Carpet flooring

Buying carpet

When you choose a carpet, practicality must be your main concern. Consider the area in which you want to lay the carpet. Is it used daily? Is it used with your shoes on? Is it used where food & drink is consumed? Is it used by your kids?

Don’t choose shag-pile carpets for high trafficked rooms and do not have carpets in kitchen and bathrooms.  Although, patterns are a comeback – try to avoid them. They are trendy this year, but will be naff the following year. If you like patterns, buy a rug instead and use it on top of your plain carpet or wooden flooring. Generally speaking, the denser the carpet the more luxurious it feels. Twist carpets are extremely hard-wearing, whilst loop carpets add a bit of texture that feels comfortable. Pure wool carpets are the best, particularly those made of New Zealand wool, but these can be quite expensive. Synthetic carpets are cheaper, can be treated to be stain-resistant and are durable. For living rooms choose hard-wearing short-pile carpets. Cut and loop carpets (with twist and loop bits) add a modern touch and pattern to a room.  For bedrooms choose shag-pile or short pile velvet carpets which have tightly woven fibres.

Carpet colors

Obviously don’t use light colours in high-trafficked areas. Although light carpets make a space look bigger, they need a lot of care and show stains. Dark colors make a room look  smaller and also show every bit of fluff. The best choice is a natural, caramel, earthy or stone-like color which can look warm, elegant and chic and goes with most decorating styles. Do avoid striking bold colors – they can overwhelm a space – if you’re into retro or bold or whatever, just get a cheap and cheerful rug from your DIY Store which you can replace with a new style next year.

Natural carpets

Sisal, seagrass and coir flooring have been popular for ages – they are hardwearing and resilient but can be rough underfoot. They are perfect for hallways, staircases, living rooms and as runners.  For a bedroom floor, jute is quite soft. If you want a natural flooring, the new trend for carpets is woven paper flooring. Paper flooring is eco-friendly, strong and durable – it’s also the perfect choice for an oriental look.

Carpet stains

The main disadvantage of using carpets is that they stain easily. These days most manufacturers offer an anti-staining treatment on new carpets which supposedly makes them stain-resistant. If you spill or drop something, clean the marks immediately with a damp cloth.

Carpet care

A carpet should last you a good ten years, but you’ll need to look after it. In fact good carpet maintenance is quite a skill and quite an experience. If you need or have a particular carpet cleaning tip, why don’t you share it with others?  As far as new carpets are concerned, particularly pure wool ones, they fluff a bit for a while, so you should vacuum them on a regular basis. Get your carpet cleaned professionally at least once a year. Try not to wear your external shoes indoors. If you have pets, perhaps you should use laminated or wooden flooring instead.

Read more about how to install carpet.