A custom-sized wool rug completely transformed my oversized living room—bringing softness, warmth, and a perfectly tailored fit.
In this post, I’m sharing the full process of choosing the right rug pattern and colour, working with Stanton’s team, and why this high-quality carpet was worth the upgrade.
My New Custom Area Rug
Nothing completes a room like a custom detail that is absolutely PERFECT. I’m so excited to show you my new custom area rug in collaboration with Stanton Carpet!
Photos by Macy Yap Photography
It’s the layers and details that create a beautiful room. And the area rug is such a big, important layer to get just right. My living room is oversized, which I love—it feels open and airy. But it does present a challenge. A standard-size rug just won’t do the job of holding the entire space together.
About 18 months ago, I had a custom-sized rug installed. And the moment it was placed, I knew it wasn’t quite right. It should have been 18 inches wider toward the fireplace to wrap properly around its projection. It also needed to be at least 12 inches longer, so my sofa could sit fully on it. In a space this large, a rug should truly define the area—and mine just didn’t.
That’s why I was thrilled when Stanton Carpet invited me to collaborate on a new rug that would finally bring my vision for the room to life.
Although the original rug was pretty, it was a natural fibre rug—so not very soft. You can see in this overhead image that it was also too narrow to anchor the room properly.
Choosing the right carpet pattern and colour
Stanton offers a wide range of designer-quality patterns that can be custom-sized up to 15 feet wide, which makes finding the right option for a large or uniquely shaped space so much easier.
Here are a few samples I looked at. (Quick tip: when testing new carpet samples—just like testing paint samples—use white poster board underneath if you’re placing them over another rug. That way you can see the true colour clearly.)
I ended up choosing Maze Garden in Fawn, which has a subtle, modern pattern that adds visual interest without overwhelming the space. I also really loved the Jetty pattern—Stanton truly has a stunning variety to choose from, whether you’re after something bold or more classic and tonal.
The Stanton team was wonderful to work with—so helpful and accommodating when I requested extra samples to get the decision just right 💛
The new rug reveal!
The undertone of this rug is officially a pale pink beige combined with brown. But because of the delicate contrast and pattern, the overall read in the room is a soft, creamy neutral. It’s elegant without being loud. And even though the sample felt more patterned, once it was installed in a larger scale, the pattern softened visually—exactly what I was hoping for.
This colourway would also be fabulous in a space with warm tones like cognac, especially since cognac leather sofas are so popular right now.
It’s also the perfect area rug to warm up grey wood floors!
Happily, my sofa now sits fully on the rug, and the custom cut-out around the fireplace makes me SO happy. It gives the space a finished, high-end look. My corner sofa and settee now feel perfectly grounded.
It’s also much softer underfoot than the old one. This rug is 100% wool—a high-quality, durable fibre that’s not only beautiful and plush, but also built to last.
The installation was so easy
The carpet installation was seamless. We made just one tiny alteration: we cut a hole in the rug to accommodate the plug for the lamps in the middle of the room. (That outlet was installed in the crawl space during our renovation—worth every effort!)
I finished it by taping the edges, and the plug sits neatly under the sofa—completely hidden.
Here’s the room before:
And here it is now!
I love how the subtle pattern relates to the wallpaper without competing with it. It adds just the right touch of texture and dimension.
And yes—that is a new grandfather clock that looks like it came straight out of Beauty and the Beast. And yes—it’s black. I know. I know 😄
We also updated the layout. The old setup had a dining area where the chandelier is, which I moved to the sunroom. This allowed me to create three conversational groupings of furniture—making this large living room much more functional for entertaining.
If you have a large living room, investing in a custom-sized area rug makes a huge difference. It defines the space, supports the flow, and makes everything feel intentional and elevated.
I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.
This post is a paid partnership with Stanton Carpet. All opinions are my own—and I’m truly thrilled with how working with their team brought this space to life.
Have you ever shopped for a large area rug? What challenges did you have? Drop them in the comments below!
