Runner

Runner rugs are the rugs for the strips of floor nothing else fits: a hallway, the run in front of a sink, the gap beside a bed. Here it is 2'6" wide, 8' long on most designs and 10' on a few. All of them are handmade, mostly woven in India. Most are also made as a room rug in the same pattern, which is how a hallway ends up matching the living room it opens into.

About half are flatweaves with no pile and most of the others are thin, exactly what a corridor, a galley kitchen or a mudroom wants. Wool leads the fibers, beige and gray lead the colors, and farmhouse and transitional patterns lead the designs.

Hallway, Kitchen, Entry: Where Each Length Goes

In a hallway the runner should leave about the same amount of floor showing at both ends and down each side; an eight-foot runner suits the typical hall, a ten-foot one a longer run, and two laid end to end handle a corridor that seems to go on forever. In a kitchen the runner belongs along the sink-and-stove run, where a flat or low pile lets a stool slide and the dishwasher door open over it. Inside a front or back door a runner takes the grit before it travels, and a flatweave lets most of it fall straight through to be swept up. Beside a bed, a runner fits the narrow strip where a 5x7 will not. For the room at the end of the hall, the same pattern is usually on the 8x10 rugs or 9x12 rugs page; for the door itself, the small rugs and round rugs are the companions.

Flat, Knotted or Tufted Runners

Most of these runners are hand woven: flat, light enough to shake out at the back door, and often finished on both faces so the runner can be turned over when one side has had a winter of boots. A few are hand knotted runners, the ones to lay in the hall that carries the whole house's traffic, since a knotted pile outlasts every other build. A few more are hand tufted, softer underfoot and happiest beside a bed. Whatever the build, a runner is the one rug size you can carry under one arm.

Wool for the Hall, Easier Fibers for the Kitchen

Wool is the fiber on most of these runners, and it forgives a hallway: footprints lift out, a muddy paw print brushes off once it dries, and the color stays put for years of passing feet. Shoppers who prefer wool in a room size as well will find it under handmade wool rugs. In a kitchen, cotton or recycled-yarn runners make more sense, since both take a wipe-down without complaint; only a few here are made of either. Jute runners, a few here too, want a dry hall rather than a kitchen, and the few viscose pieces belong where traffic is light.

Beige and Gray, with Patterns That Run Lengthwise

Beige and gray cover most of these runners, with ivory behind them, so a long strip of rug never takes over a narrow space; the neutral rugs page gathers the quiet tones whatever the shape. Pattern matters more on a runner than on a square rug: a stripe that runs the length of a hall makes the hall read longer, a crosswise diamond makes it read wider. Farmhouse and transitional looks make up most of the group, and both suit a runner because their motifs repeat rather than center: see the farmhouse rugs for the washed country versions and the traditional rugs for the bordered classics.

Keeping a Runner Flat and in Place

A runner slides more than any other size because it is walked on in one direction, so a pad cut an inch short of each edge is the first thing to buy with it. The non-slip rug pad is sold in the same runner lengths, so the strip under a 2'6" by 8' runner is a single piece rather than two offcuts taped together. A flatweave runner that arrives rolled may lift at the ends for a week or two; a pad and a few days of traffic settle it. Grit works its way under a flat runner, so lift it and sweep beneath it every few weeks. Only a handful are tagged for the washing machine; the rest get a cloth on spills and, if wool, a trip to the cleaner once a year or two.