One of the most delicious things about the Christmas holidays is the fact that you get to spend an awful lot of time curled up indoors with good company and plenty of treats and there’s absolutely no guilt attached to it – it’s just part of the seasonal celebrations.

Of course, getting out for long walks and enjoying the fresh, clear winter air is a delight. Meanwhile, there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy the party atmosphere thanks to events with friends and family and colleagues. Still, there’s nothing like coming home to a warm, cosy, Christmassy living room or lounge.

Christmas rugs

So how do rugs reinforce that lovely Christmas atmosphere? Well, certain rugs do it using style. Others do it by ramping up the comfort levels, making it even easier to find excuses to curl up on the floor with a hot drink and a mince pie.

Colour schemes

Let’s start with the chromatics; what colours do people associate with Christmas? Well, you’ve probably noticed that the streets at Christmas are alive with the glowing crepuscular badinage of green and red fairy lights. These days, nobody really believes that ‘red and green should never be seen’ as the old and misguided adage goes.

Rug designers have shown on countless occasions that red and green can work together in harmony. Both traditional and modern collections demonstrate as much.

Of course, gold and silver are also strongly associated with the season, calling to mind tinsel and baubles and all the other finery of cheerily caparisoned trees at this time of year.

Then there’s the lovely purity of plain white rugs – shaggy ones with textures that are “deep and (perhaps not) crisp and even” in the manner of every warmly-wished white Christmas, and as rich as old Bing’s abyssal baritone.

Pile trends

Which brings us neatly to the topic of pile. Pile is crucial in the quest for comfort. The deeper the pile, the more luxurious the rug, so the most festive floor coverings are surely those you can sink into the most profoundly.

You’ve got options when it comes to deep and luxurious rugs. There are wool rugs with deep piles, synthetic shaggy rugs in a wide variety of colours and sheepskin rugs that are just about as friendly as textiles get, thanks to their natural softness and the fact that very few industrial processes are required to make them fit for the home.

With a little online investigation, you might be able to find rugs that satisfy on both levels – with their texture and their colour. Although a lot of shaggy rugs make use of one bold tone, some feature two or more colours and it’s just a question of matching them up to positive effect: red-white, green-white, red-green – any of the above with a nice gold fringe.

Now, rugs definitely aren’t just for Christmas, so do make sure that any rug you buy now has staying power and will remain a lovely, complementary addition to the front room long after the decorations have been sequestered in the loft.