrelated to the only piece of furniture that matters.