Please come and tell me about your stair carpets!

[WendyWeber]

Ours is only about 12 years old - admittedly the poor thing doesn't get the attention it needs and deserves but anyway, it's worn through to the backing on the edge of each step

It's a patterned Axminster and was about £30 a sq yd (mind you that was from Allied Cowboys so probably double what it should be)

Anyway please tell me what you have:

1. colour
2. fibre
3. plain or patterned
4. pile or loop
5. do you recommend?

I theng yew!

we ahve got a dark green plain carpet dunno what pile it is but it's awful to vacuem all the bits stick to it and i spend ages vacueming it it wasa expensive one but i wouldn't reccomend it i hat eit

I've got a fab one from Alternative Flooring - 100% wool small loop with a fleck in, its dead cosy and does not show up any bits whatsoever. It is around £25 per metre. I cannot do links but if you look on their website it is called Wool Dapple Caramel (ignore their pricing, you get it loads cheaper).

Not sure what kind of carpet to advise you to get, but to help with hoovering them i always don my marigolds(only time i use them tbh)and rub over stair carpet, not only does it catch all the fluff but helps to lift the pile

12 years old?
How long would you expect one to last? I would have thought 12 years old was extremely good.

All very helpful, thank you

bjjb, I had thought that a plain dark colour wouldn't work as we have lots of dust and bits (I never know where they come from)

helene, yours looks a lot like one I am considering - not showing bits is exactly what I'm after. How does it do on stair edges though? Is it wearing?

PP, Marigolds sounds like an excellent plan, when I get a new one I will def go with that!

joash, all I can remember is that it was guaranteed for 10 years - I sort of thought that was an absolute minimum and that it should go on for much longer than that - wrong, obv!

DD2 is currently working for a carpet company and announced today that she gets a hefty discount - either 33% or 50% she thinks - so I've been looking at their website and the ones I like are:

confetti
Natural Beauty
Rustic Choice
Rustic Life
Rustic Tweed
Square Dance

They're all sort of murky browns - previous pattern was a mid-jade/blue/cream/brown but I know when I'm beaten! Also they are mostly heavy domestic, but some are extra-heavy domestic - sounds ideal

(They also do a couple classed as heavy contract, but not in the murky-speckledy-brown colours, sadly)

helenelisabeth-I like the wool dapple caramel does it wear well?do stian come out of it easily?

Sorry wendy - hope my post didn't sound harsh. It sounds right about the guarantee naing for 10 years and now it needs changing. On the one hand I'm sure that manufacturers somehow inbuild some flaming self-destruct button into furnishings so that they last just as long as the guarantee - then implode!!! On the other hand, I think that some manufacturers just take the p*ss. Two years ago we paid just under £5000 for the sofa, chair and footstool that we currently have. It's supposed to be guaranteed for five years. So far - some of the cushions have been replaced, the buttons have disappeared from the footstool and I am in the process of digging the guarantee out as the seat cushions seem to have lost all their padding, and you can actually feel the frame of the sofa through the cushion.

Ggirl - it has only been down 3 months but so far so good - I hardly ever need to hoover it ! Everyone always comments on how nice it looks as well. So far have only had one mishap, some yogurt was spilt (we have the same carpet through the whole of upstairs) in my DD's bedroom (under her bed, it was solid by the time I noticed it) and it just brushed off. Honestly would highly recommend it. Best carpet I have ever had (and had a few, this is our 5th house in 10 years).

Wendy - Natural Beauty and Rustic Choice are nice - don't like the others.

Haven't had mine down long enough to notice if it wears yet though.