Tips needed so I can use a piece of carpet that's too small!

[LadyThompson]

Ok, bear with me here. On the last few weeks of neverending cottage renovation. One of the bedrooms is tiny, and that's where my 19month old is going. We have an offcut of nice carpet left over from when we had a room carpetted where are at the mo, but having measured it, it's too small...The room is approx 272cm by 198cm, and the carpet is about 264cm by 192cm or so...maybe a tiny bit bigger. Is there a clever way round this that won't look crap? I know it probably sounds mad but we are tight on the very very last dregs of our budget after a wallet draining eight months.

Will there be a wardrobe/fitted chest of drawers in the room? Could you not carpet under those bits to get round it?

or under the bed, if you will be having a bed in there?

How about cutting it down so that it is more rug sized and then sanding/painting the floorboards around the outside edge.
I'm not describing it very well, but we inherited something similar when we moved into our house.

Thanks for the responses, all ideas v gratefully received! Basically, as it's such a small room, we are just putting a cot and either a chest of drawers or more likely a very small antique wardrobe in there so I think any uncarpeted areas might not work. I suppose we might have a single bed in there one day (if one will go in).

Potplant - you might be onto something there. I will see what DP thinks.

Ummm,

Firstly could you patch up the hole with the offcuts from the side that is too long?

Add/replace skirting boards to take up a few more centimeters?

line the outer edge of the room with something - quarry tiles, carpet tiles etc. and then put the carpet in the middle

Or (and this may be trickier) use another material - like hessian or similar to edge the carpet, making it more like a large rug that fits the room.

Many carpet shops can offer a 'whipping' service where you can take your offcut and they bind round the edge with thread or hessian.
I had a large piece done (2mx4m) and it cost £30.

Some really great ideas here. Many thanks.

I would go for potplants idea.

We did something similar in the sitting room leaving an area round the edge and the bay window uncovered showing the varnished floor. We got an offcut of carpet cut to size and whipped for a lot less than a fitted carpet or 'Persian' style rug.

For a small bedroom I would just paint the edges the same colour as the skirting.