An alternative to cream carpet

[Cherryblossom200]

Hello everyone,

I'm refurbishing a property I'm buying and a bit stuck for what to do with the carpet colour. I'm having oak floors on the ground floor and then carpet up the stairs and into the two bedrooms. My house isn't huge so I need light coloured carpets, initially I really wanted a light cream colour as I'm having white walls. But I have a toddler...and cats... so I've decided against it 😆I don't want wood upstairs so I'm a bit stuck as to what other colour I should use to still create the look of space and be neutral.

Any ideas please?

Thanks

Cherry x

[minusten]

I've just had this payed. It's king of greyish/beige. Still very neutral but not so light that is shows every mark. In fact she has already spilt coke on it and it doesn't show at all.

[minusten]

*layed not payed!!

[suzyrut]

We are having a light grey carpet fitted next week. It's lightish but not so light that it will show every stain (she says hopefully!).

flooringmegastore.co.uk/boucle-neutrals/. It's Portobello Silver and looks slightly darker than this in real life.

[Cherryblossom200]

I was thinking of a light grey/silvery carpet too, it looks lovely!

[Cherryblossom200]

I love that textured look Suzy, but I've been told not to use it on stairs unfortunately.

[Fluffyears]

We have light grey. Lovely and neutral but doesn't get dirty as easily. My cream Craig used to look grey if it got grubby so seems the ideal colour to not show dirt as easily. Also with the cream I could see fluff and any little specks within minutes of hoovering, not so much now.

[PlumsGalore]

I have just redone the hall and stairs and had similar to minusten, it has a hint of mink in it but kind of grey-ish mink. It's lovely and neutral and goes well with white woodwork and Egyptian Cotton walls.

[bignamechangeroonie]

My stairs are being done tomorrow in a cream and blue stripe £19.99 sq metre, colour 'northern'.

[Cherryblossom200]

I'm thinking of a Berber style carpet with a tight loop (due to the cats) only thing I've been warned of is it's not so good on stairs. Anyone have any experience of putting it on stairs? I think this might be the answer for me as will give me a neutral feeling and be hard wearing.

[namechangedtoday15]

I don't think you should have a loop carpet with animals (could be wrong) and I think you have to be careful with berber on stairs so that its laid the right way and its decent quality to ensure you don't see the backing of the carpet when it goes around the bulls nose (or whatever its called) of the treads.

[Cherryblossom200]

Yep I have read this too Namechanged, I'm going to investigate it because I do love the idea of it. Alternatively I was just going to put the same wood I'm putting downstairs, upstairs. But then I was thinking it will just be a bit 'cold' feeling getting out of bed in the middle of the night. It's nicer having something a bit softer under foot.

I'm just really struggling with having a darker carpet, I just don't like them very much and doesn't really fit in with my clean/minimalist look I'm 'attempting' to create (but will probably be tidy for all of 2 secs with a 2 year old)

[namechangedtoday15]

I think you can still get away with a light colour but you need to have a strict shoes off policy for upstairs. We have this on our stairs and landing, and then very pale grey carpets in the bedrooms.

this on the stairs

this is the bedrooms as it is clean-able and I have 3 children

[namechangedtoday15]

Sorry those links don't take you to the actual carpet, just the range. We have "Douglas" for the stairs - like a pale striped effect in grey, and then "Misty Day" for the bedrooms.

[Cherryblossom200]

I've read so many horror stories re cream carpets and pets/toddlers that I'm totally put off ha! Thanks I'll take a look at the links

[PigletJohn]

if you go for a mottled or speckly carpet, marks will be less apparent, even without a pattern. IIRC it is sometimes called a "Heather"

A pale beige or milky-tea-colour might do.

[Cherryblossom200]

Thanks Piglet 😊

[CountMagnus]

Don't go for a looped carpet with cats - go for a twist pile (loops can unravel quite spectacularly).

As PigletJohn suggests, a Heather is a good option as it is speckled and covers a multitude of sins.

Examples here.

[Cherryblossom200]

Thanks Count - is this like a normal carpet?

[CountMagnus]

Yes! A twist just means that the pile comprises a twisted and cut yarn (not a loop) and it usually has a slight texture to it. You can get plain colours or Heathers, where a range of complementary colours have been used to give a speckled effect. They are durable, and cats' claws don't snag them (was strongly advised by carpet sales lady to avoid anything looped if you have a cat).

[Cherryblossom200]

ah ok, so I could potentially still have a light coloured carpet but one that doesn't show up stains so much! Sounds like a good plan

[minipie]

We have a small loop Berber carpet on our lower stairs and a bigger loop Berber on our upper stairs. The small loop looks nice, the bigger one is a bit messy and has shed a lot of fluff.

We don't have cats though. I'd be nervous about either with cats tbh.

[CustardShoes]

Grey. I didn't want beige, so I chose a lovely mid-grey. I still wish I'd been bolder & gone for even darker grey, but it was a few years ago before people used grey. I just gwas so ot sick of living with Berber cream etc

[Cherryblossom200]

I wouldn't mind using a darker colour, but the hallway/bedrooms are huge so I don't want to make them look even smaller.

[minipie]

Why not go for darker on the stairs/landing and lighter in the bedrooms?

Or the landing could be lighter too, that might look better.

With a toddler and cats, light coloured carpet on the stairs is not going to last well (even a heather version)

[PigletJohn]

I think stairs are meant to have a plain, unpatterned, unstriped, fairly light carpet, as it's easier for people to see the steps and not tumble to their doom.