Shape and Size of Silk Carpet

When purchasing a carpet, the first thing to be considered is its shape and size, which are the two essential elements related to your needs and budget. Most carpets are rectangular, and carpets in this shape are thought to be standard. Some others are runner, round, oval, square and odd shapes.

To describe the size of a carpet, people use width and length but they usually express them in two different measurement units: the British Imperial System (using feet and inches) and the International System (using meters and centimeters). In the same way the area of a carpet is calculated in square feet in the British Imperial System and in square meters in the International System. One foot is equal to 12 inches or to approximately 30 centimeters and one meter is equal to 100 centimeters, to nearly 40 inches or to 3.28 feet. Some may prefer to use the yard as a unit. One yard is a little longer than 0.9 meter, nearly equal to 91.4 centimeters, to 3 feet or 36 inches. Each meter is nearly equal to 1.09 yard.

Handmade carpets are works of art and are not made to cover the entire floor, so there usually will be at least 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 centimeters) of vacant space between the carpet and its surrounding walls.

In the following we will explain each shape and their dimensions.
 

Rectangular carpets, also called standard carpets, are the most common carpets in the world and they come in various sizes. Underneath is a list of some standard sizes in two measurement systems.

British Imperial System (ft X ft) Width X Length	International System (m X m) Width X Length
1 X 2 2 X 3 2 X 4 3 X 5 4 X 6 5 X 8 6 X 9 7 X 10 8 X 10 9 X 12 10 X 14	0.3 X 0.6 0.50 X 1.00 1.00 X 1.50 1.50 X 2.00 1.50 X 2.50 2.00 X 2.50 2.00 X 3.00 2.25 X 3.25 2.50 X 3.50 2.75 X 3.75 3.50 X 4.50

 

Runners are the second most commonly seen carpets. They are long and narrow rectangles. Most runners today are between 2.5 to 3 feet (76 to 91 centimeters) wide and 6 to 20 feet (1.8 to 6.1 meters) long or even longer. They are often used in hallways, stairways and at entrances and so get another name: corridor carpets. Usually carpets used at entrances are a little wider.
 

It is not necessary to explain that the length and the width of a round carpet are equal. The figures used to describe its size are its diameter, for example 8X8, 10X10, etc. Round carpets are not so common and the layout of most of them is usually medallion.
 

Oval-shaped carpets are also unique in shape. They are measured in a similar way to the rectangular ones: the longer diameter is considered to be the length and the shorter one the width. Like round carpets the layout of oval ones is usually medallion, too, and sometimes you may find overall layout.
 

Square-shaped carpets are not common which may because square rooms are unususal. As you can know from this word "square", this shaped carpet has equal width and length.
 

You might come across odd-shaped carpets sometimes, like triangular, hexagonal, octagonal-shaped carpets, but this is seldom the case.