Tapis Simons: The Complete Guide to Finding the Perfect Rug for Your Home

There is something quietly transformative about a great rug. It anchors a room, softens the acoustics, and ties together furniture that might otherwise feel scattered and purposeless. Among Canadian shoppers looking for stylish, well-priced home textiles, Tapis Simons — the rug collection from the beloved Quebec-based retailer Simons — has emerged as one of the most talked-about destinations for anyone furnishing a space with both taste and a budget in mind. Whether you are designing a cozy reading nook, refreshing a living room, or finally tackling that bare bedroom floor that has bothered you since you moved in, the rug selection at Simons deserves a thorough look.

This guide covers everything you need to know: the styles and aesthetics you can expect, how to choose the right size, what makes a quality rug worth the investment, how to care for your purchase, and why Simons has become such a trusted name in Canadian home décor.

Why Simons Is Worth Your Attention for Home Décor

Most Canadians know Simons as a fashion retailer — a Quebec institution founded in 1840 that has grown into a national chain celebrated for its trend-forward clothing at accessible prices. What fewer people realize is that the brand’s home section, Maison Simons, has quietly become one of the most compelling destinations for interior design pieces in the country.

The philosophy behind Maison Simons mirrors the clothing side of the business: offer thoughtful, design-conscious products that reflect current trends without charging the luxury markup you might encounter at specialty boutiques. The rug collection embodies this approach perfectly. You will find pieces that look like they belong in an interior design magazine alongside price tags that make them genuinely attainable for first-time homeowners, renters, and anyone doing a budget refresh.

What sets the Tapis Simons collection apart from what you might find at big-box home stores is the attention to pattern, texture, and material. Rather than defaulting to the safe and generic, the buyers at Simons source and design rugs that have a distinct point of view — whether that means a Moroccan-inspired flatweave, a plush high-pile shag, a sophisticated abstract print, or a timeless solid in a color that feels current rather than dated.

Understanding the Different Styles Available

Walking through the rug section at Simons — or scrolling through the online catalog — you will quickly notice that the collection is organized around distinct aesthetic directions. Understanding these categories helps you narrow down what you are actually looking for before you fall in love with something that might not suit your space.

Contemporary and Minimalist Rugs

If your home leans toward clean lines, neutral palettes, and Scandinavian-influenced design, you will find plenty here to work with. These rugs tend to feature geometric patterns in muted tones — think warm greys, oatmeal, soft terracotta, and sage green. They pair beautifully with wood floors and furniture that favors natural materials. The weaves in this category are often flatweave or low-pile, which gives them a refined, tailored look and makes them easy to clean.

Bohemian and Globally Inspired Rugs

The boho-eclectic corner of the collection draws from Moroccan, Persian, and globally influenced weaving traditions. These pieces tend to feature more pattern, more color, and more texture. Tassels, fringe, and hand-knotted details show up here. If you are furnishing a space that leans maximalist — layering patterns, mixing eras, building a collected-over-time feel — this is your territory. These rugs tend to be conversation starters, pieces that bring warmth and character to a room that might otherwise feel too curated.

Plush and High-Pile Rugs

There is an entire category of customer who walks into a rug store asking for one thing: something soft underfoot. High-pile and shag rugs serve exactly this purpose, and the Simons collection includes options that deliver genuine luxury underfoot feel at a reasonable price. These work especially well in bedrooms, where you want something that greets your feet on cold mornings, and in living rooms where you want to create a cozy atmosphere. Keep in mind that high-pile rugs require slightly more maintenance — more vacuuming, and occasionally a bit of fluffing — but for many people, the tactile payoff is worth it.

Natural Fiber and Textured Weaves

Jute, sisal, and similarly textured natural fiber rugs have been a staple of interior design for years, and for good reason. They bring organic warmth, layer beautifully with other textiles, and have a neutral quality that makes them easy to combine with almost any furniture style. Simons carries options in this category that are particularly well-suited to dining rooms, entryways, and spaces where you want texture without committing to a strong color or pattern.

