How do you choose a carpet?

[Merrow]

I've somehow never lived anywhere with carpet before, how on earth do you choose one? I've got as far as knowing I don't want the mushroom coloured one that's currently here...

It's for stairs and an upstairs hallway (rest of the floors are wooden). It needs to look good with wood I guess? It seems like the choice is grey (which I don't like) or 8,000 apparently different shades of oatmeal. There's some stained glass on the stairway in a sort of orange / pink / green colourway. No other windows. Plain off-white walls.

We're not keen decorators so we won't be replacing it with any regularity. I am over anxious about children falling down the stairs so not sure if some are slippier / there's decisions to be made about underlay to cushion any falls.

Budget is slightly immaterial in that we're happy to save for the right thing (in the full knowledge that we will not change it). We don't wear shoes in the house, and no pets, but also don't want something we'll have to be incredibly precious about (we've one DC and another on the way).

Help!

I went for a mix of 80% wool and 20% polyester in a warm coffee colour. The wool makes it hard wearing but the polyester mix makes it easier to clean and carpet moths only eat pure wool. I bought the best underlay we could afford. That was about 8 years ago and it's still in perfect condition despite pets and teenagers carrying cups of tea around.

Great, thank you. 80/20 is a useful starting point!

I went for 100% synthetic and it can be washed with bleach if needed (hasn't been needed so far). My colleague bought a wool carpet and found that even water spills left a stain (she has children). £2,000 of living room carpet just instantly ruined.

I'm hoping that stairs and landing will be relatively protected from the realities of children (likely naive!). We did go for waterproof laminate in the bedrooms, which has already proven to be the right call though so definitely up for exploring easy clean options.

My approach at the moment is to just order samples from everywhere, is there a brand you'd recommend for synthetic? I looked at them briefly for DS' room but there were too many options across a crazy range of prices.

We went to a couple of local shops which gave us an idea of what the different types actually looked and felt like. We're going for 80/20. We're doing stairs/landing, bedrooms and living room.

The staff in the shop were helpful about types of underlay for what we wanted (it will be for underfloor heating) and how hardwearing it needs to be and they have samples of each colour you can take away with you.

We also found that the second shop sold some of the same brands as the first but was more expensive!

I need to replace my horrible carpets too and I went round John Lewis and spoke to them, plus a local carpet shop.

The problem is carpet is mostly really boring (I haven't got the space of House of Hackney unfortunately) and I'd like jute but I know my cat would destroy it, so I'm not sure I'll ever get round to buying anything ever.

I've heard 80/20 is the best way to go, and yes good underlay makes all the difference to how luxurious the carpet will feel once laid.

@doggiedazy , the cat will love the jute carpet.
Jute is hard to clean and stinks when wet

@MerryChristmasToYou I know, I know....it just looks so pretty in all those beautiful instagram homes....sigh....

I find hall and stairs high traffic areas so exposed to everything children bring.

I get samples and then leave them around the house to see if they collect crap, hair etc. This was after a costly mistake. Look at the weave of the carpet, loop carpets are easy to snag.

@doggiedazy , i have a really cheap synthetic carpet that is beyond grubby-looking. . DCat loves it.

@Merrow, get a carpet in a muted medium colour with a fleck.

Immediately on entry we have wooden floors, so that seems to attract most of the actual mess and by the time you get to the stairs coats and shoes are off, but the detritus of children generally is something to be aware of!

Looks like I should brave a shop. I'm really not a visual person so trying to work out how a square of material will actually look in the house I find quite challenging. Although good to discount jute and loop immediately. That's a good idea about leaving the samples subs the house @Ducksurprise

And thanks @MerryChristmasToYou, that's the sort of precise instruction I can work with!

Definitely get a fleck or a pattern, I rented a house once with a lovely expensive blue carpet (had been the owners home), drove me to distraction because two minutes after it had been hoovered there would be visible detritus.

@Merrow , I had pale carpets upstairs and off-white curtains and furnishings, then got a cat. DCat likes to lie or scratch at the top of the stairs (for maximum tripping opportunity) and it is ragged and cat coloured. Because it is a cheap carpet, it's like velcro.

I'd go for a twist, with the fleck being a darker colour. Don't get a dark carpet. Either get one with a high wool content or a luxury synthetic one.

