Carpet and home decor novice - advice needed!

[Shinyballs]

We are planning to replace the carpet in our home. It has been in since we bought it ten years ago as a new build. It is wool, pale, has no underlay and is a flipping nightmare to clean. It goes grey from black socks and acts like velcro for cat har. I hate it. It is also stained, thinning and the cat has pulled bits of it up. I have one shot a this! As once the money has gone, it has gone!

Ideally, I want something that is NOT wool, maybe darker or mix so as to hide stains and enable us to wear whatever socks we want. I want something that has some stain repellant ability as I have a cat who sadly does chuck up every now and again and I have children, one of whom is SEN. I also want it to be maybe beige/warm tones so it matches our furniture and shelves. We have an odd assortment of decor but it definitely all is in the warm natural palette.

I have never done this before so am getting really confused about different carpets! Is it better to have the same carpet throughout the house? I find it really overwhelming and I know I could easily be taken advantage of by a carpet sales company.
Does anyone have any advice for me please?

I personally only put carpet in upstairs , I prefer hard flooring downstairs with rugs, my carpet starts on the stair and in upstairs hall and all bedrooms. I changed all mine a few years ago from cream to charcoal Gary it fantastic don’t see any spills or make up but does need hovering every few days. Always get good underlay and then wool or a wool mix carpet.

Hey Shinyballs!

I know you say carpet, but would you consider a wooden/laminate or tiled floor? Only wondered because I also have pets (who throw up and worse ) and until recently had a similar problem with my carpet. Got so fed up with it never feeling clean that I ripped it up!! Hadn't realised that there was no underlay and a gorgeous wooden floor underneath, so a huge win for me.

A few weeks on and I'm delighted as it's far easier to keep clean, not as noisy as I'd thought, no colder (which people often say it will be). I've got a large ish rug for a bit of comfort and colour.

If you're certain you want carpet I'd suggest going to an independent retailer rather than one of the big carpet sales places. Get advice from the independent as I'm sure they will be more knowledgeable and less about getting the sale. There are quite a lot of hidden costs, like the fitting, door trims, underlay all of which I think an independent will be more open about as it's their own reputation at stake - big places like Carpet Right can afford to mess people about, small retailers can't.

Good luck, hope you find what you're after at a good price

Thank you for the advice. I have hard floors downstairs but prefer carpet on the other two floors to keep noise down. I will check out an independent retailer.

Good luck. For carpet, find a independent retailer. They can advise you on your options. There are several independent carpet shops.

I would go for the same carpet throughout. I would also get some samples so you can see it in situ. we bought a living room carpet and had taken a sample of our sofa cover shop thought it would be ok, but definitely should have taken carpet samples home.

We ripped up our carpets upstairs, but will only put down either new carpet or hard flooring when our elderly cat passes away. We will have a good few years of living with floorboards which are not in great condition first, but it is a one off purchase and the cost of cleaning has to be factored in!

I put a stripe carpet going up the stairs and hallway, then have a solid or slightly speckled matching carpet in the bedrooms, and all the same unless on a different floor.
Go for the best underlay and I like 80/20 wool with 10mm pile.