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Designer Luke Irwin recommends laying old Financial Times pages on the floor to help visualize a rug’s size in a room. The advice comes in a Livingetc interview about choosing rug dimensions, colors and patterns; Irwin says size is often the hardest choice to get right.
Rug designer Luke Irwin has shared a simple way to preview a rug’s size at home: arrange old copies of the Financial Times on the floor to mark out the area. In an interview with Livingetc, Irwin said the paper’s color helps make the proposed footprint easier to visualize, addressing what he describes as one of the most difficult parts of choosing a rug.
Irwin’s suggestion is to use the newspaper as a rough, full-scale guide rather than relying only on a product image or measurements. By placing the pages where a rug might go, householders can see how its footprint relates to the furniture and the room before committing to a purchase or a custom order. The interview does not give a precise number of pages or a measurement formula; the method is a visual aid.
Irwin identified pattern, color and size as the three main considerations. He said pattern is often straightforward to judge, while color can prompt prolonged comparisons between similar shades. In his experience, he said, the first combination someone selects often proves to be the right one, although this is his personal observation rather than a general rule.
Size, he told Livingetc, is the most critical decision: a rug that is too large can overwhelm a space, while one that is too small can look out of place. His rule of thumb is that furniture in a large open-plan room should sit entirely on the rug. In other layouts, he recommends placing at least the front legs of furniture on it, rather than having pieces appear awkwardly split between the rug and bare floor.
A Practical Test Before Choosing a Rug
Rug dimensions affect how a room’s furniture relates to one another and whether the seating area reads as a connected arrangement. Irwin’s newspaper method gives people a low-cost way to test a proposed size in the actual space, where walkways, furniture placement and room proportions can be judged together. It does not replace accurate measurement, but can make the likely effect of a rug easier to assess before ordering.
The advice also speaks to the added stakes of made-to-order rugs. Irwin’s namesake studio offers custom pieces with choices including size, color, weave, textile and design. For a bespoke purchase, a floor mock-up can help a customer discuss dimensions with the maker, though the interview does not say that this method is required by the studio or guarantees a particular result.
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Irwin’s Custom Rug Practice
Irwin established his namesake studio in 2003. According to the Livingetc report, the London-based designer works with traditional artisans who hand-knot rugs in workshops in Jaipur and New Delhi in India and in Nepal. The studio makes rugs to order and offers customers support with choices such as size and materials.
The report describes Irwin’s clients as including U2, The Rolling Stones, Barack Obama and members of the British royal family. Those client references provide context for his profile, but the central development in the interview is practical design advice, not a new product launch or a change to the studio’s business. Irwin framed rugs as a foundation that can bring the elements of a room together, and said he pays attention to how rugs are used in homes he sees in London.
“A great hack for being able to visualize the perfect size is to lay out an old copy of the Financial Times on the floor, as the color of the paper is perfect for visualizing scale.”
— Luke Irwin, speaking to Livingetc
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Limits of the Newspaper Method
The interview presents the Financial Times technique as a way to visualize scale, not as a substitute for measuring the room and the furniture. It does not specify how many pages to use, whether the pages should be arranged in a particular pattern, or how to adapt the method for irregularly shaped rugs. The source also does not report tests comparing the technique with other ways of planning a rug layout.
Irwin’s layout guidance is presented as professional advice, not a universal standard. The best dimensions can depend on the room, furniture and intended arrangement; the interview does not provide measurements for particular room sizes. It is also unclear when Livingetc published the interview, as no publication date is included in the supplied source material.
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Measure and Mark the Floor
Readers considering a rug can first measure the available floor area and furniture, then use newspaper pages to mark a possible footprint. The mock-up can be adjusted to check whether it leaves clear walking routes and whether the furniture sits fully on it, or at least with its front legs on the rug, in line with Irwin’s guidance.
Anyone ordering a custom rug can use the marked layout as a starting point for a conversation with the seller or maker about dimensions and other specifications. The Livingetc interview does not announce a follow-up, new collection or deadline for further developments; the immediate next step is for shoppers to apply the sizing advice to their own rooms.
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Key Questions
What is Luke Irwin’s rug-sizing hack?
He recommends laying old Financial Times pages on the floor to help visualize the area a rug would cover. It is a visual guide, not a replacement for measuring.
How should furniture sit on a rug, according to Irwin?
For a large open-plan space, Irwin says all the furniture should fit on the rug. In other settings, he advises having at least the front legs on it.
What does Irwin say matters most when choosing a rug?
He names pattern, color and size as the main elements and says size is probably the most critical, because an oversized or undersized rug can look wrong in its setting.
Does the newspaper method guarantee the right rug size?
No. The interview describes it as a way to visualize scale. It gives no guarantee and does not replace accurate measurements of the room and furniture.
Who is Luke Irwin?
Irwin is a rug designer whose namesake studio, established in 2003, designs and makes custom hand-knotted rugs with artisans in India and Nepal, according to the Livingetc report.
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