Vintage and Distressed Styles

The weathered, faded, lived-in look has been popular in interior design for several years now and shows no signs of retreating. Vintage-inspired rugs feature muted, slightly desaturated colors and patterns that suggest age without actually requiring decades of use. They work well in both traditional and transitional spaces, and they have the practical advantage of hiding wear and traffic patterns as the rug ages.

How to Choose the Right Size

This is the question that trips up most people buying a rug for the first time, and it is worth spending real time on before you order. An undersized rug is one of the most common decorating mistakes, and unfortunately it is easy to make.

In a Living Room

The most important guideline is that all major furniture legs — at minimum the front legs of your sofa and chairs — should sit on the rug. A rug where all the furniture floats above it tends to look small and lost in the space. The most popular sizes for living rooms are 200 x 290 cm (approximately 8 x 10 feet) and 240 x 340 cm (approximately 9 x 12 feet). Before you buy, tape out the dimensions on your floor with painter’s tape. This simple step saves a lot of returns.

In a Bedroom

For a king or queen bed, a large rug placed under the bed so that it extends at least 60 to 90 centimeters on either side and at the foot of the bed creates the most polished look. Alternatively, you can place a runner on each side of the bed — a look that is less traditional but can feel fresh and intentional. For a smaller room, a rug under the lower two-thirds of the bed (starting from roughly the footboard) is a common and effective approach.

In a Dining Room

The rug needs to be large enough that dining chairs remain on the rug even when pulled out from the table. A good rule of thumb is to add at least 60 centimeters to each side of the table’s dimensions. Undersizing a dining room rug results in chair legs catching the edge every time someone sits down or stands up — a frustration that compounds over time.

In an Entryway or Hallway

Runners are purpose-built for these spaces. They protect floors, define a pathway, and introduce color or pattern at the entry of a home. Look for runners that leave a few centimeters of floor visible on either side rather than running wall to wall, which tends to look like wall-to-wall carpet rather than an intentional rug.

What to Look for in Rug Quality

Not all rugs at a given price point are created equal, and learning to evaluate quality quickly will help you make smarter purchasing decisions regardless of where you shop.

Material

Wool remains the gold standard for durability, softness, and natural stain resistance. Wool rugs develop a natural lanolin coating over time that repels dirt and moisture, and they hold color well. Polypropylene and other synthetic fibers are significantly more affordable and have improved dramatically in quality over the past decade — they are particularly well-suited to high-traffic areas, outdoor spaces, and homes with young children or pets because they are easy to clean. Cotton rugs are soft and often machine washable, making them practical for casual spaces. Natural fibers like jute and sisal are durable but less soft underfoot and can be sensitive to moisture.

Construction

Hand-knotted rugs are the most labor-intensive and durable option — a single rug can take months to complete, and these pieces often appreciate in value over time. Hand-tufted rugs involve pushing yarn through a backing fabric with a tufting gun, resulting in a plush texture at a lower price point than hand-knotted. Machine-made rugs are the most affordable and offer the most consistency in pattern and color — they are perfectly appropriate for most residential uses, especially if you rotate or update your home décor every few years.

Knot Density

In hand-knotted rugs, knots per square inch (KPSI) is a measure of intricacy and durability. Higher KPSI means a denser, more detailed, and generally more durable rug. For a machine-made piece, you can evaluate quality by the weight and density of the pile — a heavier rug with a dense pile will generally last longer and feel better underfoot.

Rug Placement and Styling Tips

Finding a rug you love is only half the work. Placing and styling it well is what takes a room from assembled to designed.

Use a Rug Pad

A quality rug pad extends the life of your rug by preventing the backing from grinding against the floor, adds cushioning, and — critically — prevents the rug from sliding, which is both a safety issue and an aesthetic one. It is one of the best investments you can make alongside a rug purchase. Simons typically carries rug pads to pair with their collection.