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A Tour of the Black Accents in my House
New Leopard Print Runner: The Perfect Choice for my Staircase
4 Steps to Choosing the Perfect Wall to Wall Carpet Colour
It looks great. Why have hardwood though if you’re just going to cover the entire thing with a rug? Asking sincerely.
That’s a good question, I have this flooring everywhere in my house and I walk all over it every day and love it! A well decorated living room needs a rug that is the correct size period and nothing else in this case would work. There are many floor plans where the sofa can sit half off and half on or even on the edge of the rug, this however was not one of them. Maria
I don’t know… seems a shame to cover up so much of your beautiful wood floors.
It has been hard to find carpets 15 feet wide to have made into rugs. We were looking for patterned multi colored nylon and most were only12 feet. Guess we should just go with wool. Your new rug looks beautiful and has enough interest to hide stains, but still light toned to be a good base for your room.
Stanton has many rugs that are 15 feet that are not necessarily wool. Maria
Would love to see the view from above of the new carpet and layout to compare.
Thank you!!
Looks good! I think I’d layer another rug over that rug, just in the center of the room just to define the main area of the room.
I had trouble deciding on the size for my great room. I wanted to go larger but it would have impeded 2 walkways and I was afraid it would be a tripping hazard. It looks ok but do wish I could have gone larger than I did.
Maria Killam chose a pink beige rug. Pink beige. Maria Killam. I…. I give up.
Nothing else in the room is pink beige, correct Maria? So maybe we CAN have a pink beige carpet and it doesn’t boss us around as much as we’ve been led to believe?
And Maria your favorite color is yellow, your sofa is yellow, your yellow sofa is now atop a pink beige rug. Yellow with pink beige. I am just baffled. I told my husband (the only person I know who is aware of the Maria Killam – pink beige situation) about this new rug and after he picked his jaw up off the floor he said “she has to be trolling us.”
Yes because natural wool is pink beige and it’s pale enough here and combined with the brown the overall read is cream. If there was no pattern, the undertone would have been noticeable in this case it is not. Pink beige is not bad, it’s a very limiting undertone if it’s strong and combined with the wrong colours. Great question, Maria
Thank you Maria 🙂
Actually the color of natural wool depends on the breed of sheep, their diet, and the climate they live in. FYI
That could be true but in my years as a designer I was hard pressed to ever find a wood rug in the cream world that didn’t have a pink undertone. Thanks for your comment. Maria
I had a similar reaction! What on earth is Maria doing. I can really see the pink in one of the photos, especially next to the yellow sofa – yet it doesn’t stand out to me in the other pix and I guess she is calling it complex cream of the pink beige variety, rather than beige. But I have long thought that pale undertones on the flooring plane are the ones most easily ignored if you are going to overlook them.
I love the overhead look in the before photo. It made me realize how it helps to give a sense of what works, and what doesn’t. (I guess we all need a drone to help us with decorating decisions? Just joking, of course. )
I’ve found that a photo will reveal the problem many times when a room/area/ outfit that feels “off”. Something about looking at it in 2-D reveals the imbalance that’s present. But yes, a drone would be helpful lol.
Looks beautiful! There is NO substitute for the right sized rug. When in doubt always go bigger.
I recently noticed the new rug in one of your Instagram reels! Love it! I love Stanton, too. I’m currently waiting to install a custom one for a client. It, too, will be cut around a fireplace. I’m excited to see their reaction when it all comes together. Thanks for the great post.
Did you use a rug pad underneath the rug? I guess you could tape rug pads together to get the correct size.
Great question, I ordered the rug with the underlay attached. It would be very difficult to manage an underlay that was seperate from an area rug this large. Maria
LOVE your new rug Maria. Wonder if it would work for my space? We bought your kitchen edesign package 2023 and love, love, love everything you recommended.
My living room wall colour is Edgecomb Grey (your recommendation also). We have pale birch floors (pinkish undertone) and a cognac leather couch. Do you think your rug in Fawn would work?
I loved your old rug too but when I got a sample my husband found the sisal too rough. I’m thinking this wool one would pass his ‘foot test’ :-).
Yes just make sure you’ve repeated green grey somewhere in your decorating! Yes this is a soft rug!