Designing with Carpet

Think of carpet as a fashion investment. After all, you're not simply covering your floors – you're uncovering the beauty of your home and discovering your own sense of style.

COLOR

Color can be the most fun, and the most difficult, part of the buying process. Color is the most dramatic and versatile element of interior design – it will literally set the tone for the entire space. Picking a color sounds easy, but can prove to be overwhelming when faced with the multitude of gorgeous color palettes available. Just remember, pick colors that you genuinely like and feel comfortable around, not ones dictated purely by fashion.

Select a color that will harmonize with the fabrics of your existing sofa, chairs and window coverings. When shopping for carpet, bring fabric swatches, furniture pillows and paint chips to your carpet dealer. For the truest impression of color and pattern, lay carpet samples on the floor. Also, take a step back… What seems to match up close may not always when viewed from a distance.

Lighting is the key to color. Carpet will look a bit different in the softer, more natural lighting of your home than under the bright white fluorescent lighting in many carpet showrooms. To make the right choice, bring home carpet samples from the dealer so you know exactly how the carpet looks in both day and night. This is also a great opportunity to make sure the color coordinates properly with your existing furniture fabrics.

Create a color scheme that flows from room to room. Whether pastel and romantic, vibrant and retro, or neutral and subdued, color can unify your home's color scheme. Of course, not all the rooms in your home must have the same color or style of carpet to achieve a feeling of unity. Just pick one element that has a consistent design. For example, walls and carpet can be different colors from room to room, but choose white or off-white paint for all of the moldings, baseboards and other woodwork in the house to unify the rooms. Or, use your wall-to-wall carpet as the unifying feature.

STYLE

Like color, carpet style is definitely one of the most exciting aspects of carpet. If you choose a carpet style that suits a room's mood and purpose, you will be happy with the carpet for years. Style lends interesting textures and even subtle bands of color, which can set the mood of a room. Advances in technology have made it possible to produce beautifully intricate woven patterns and textures in carpet at an affordable price.

The right style goes beyond surface appearance – it plays an important role in durability. While choosing a carpet style is a matter of personal preference, each style has its own set of performance characteristics that should match the function of the room. Generally, the more texture and pattern the carpet has the less wear it will show.

Shading: Visual effects known as shading are built-in to the carpet's construction to highlight the lush texture. If you find shading objectionable, then loop pile, patterned loop, and cut & loop styles are a better choice for your home, especially for areas that receive a fair amount of traffic.

Enjoy your carpet shopping journey!