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What Color Rug Goes with a Brown Couch? (+ How to Decorate With a Brown Sofa)

Pairing the right color rug with a brown couch can be tricky. Follow these tips for maintaining color harmony.

Pairing a White Rug with a Brown Couch

Not only do white rugs go with everything, they do a wonderful job of bringing out the rich undertones of warmer colors such as brown. But if you do opt to pair a white rug with your brown couch, remember that color isn’t the only way to create contrast. Creating contrast through textiles, such as by pairing a plush shag rug with a buttery leather sofa, calls attention to the overall cozy feeling of your living room – while allowing color to play with texture, and vice versa.

What Color Goes With Brown Leather Sofas?

Brown leather carries a natural sheen. To avoid distracting from the unique material, decorations should be kept simple and quiet. Surrounding your sofa with darker, matte colors will help keep all the attention on the sofa’s luster.

Brown Couch Decor Ideas

Try a metallic frame above a brown sofa. Metallics are the colors of neutrals: they pack a ton of personality without feeling tacky. Incorporating gold, silver, copper and the works will add a showstopping look to your brown sofa.

Pairing a Brown Rug with a Brown Couch

If the point of placing a rug under a couch is to help create harmonious contrast, then pairing a brown rug with a brown couch may seem counterintuitive. But before you cross off brown rugs from your list of possible mates for your lonely brown couch, make sure you’ve considered every possible shade of brown.

What Color Walls Go With Brown Furniture?

Think of your wall color as you would your rug color. Both walls and rugs are big parts of a room, and both are set up right against a sofa, so the color of both can affect the sofa's feel. White is safe, as long as you keep it slightly off white to keep the vibe soft. If you want to play a tad riskier, go with a (very, very) light shade of brown, which will enhance the warmth of the sofa without distracting from it.

More Brown Couch Decor

Try arranging a scheme of neutrals; grey lamps, cream tables, tan drapes and black sconces add to brown's warmth. Note the color of the rug above is actually multiplecolors, to create more detail, contrast and depth. As long as you keep things simple and free of clutter, neutrals will be sure to make a brown sofa feel inviting and fresh.

If your sofa is a medium shade of brown, then your safest bet is to go with another color, as a brown rug (no matter the shade) with a medium brown couch can make a living room feel too warm. But if your couch features an extreme shade of a color (for example, an extremely dark brown or an extremely light brown), pairing with it a brown rug on the other end of the extreme (for example, pairing an extremely dark brown couch with an extremely light brown rug) will add subtle depth while maintaining warm harmony.

What Color Pillows for Brown Couch?

For a brown couch, natural-hued pillows like cream, beige, white and tan will work. Keep the pillow colors lighter than the sofa color to create contrast and lighten the feel of brown. Top off with a light throw blanket over the armrest to match the pillows!

Colors to Match Brown Leather Sofas

Brown leather is similar to brown fabric, except for its shine: leather has a natural luster, so you can choose to bring this out with metallics, or keep the vibe high-contrast by sticking to only matte, dark decorations. For example, a metallic art piece will draw light and help the eye to associate the shine of the sofa with the decor above it, while a matte art piece will add simple, subtle detail to keep all the attention on the sofa itself.

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