Can you have carpet on stairs and vinyl on landings...help!

[SophieJenkins]

Got to do our extensive set of staircases and landings in our victorian flat.

I don't know where to start. We currently have very damaged floorboards to cover up - the staircases themselves aren't too bad - and I don't really like carpet on stairs so will probably leave the second floor ones bare and paint them a dark colour in diamond hard paint.

But there is a problem with the groud-to first floor staircase in that some horrid smells come through from the flat below (not their fault) and I think this is where they come in. So I think we might need to have carpet on those, but I really, really don't want carpet in the hall or on the landings, because I have three very dirty footed children!

Planning on having the landings and hall boarded and then fitting vinyl on them, in a dark wood effect. Would this look awful with carpet in between and if not, what colour/type of carpet is going to look okay for the longest?

I really don't like carpet because of the difficulty in keeping it looking nice, but to try and stop the smell I don't know what else I can do.

Thanks if you got this far!

I think you could get away with a mix and match approach if everything harmonised in colour and tone. So if I were you I'd be looking at what vinyl I actually want. Then look for a carpet that unobtrusively goes with the vinyl.

Either that, or you need to paint the second staircase to match the carpet you choose. And have contrasting vinyl.

Basically you can't have three different things, without there being an enjoyable and definite connection between those three things.

It sounds a bit weird to me.
What are the smells from below? Can thry be addressed?
Is vinyl slippy on stairs?

I have carpeted 2 starches and 2 landings but vinyl throughout ground floor & hall & all the upstairs rooms. No problem visually. A good carpet with good underlay is fine to keep clean and nice underfoot. I wanted super easy to clean, low allergen in the rooms where we actually spend time, & I don't spend time on landings & stairs, just transit, & we don't wear shoes upstairs at all.

If you use a striped carpet with good underlay it will be easy to maintain, warm and quiet, and give you a good palate of colours to pick up colours from if you need to match with floor paint for your upper staircase.
We have an 80/20 mix which gets tons of wear and it is holding up beautifully.
The colours are lovely, striped carpets offer a lot of eye candy.

This combo works, for example.

carpet on stairs reduces the noise, which is very important if you don't live in a detached house and if you have children.

Look at very large doormats inside and outside your entry door. John Lewis and Aldi sometimes have them, or a local independent carpet dealer (preferably with no glossy showroom) can cut one to fit as he does for shops and offices.

Thank you all very much!

The large doormat fitted instead of carpet in the entrance is a wonderful idea - as long as it can come up to be brushed and bashed outside.

My parents have a coir mat type floor in their porch. It's great.

The smell can't be addressed without upset - basically the lovely, kind elderly lady has a personal issue which requires attention a few times a day. She then (I think) uses a spray which is meant to disguise it but it doesn't work very well there is no way I can say anything.

The house is converted and the walls are very thin with various gaps round the edges and I am trying to fill those with filler, but I think the stairs are still gappy as they are very old and will let the smell come in that way iyswim.

It's a bit delicate so I think carpet is going to be the answer for now.

The vinyl I want (have already got some) is a very rich dark brown wood effect, I think I may go for a deep orange carpet or something else vibrant

I hadn't thought about that - thanks for the idea about the colours needing to work together

Maybe a manmade carpet though, one you can scrub and bleach etc? I don't want wool as there was a moth issue when we came here and I still see them flying about.

I'm just grateful she isn't a smoker tbh. I would have to move

We have a large inset coir door mat in our hall - it lifts out so you can beat the muck out of it although I hoover it regularly.

Oh lovely, that sounds perfect.

I think I am forming a plan!

you can wash, scrub and bleach polypropylene carpet. I have had some, "heather twist" which means it has a speckled colour to hide marks, and the pile is crimped to resist flattening. I have not used it on stairs, though.

Look out for an independent carpet merchant, though. I was recommended to one on the Eastern fringes of London who mostly does shops, pubs, offices, hotels. He had no glossy showroom and no hard sell, but gave good prices and service. He also had roll-ends from recent jobs at about half-price.

I was going to say, you might consider "positive ventilation" which is a method that blows air into your home (usually from the loft) and pushes out through any gaps, thus preventing draughts. Pushing it in from the top of the home reduces the tendency for expensive warm air to rise up and escape.

It is usually sold to people who have a damp and condensation problem and refuse to fix the leaks or stop draping wet washing round their homes, but I digress. A large slow fan is quieter than a small fast one. Modern fans use very little electricity.