Black, white and full of music

The piano keyboard is one of the most recognizable patterns in the world, a crisp rhythm of white keys with black keys in groups of two and three, and it makes a wonderfully graphic rug. A piano rug can be a long keyboard runner down a hallway, a page of sheet music under a reading chair, a grand piano silhouette in a music room or a bright learning rug that helps a young player find middle C. Piano owners also ask a practical question: should a rug go under the piano? We answer that below, with sizes. Every rug is printed into soft velvet and goes in the washing machine.

Piano designs

Design	The look	Best in
Keyboard runner	A long row of black and white keys	Hallways, music rooms
Sheet music	Staves, notes and a treble clef on cream	Reading corners, studios
Grand piano silhouette	A black grand piano on white or gold	Living rooms, music rooms
Learning notes	Colorful notes and key names for beginners	Kids' rooms, lesson studios
Round keyboard	Keys curving around a circle	Under a piano bench, reading nooks
Plain under-piano rug	A calm solid or subtle pattern	Beneath an upright or a baby grand

Under a piano, choose Standard, whose non-slip back keeps the rug from shifting when the bench slides back and forth.

A short history of the piano

The piano was invented around 1700 in Florence by Bartolomeo Cristofori, an instrument maker working for the Medici family. Earlier keyboards like the harpsichord plucked their strings and couldn't change volume, but Cristofori's hammers could strike softly or loudly depending on how hard the key was pressed, so he called it a harpsichord with soft and loud, in Italian piano e forte. The oldest of his three surviving pianos, from 1720, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Today's piano has 88 keys, 52 white and 36 black, spanning just over seven octaves.

Keyboard runners

A long, narrow space is perfect for a piano keyboard. A custom runner up to 10 ft long, with black and white keys running from one end to the other, turns a hallway into a giant keyboard. Children inevitably try to play it as they walk, hopping from key to key. It's printed, so it doesn't make a sound, which parents may consider a feature. Choose Standard, 5 mm crushed velvet on a non-slip faux leather back, about 500 g/m², which stays put as people walk by.

Should you put a rug under a piano?

On a hard floor, usually yes. A rug under a piano softens the echo that bounces off wood, tile and concrete, protects the floor from the bench sliding back and forth, and gives the instrument a defined place in the room. A few tips: put all of the piano's legs either on the rug or off it, never half and half, so the piano stays level; use caster cups under the wheels to spread the weight; and leave room on the rug for the bench, so it doesn't catch on the edge every time you sit down.

Rug sizes for pianos

Piano	Typical footprint	Rug that fits
Digital piano or keyboard	About 4.5 ft wide, 1.5 ft deep	3.3×5 ft, piano and bench
Upright piano	About 5 ft wide, 2 ft deep	4×6 ft, piano and bench
Baby grand	About 5 ft wide, 5 ft deep	Custom up to 5′11″ × 8′, piano and bench
Larger grand	6 ft long or more	A custom runner under the bench and keyboard

Our largest custom size is 5′11″ × 10′, and we don't make 8×10 ft rugs, so for a large concert grand we suggest a rug under the bench and the keyboard end rather than the whole instrument. Measure your piano, legs and pedals included, before ordering.

Digital pianos and keyboards

Many players start on a digital piano or a keyboard on a stand, often in a bedroom or a corner of the living room. A 3.3×5 ft rug under the keyboard and bench defines the practice space and keeps the bench from scuffing the floor. If you sit on a rolling chair, choose Standard, which stays put and lets the wheels roll. Rugs also help a little with the thump of pedals and footsteps in an apartment.

Sheet music

A page of sheet music, staves, notes, a treble clef and a few dynamic markings on warm cream, is an elegant design for a reading corner, a studio or a musician's bedroom. A custom version can print the opening bars of a favorite piece, as long as the music is in the public domain or your own composition. Classical works by composers like Bach, Mozart and Chopin are long out of copyright.

Grand piano silhouettes

A black grand piano with its lid raised, on white or gold, is a sophisticated design for a living room or a music room, a nod to concert halls and jazz clubs. It pairs beautifully with a black and white room, a brass floor lamp and a few framed concert posters. Our living room rugs page has more layouts.

