If you have a rug with a pattern and a nap that shows light color one way and dark color the other way, is there a right or wrong way to turn it in your home"  I don't think so, I think it is what ever you are trying to achieve in that room.

My living room is small as you all know and it also has an adjoining dining area.  So a long rectangular space.  I love the idea of a rug to suggest a living room area different from the dining area.  I found one that I loved, but then I got a little stumped as to how to place it.  Which way to turn it.

As you can see my rug has an abstract pattern.  Depending on which way you have it turned, it goes from a more open pattern to a more closed pattern.  The nap on the rug is about 1/2 inch tall and with it placed this way it is a lighter beige color.
A friend suggested that I might want to turn it around the other way to open up the recessed area by the window.  Now it did seem to open up that area a little, but there was something about it that seemed off to me.  It was the nap - it shows up way darker turned in this direction.  It is still pretty, but the concentrated dark pattern seems to just cut the room in half.  It screams, this is the end of the living room and makes the whole area seem smaller than it really is.

I like it turned the other way.  The color is lighter and it makes the area rug just sort of drifts off into the dining area instead of creating a def...