Once upon a time, our mothers used vinyl rug runners to protect their floors and carpets from dirt and damage. Rug runners are growing in popularity again, but they’re no longer textured, hard vinyl, or simply strips of leftover carpeting cut to fit a narrower room. Instead, designers are creating patterns and motifs that work especially well in narrow, long spaces to make the most of the design possibilities.

A rug runner can help accent a narrow entry hall, bringing colors from two rooms together to create a natural transition from one room to another. In the process, it can help protect your floor surface from damage, provide a natural pathway for people to walk on and serve as an anchor for design details in space that is often left bare and unused. It can warm a stone floor, accent a wooden one and protect your good carpet.
 
Rug runners are narrow strips of carpet or rug that are generally laid down the center of a hallway or narrow room. There’s nothing that confines their use to hallways though. Rug runners make natural dividers in large rooms, for instance.

A rug runner on a bare floor—or in a contrasting color to the basic carpet in a room—can define a path between furniture groupings, or serve as a visual dividing line between a sitting and dining area.

There are many uses other than the traditional ones for rug runners. An outdoor patio rug runner, for instance, can subtly encourage children to stay to a particular path when traveling from pool to garden to patio. A textured outdoor rug runner can also provide a non-slippery surface for walkways and stairs in the patio area.
 
Likewise, a cotton rug runner in a bright color can serve as an area accent in a nursery, either in front of the crib or on the floor by the changing table.

Have a long counter in your kitchen that runs from sink to wall with cabinets between? A rug runner that picks up colors from your kitchen wallpaper and floor can provide a comfortable path along its edge, and keep your feet from getting weary while standing at the sink. There are also rug runners designed specifically for stairways that can help reduce wear in the center of stairs where feet usually land.