Learning rugs for young players

For children learning piano, a colorful rug with notes, the musical alphabet and a keyboard showing where middle C sits, the 40th key on a standard piano, makes practice feel like play. Teachers use rugs like these for games: hop to the right note, find the group of three black keys. On a hard floor, choose Standard so the rug stays put. For more classroom designs, see our classroom rugs.

The walking piano

In the 1988 film Big, Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia danced out a duet on a giant floor piano in a New York toy store, a scene so beloved that floor pianos have delighted children in toy shops and museums ever since. A keyboard rug captures that playful idea in a child's room or playroom, minus the sound.

Lesson studios

For piano teachers, a rug under the bench and a cheerful notes rug by the door make the studio feel welcoming to nervous beginners. A round rug under the bench, from 2.6 to 5.9 ft (80 to 180 cm) across, protects the floor from the bench and looks tidy. Our round rugs page shows each size in a room, and our office and studio rugs page has more ideas.

Music rooms

In a dedicated music room, a keyboard rug, a sheet-music design or a calm solid under the piano anchors the space, alongside a shelf of scores, a metronome and a good lamp. For the softest feel underfoot in a listening corner, choose Premium, 7 mm plush velvet on a bamboo and cotton back, about 700 g/m².

Recitals and gifts

A piano rug makes a meaningful gift for a student after a first recital, a graduating music major or a retiring teacher. A custom design with their name on a page of sheet music, or the opening notes of the piece they played, is the most personal choice.

Jazz and blues

For jazz lovers, a moody design of a grand piano under a single spotlight, in navy, black and gold, sets the scene of a late-night club. It suits a home bar or a listening room with a good record collection. For records, see our vinyl record rugs.

Colors

Piano designs look best in classic black and white. For a warmer room, try ivory and black, like the keys of an older piano; for a kids' room, rainbow notes on white; for an elegant space, black and gold.

Other instruments

For string players, see our guitar rugs, and for every kind of music, our music rugs.

Your own design

Want a keyboard runner sized to your hallway, your child's name on a page of music or the first bars of your wedding song as you've written it out yourself? Our custom rugs can print it in any size up to 5′11″ × 10′, or as a round rug. Please only send artwork and music you're allowed to use. Custom rugs are made just for you and can't be returned.

Standard or Premium

Standard is best under pianos, benches and in hallways, because its non-slip back stays put. Premium is softer and warmer, best in listening corners and bedrooms. Both are printed the same way, so the keys stay crisp black and white, and both go in the washing machine.

Sizes, shipping and returns

Rectangles come in 2×3, 2.6×3.9, 3.3×5, 4×6 and 5×7 ft, and round rugs from 2.6 to 5.9 ft (80 to 180 cm) across. Custom sizes go up to 5′11″ × 10′, including long runners. Every rug is printed to order in 1–3 business days and ships from Turkey; US delivery usually takes 2–5 business days after that. Unused rugs can be returned within 30 days on US orders; custom rugs can't be returned.

Care

Machine wash on a gentle, cold cycle and let it air dry flat. Vacuum on a low setting between washes, and blot spills with cold water right away. The design is printed into the fibers, so the keys stay sharp, wash after wash.

The keyboard, by the numbers

A standard modern piano has 88 keys: 52 white and 36 black. They run from the lowest A, called A0, which vibrates at 27.5 times a second, to the highest C, C8, more than seven octaves above. Middle C sits near the center of the keyboard, and the A above it, A4, is tuned to 440 vibrations per second in most of the world, the note an orchestra tunes to.

The black keys come in groups of two and three, which is how pianists find their place without looking: C is always just to the left of a pair of black keys. That simple pattern repeats across the whole keyboard, seven times plus a few extra keys.

Those details make piano rugs more useful as well as beautiful. A keyboard runner with all 88 keys drawn to the right pattern, and middle C marked in a small accent color, helps a young player learn where they are. Letter names printed on the white keys turn the rug into a lesson for beginners, and a few notes on a staff above the keys connect what they see on paper to where it lives on the keyboard.

For a lesson studio, a rug like this doubles as a game: step on the C's, find the groups of black keys, hop up an octave. For a pianist's home, a simple full-keyboard runner along a hallway is an elegant, graphic nod to a lifelong love of music.