Fluffy and Shaggy Rugs in Pink, White and Grey

A shaggy rug is bought with the feet, not the eyes. Everything else about a rug — colour, size, where it goes — can be judged from a photograph. Pile depth cannot.

These run to around 50mm of pile, deep enough that a foot sinks in rather than resting on top. It varies a little between ranges, but that is the order of it.

Fluffy rugs for a bedroom

The bedroom is where deep pile belongs, and the reason is the first thirty seconds of the day. It is the only floor in the house you step onto barefoot before you are properly awake, and on a cold morning a 50mm pile underfoot is the difference between getting up and not.

It is also the room that lets a shaggy rug last. Deep pile flattens under traffic and under furniture feet — a bedroom gives it neither, because most of the floor is under the bed and nobody walks the room end to end.

Beside the bed is the usual spot, and a smaller rug there does the whole job. Under the bed works too, but the part you would pay for is the part you never feel.

Shaggy rugs in a living room

A living room takes a shaggy rug differently, and it comes down to what is standing on it.

Under a coffee table and between the seats, deep pile is what makes a hard floor feel like a room to sit in. Under the legs of a sofa it is a different story: furniture feet compress the pile permanently, and moving the sofa two years later leaves marks that do not come back out.

So the arrangement matters more here than with a flat rug. Keep the furniture off it, or accept that the pile under the legs is going to stay flat.

Fluffy rugs in pink, white and grey

Deep pile does something to colour that flat weave does not. The pile catches light at different angles along its length, so a single colour reads as several — lighter where it lies one way, deeper where it lies the other. A plain shaggy rug is never quite plain.

Pink and white are asked for more here than in any other kind of rug, and both make sense: this is a bedroom product, and a bedroom is the one room where a pale rug is practical. Grey and cream are the steady choices, and they show the light-catching effect best.

Very dark shaggy rugs are the ones to think twice about. Deep pile holds dust and thread, and on a dark colour every bit of it shows.

Looking after a deep pile rug

Worth knowing before rather than after, because this is where people regret the purchase.

A shaggy rug sheds for the first few weeks. That is normal and it stops. Vacuum without the beater bar or the rotating brush — a brush head pulls the pile out and does in a month what normal use would not do in years. Suction alone, and go slowly.

It will also flatten in the paths people walk. Shaking it out and running your fingers through the pile lifts it back, and doing that occasionally is what separates a shaggy rug that looks good at five years from one that looks tired at two.

Shaggy rug FAQs

How deep is the pile on a shaggy rug?

Around 50mm on these, deep enough that your foot sinks in rather than resting on the surface. It varies a little between ranges.

Where should you put a shaggy rug?

A bedroom first, because there is no traffic to flatten the pile and you are barefoot. A living room second, keeping furniture legs off it where you can. Not a hallway or a kitchen — deep pile and daily traffic do not mix.

How do you vacuum a shaggy rug?

With the beater bar or rotating brush switched off, using suction only. A brush head pulls the pile out. Go slowly and go with the pile rather than against it.

Do shaggy rugs shed?

For the first few weeks, yes, and then it settles. It is normal and not a fault.

Will a shaggy rug flatten under furniture?

Yes, and permanently. Furniture feet compress deep pile in a way it does not recover from, so either keep the legs off the rug or expect marks if you rearrange later.

Are fluffy rugs and shaggy rugs the same thing?

Yes. Different makers use different words for the same deep pile construction, and the two are used interchangeably.