Layer Rugs Intentionally

Layering a smaller, more decorative rug over a larger neutral base rug is a technique that interior designers use to add depth and personality to a space. A jute or sisal rug makes a perfect base layer — its texture reads as background rather than foreground, allowing the layered piece to take center stage.

Let the Rug Anchor the Room

Resist the temptation to push all your furniture against the walls and float the rug in the center. Letting the rug anchor a seating arrangement, with furniture pulled into the room and overlapping the rug, creates a more intimate and designed feeling. The rug becomes the foundation of a conversation grouping rather than just a decorative element in the middle of the floor.

Consider Traffic Patterns

Beautiful rugs placed in high-traffic areas without consideration for durability will frustrate you. In entryways, hallways, and under dining tables, prioritize flat-weave, low-pile, or synthetic rugs that are easy to clean and slow to show wear. Save your high-pile, delicate, or natural fiber pieces for lower-traffic areas like bedrooms and sitting rooms.

Caring for Your Rug

A well-maintained rug lasts for years and often improves with age. A neglected one deteriorates quickly. The good news is that basic rug care is simple.

Vacuum regularly — ideally once a week in high-traffic areas and every two weeks in lower-traffic ones. For high-pile rugs, use a vacuum without a beater bar to avoid pulling fibers. Rotate your rug every six to twelve months if it receives uneven sun or foot traffic, which helps it age evenly. Address spills immediately by blotting (never rubbing) with a clean cloth. For deeper cleaning, most synthetic and cotton rugs can be taken outdoors and gently cleaned with a mild detergent and water, then laid flat to dry thoroughly before returning to the floor. Wool and natural fiber rugs benefit from professional cleaning every one to three years depending on use.

Keep rugs out of direct, prolonged sunlight if you want to preserve their color. UV exposure fades dyes over time, and while some level of fading can add charm to a vintage-style piece, uneven fading on a contemporary rug rarely looks intentional.

Buying Online vs. In-Store

The Simons website makes it possible to shop the full rug collection without visiting a store, and for many customers this is the most practical option given the brand’s store locations. Online shopping for rugs works well when you have already done your measuring, know your color palette well, and have a clear sense of the style you are after. The product photography on the Simons website is generally accurate in representing color and texture.

That said, if you have access to a Simons store, visiting in person is worth the trip for a significant rug purchase. Seeing the actual scale of a rug, feeling its pile depth, and assessing how its colors look under different lighting conditions are things that photographs cannot fully replicate. Store staff can also speak to current stock and help you evaluate options within your budget.

Why Tapis Simons Stands Out in the Canadian Market

Canada’s home décor market has more options than ever, from global fast-furniture chains to independent boutiques to online-only retailers. In this crowded space, Simons has carved out a position that is genuinely its own. The brand understands Canadian taste — a sensibility that often leans toward the understated, the functional, and the well-made without being showy about it. The rug collection reflects this. You will not find the most extreme or avant-garde pieces here, but you will consistently find rugs that are well-designed, fairly priced, made to last a reasonable lifespan, and aligned with the kinds of interiors that most Canadians are actually trying to build.

The accessibility of the brand — both in price and in its bilingual, bicultural identity — also matters. Shopping at Simons feels like supporting something rooted in this country, which for many customers adds an intangible but real value to the experience.

Final Thoughts

Choosing a rug is one of the most impactful decisions you can make in a room, and it deserves more careful attention than it typically gets. The right rug does not just cover a floor — it defines a space, softens a room’s acoustics, protects your floors, and expresses something genuine about how you want your home to feel. The Tapis Simons collection gives Canadian shoppers a genuinely good range of options across styles, sizes, materials, and price points, backed by the service and return policies of an established national retailer.

Take your time, measure twice, and do not undersize. A rug that is slightly too large is almost always preferable to one that is slightly too small. When in doubt, go up a size. And when you find the one that makes you stop scrolling or stop walking through the store because it is simply right — trust that instinct. A great rug is one of the most satisfying home purchases you will ever make.