Boring carpet question

[purplejungle]

I need to get new carpet on our landing/ bedrooms to replace the current threadbare carpet.

I've never bought carpet before and it's all a bit overwhelming...

Where do I start?!

Ideally cream- beige as that's what we have currently. But also need to be able to get stains out of it easily (due to toddler ds).

Any tips?! Thanks

You measure how much carpet you need (I always draw a picture of the room, with the measurements on) and go to a carpet shop.

Choose your pattern / colour.
Think about all the doorways and whether you need to replace the metal bits where the hall carpet meets the bedroom carpets.

The carpet shop ask you if you want to replace the underlay (usually a good idea) and they work out a price for you.
If you are happy, youarrange a date. You clear anything that is currently in the hallway, and you lift the old carpet (usually - I'm sure there are companies that must do this, but where I go, it is the householder that does it). YOu sweep up all the bits and check for any bots of floorboard that look dodgy or nails sticking out.
They come and fit the carpet.

Top tip - don't have cream or beige or anything plain and pale in a high footfall area.

After having moths I would never have wool again! I would also never pay for the stain repellent stuff again. I've had beige with a young child but I'm going for grey when we move

You’ll need some cash on the day. No one told us that a) we’d need to lift the old carpet ourselves and b) that the fitters needed paying in cash

I have stripes on my stairs and landing.

The better the carpet, the more 'strands' per square inch. You will need a relatively hardwearing one for a landing.

You might be able to get an off cut which will not only be cheaper, you don't have to make as many decisions then.

Most carpet shops will come out to measure for you. I'd always choose that instead of doing it yourself in case of mistakes. Then you go and look at samples once you know how much you need and they'll work out the overall cost of whatever you choose.

Most carpet shops will come out to measure for you.

I suspect they will, but it seems an odd thing to pay someone to do, when you can just hold a tape measure yourself.

Try and get one the colour of dirt and also something which has flecks of other colours in it. Hides any spills or debris much better than a plain even colour

@BackforGood

Most carpet shops will come out to measure for you.

I suspect they will, but it seems an odd thing to pay someone to do, when you can just hold a tape measure yourself.

I've bought carpets from three different places over the last 20 years, all of them sent someone to measure up, then do a quote and I looked at samples to chose. They don't charge to come and measure.

@BackforGood

Most carpet shops will come out to measure for you.

I suspect they will, but it seems an odd thing to pay someone to do, when you can just hold a tape measure yourself.

Don't think any company would charge for that. A measure is usually free.

No, but they have to cover the cost of the member of staff coming out to people's houses and measuring up, so it is likely to mean that "the amount of money that leaves your account in total" is going to be higher than my independent carpet shop where they aren't paying staff to go into people's homes other than than to fit the carpet.

Bit like if you go out for a meal and they offer you free bread rolls or
a 'complimentary drink' - they recoup the cost by the meals, or the drinks or the puddings being higher than in the place next door where there are no "free" things.

I only ever use independent shops rather than chains but they all measure for free around here

Find an independent shop. We found them to be much cheaper than places like carpet rite.

When we were having our landing and stairs done, we asked for someone to come and double check our measurements. They came the day of the fitting had a quick look before going back to the shop to cut that carpet to size.

Don't forget to factor in the cost of underlay to whatever carpet you choose.

Go for carpet with flecks of colour in it. We once had a flat colour and it showed up every bit of fluff on the floor, so it constantly needed vacuuming.

@Hohofortherobbers

Try and get one the colour of dirt and also something which has flecks of other colours in it. Hides any spills or debris much better than a plain even colour

If you have a pale carpet, the dark dirt shows, if you choose a dark carpet, suddenly you find pale dirt everywhere..so speckled carpet is best. But I noticed that the most obvious dirt in my house is fluffy bits from black socks. So e it time, I'll either buy carpet-coloured socks, or sock-coloured carpets.

This is very helpful, thanks all!