Carpeting is like a member of the family. It can be a source of pride, but apologies often are made for it. It offers comfort but also causes aggravation. Even a carpet’s stains become part of family history, reminding homeowners of the holiday party, the toddler, the new puppy.
Yet for all the complications that come with carpeting, only a few hardwood fanatics can live without it. Whether it’s a wool Abusson imported from Turkey or a beige wall-to-wall from a nearby outlet, a home is known, in part, by the carpet in it.
There’s a lot to consider when buying carpet. To make a smart choice, you need to know about fiber, density, twist, cleanability and texture. But most experts agree that the first step in buying carpet is figuring out where it’s going to go and whether that room is a high- or low-traffic area.
Traffic patterns
For high-traffic areas, which typically include family rooms, hallways and stairs, consider a carpet featuring cut pile with a twisted tuft. The twist in each tuft allows the carpet to spring back quickly; a tuft that sprouts straight up like a crew cut is going to prove less resilient and show foot tracks more readily, according to Dorothy Brown, manager of the Olson Rug outlet in Arlington Heights.
Patterned carpets also are good choices for heavily used areas because they help hide soil. “If you anticipate lots of traffic, we recommend multicolored patterns, maybe something geometric or with chevrons, to conceal the wear,” says Chicago interior designer John Robert Wiltgen.
For low-traffic bedrooms, lush, deep-pile carpet that feels luxurious underfoot is a good choice. Or consider a stylish multilevel, sculpted carpet that combines cut and loop pile. For those on a tight budget, less expensive, low-density carpeting probably would be adequate in light-traffic areas such as guest rooms.
Colorful choices
Once traffic patterns have been determined, color becomes an important issue. In fact, if you’re decorating an apartment or house from scratch, pick the carpet first and build from there, Wiltgen says.
“It’s not that carpet should dictate furnishings, but it will influence the color scheme,” he says. “If we know what color the carpet is, we can pick colors for the rest of the room that will go with it, so we tell our clients: Buy the $5,000 rug first and get the $30 gallon of paint second.”
Rolf Muellegger, carpet manager for D. Edmunds Interiors and Floor Fashions in Burr Ridge, says there are far more colors to choose from than ever. “I’ve been in the business 30 years, and when I started, there were maybe 15 (carpet) colors to pick from, and now we have over 100. People are always telling me, `I love the carpet but it’s the wrong color.’ “
A big trend in carpet colors has been toward earth tones. “Believe it or not, avocado green is coming back,” says Wiltgen, “only now they call it Armani green.”
Other popular choices are soft tones of yellow and blue.
“We’re seeing an environmental kind of palette,” says Kathryn Wise, spokeswoman for The Carpet and Rug Institute, a Georgia-based manufacturers’ association. “People are looking for the colors of leaves, sky, sand.”
On the not-so-hot color list: mauve, gray and jewel tones (such as bright red and blue).
Understandably, homeowners are wary of being stuck with a dated color, which may explain why, according to Muellegger, beige, the vanilla ice cream of the carpet industry, still is the most popular color choice.
(Wiltgen offers this tip: “Unless you have a real Perrier-and-white-wine kind of lifestyle, don’t get all-white carpet. You even look at it and it gets dirty. Same with black rugs. It’ll show lint like crazy.”)
Also popular with consumers is sculpted carpet. Says Wise: “One of the prevalent trends we’re seeing is a lot of carpets with both high- and low-level tufting. It creates these different pile heights to create interest, perhaps with geometric patterns, and yet you can still have a solid color. So, for example, if you want a light-color floor, which will create a sense of space, you can still create some visual interest by going with a sculpted look.”
Cleaning issues
There seems to be no getting around this: Frequent vacuuming still is the best way to maintain a carpet over the years, says Wise.
“The first secret to get the most wear out of your carpet is, simply, you cannot vacuum too much,” Wise says. “If you have four kids and two dogs, I’d say vacuum daily. Carpet is a fabric that tends to hide what’s on it, so you may think you can get by; but over time, if it’s not cleaned regularly, oil will accumulate and eventually mat the carpet down. The truth is, there’s no substitute for frequent vacuuming.”
Olefin-based carpets are especially colorfast because they’re solution dyed (color is incorporated as the material is extruded from the petroleum pellets rather than added later). Olefin also is more moisture-resistant than nylon, which means households with messy residents can rest a little easier. Even ketchup and other condiments containing red dye now can be cleaned from olefin carpets with a simple detergent solution.
A look inside
The material that carpet is made of also is something to keep in mind, for a variety of reasons. The Carpet and Rug Institute offers some helpful descriptions. (All prices exclude padding, which ranges from $2 to $5 per square yard, and installation, which averages about $3.50 per square yard.)
– Wool still is considered the Rolls Royce of carpet material. The biggest drawback with wool carpeting is price. Because material costs are higher, carpets made of wool are substantially more expensive than synthetic-based carpets. But Jan Lindell of Village Carpets in Winnetka also points out that wool does not take well to dampness, so keep it out of basements. And pet stains and spills from liquids that contain red dye are next to impossible to get out of wool carpeting.
Expect to pay from $30 to $200 per square yard, with the average around $40 to $45.
– Nylon is the most common carpet fabric. Invented in 1931, its ability to provide a serviceable and far-less-expensive alternative to wool revolutionized home decor in the early ’50s by making wall-to-wall carpeting a standard feature in many new houses and apartments.
Nylon carpet is priced from about $7 to $70 per square yard.
– Olefin is especially colorfast because it is solution-dyed. Olefin is somewhat brittle, so it’s sometimes blended with acrylic to create a softer touch.
Olefin carpet is priced from $7 to $40 per square yard.
Wear and tear
A final factor to consider when shopping for a carpet is density. It refers to how close together the tufts of yarn are, and is an important factor in determining how well a carpet wears. Generally, denser carpets wear better and cost more.
To determine how dense a rug is, Wise suggests what she calls the Smile Test: “You take the carpet, bend it back like a big smile, and if you can see the backing through the fibers, it’s a lower-grade carpet. If you can’t see the backing, you’ve got a higher density, which means you’re going to get better wear from the carpet.”