I'd put vinyl or laminate in the bedrooms, but noise might be a factor.

Agreed you ideally want a carpet with fleck or pattern (not many nice and neutral ones of those around).

I have wooden floors downstairs and carpet on the stairs/upstairs.

Although the wooden floors get dusty I find the general debris/hair gets carried by socks etc and ends up on the stair carpet.

I am planning on buying carpets that are a close colour to the fluff and dust on my house so I'm not constantly feeling annoyed about not hoovering every 5 mins.

If you have pets or long-haired family members, get a rubber broom, and sweep the carpet before vacuuming.

Honestly it’s a process of elimination

Start with roughly what colour - oatmeal probably especially if you have wood.

Do you want synthetic or wool or 80/20, I prefer wool or 80/20 personally as I find synthetic a bit shiny, also I think it doesn’t wear as well, but if you have moth issues then you may prefer to avoid wool

Then what texture, do you prefer a cut pile or a loop. Big loops don’t work on stairs, a very fine loop does though. Don’t get loop of any sort if you have or may acquire a cat. Or there is flatweave which looks smart but is slippy on stairs (ask me how I know…)

Then budget, I know you said flexible but if one is double the cost, is it really worth it

That should narrow it down a fair bit and then you just… pick one.

I hate picking carpets, can never visualise how they will look in my house.
Luckily, I know a great carpet fitter. I recently told him that we needed a new carpet for the hallway. It had to be hard wearing with a fleck, and I wanted a very, very good underlay. He just brought round two sample books and left them with me. Very easy to pick a colour in your own home from a limited choice . I’m very pleased with the result.
BUT you have to trust your fitter!

Well I work in a carpet shop and my husband is a carpet fitter . My best advise is to go into a shop , if they’re any good you should be able to ask for photos of jobs they’ve done previously so you can get an idea of what might work in your space ! Also you can usually borrow samples (and leave a small deposit ) to take home to look at which is helpful ! If you happen to live near twickenham come and see me and I’ll help you out haha

@Sparklysunshine if only! Up in the NW though. My dream is to find people better than me at every single trade who make correct choices on my behalf. I've got handyman and painter covered, but need to find the right carpet fitter (i.e. one that is happy to tell me if my choice is idiotic!).

Very timely thread OP, thank you! Our house has always had wooden floorboards upstairs. I like them, but with young children it could be cosier and is slippery with terrible sound transfer. At 40 something I am buying carpets for the first time.

Taken the hint about getting someone to come into your home. Colours are a nightmare and we can't have the textured ones I like because we would have to join them due to a rickety old cottage with odd room dimensions.

If anyone has experience of a carpet with join and can tell us how this looks we would be very grateful. I hate the thought of spending all of that money for a terrible finish.

Well most shops offer to come and measure for free so I’d always say pop in the shop , pick out some colours you like then get a free quote as trust me that sometimes the price helps you make a decisions faster 😂 basic first question is textured carpet (like the wool ones) or fluffy carpet (man made ones) then what kind of budget do you have ,how long would you want the carpet to last ,,,, and lastly what kind of colours are you liking ! Trust me it’s not as daunting as it seems !

@JennyForeigner a join is normally done with a heat seamer where they put a wax strip tape behind the carpet and weld the two pieces together ,,, providing your carpet fitter has plenty of experience it should be a simple job ! An important thing is that the pile of the two pieces of carpet goes the same way although like I said any experienced tradesperson will know this !

I'm so glad to have found this thread. Hoping to start doing up a house in the new year (waiting for sale to go through).
The carpets are grim and all need replacing but I have no idea where to start and virtually no budget to do it with!

That's really helpful, thank you @sparklysunshine.

I was being a twit - our room is under 5m in the other direction, and I forgot it doesn't really matter which way carpet lies!

Get one with flecks!

I’ve recently had new carpet in my bedroom and chose this: www.cormarcarpets.co.uk/carpet-ranges/wool-twist/natural-berber-twist/variants/seed/

The colour goes nicely with wood furniture, the flecks mean any little bits of fluff aren’t too obvious, and the pile is long enough to feel nice but not that super long type that needs daily hoovering and gets squashed.

The lady at our local carpet shop was very keen to show me the ones that are bleach cleanable, but I’ve never even thought of cleaning a carpet with bleach.