Which stair carpet colours and styles hold up well over time?

[Nik2879]

Has anyone had a stair carpet that still looks good years later? Im stick of making mistakes with things and we don't have a lot of money so when we can finally get the hall done it will then have to last a few years.
I want a lighter beige carpet but worried it will look dirty fast. Any advice will be much appreciated thanks,

I like a light beige carpet - my parents had this colour carpet laid throughout the house in the mid 80s - it was still going strong and looking good when I sold the house in 2007. We never wore shoes in the house and didn't have a dog, if that makes any difference! It goes with everything.

I've had Roger Oates stripy runners in both our last two houses, and they've been great. This is the one we now have. Hard-wearing and nice underfoot, though not inexpensive.

Yes, quality counts. Buy the best you can afford. When we bought our last house we chose a medium quality wool in bright red but they didn't have it in stock on the day so upgraded us. It looked and felt fantastic and was still going strong last time I saw it, after about 15 years. I agree with shoes off making a big difference to the wear.

Get good underlay too.

I have a beige/oatmeal speckly stair carpet going strong after 10 years.

Actually I think you're onto something with lighter colours, we have red carpet on our stairs (not my choice, it came with the house) and it shows every spec of dirt even if I vacuum daily.

Another vote for Roger Oates, we've had their striped flatweave runners on the stairs in two previous houses.

Currently we have off-black painted stairs with no runner/carpet, but if we decide to put something down it will probably be Roger Oates again.

Re: red - or any plain darker colour - carpets, as @Justploddingonandon says they're inclined to show every little speck of dust/fluff etc. Back in the day my grandparents had plain red carpet in their hall/stairs/landing and it was the bane of my grandma's life. Otoh, we had a very expensive dark green Turkey pattern carpet laid at our last-but-four house and that was fine.

Imo, if you want something forgiving without breaking the bank or going too off piste, a flecked oatmeal is a good shout.