Carpeting my New Home

iwilldoitthistime

Hi there

I am planning to floor my new home with oak downstairs and carpet from the stairs up (except the bathrooms). This is where I am uncertain of how to continue .....

I want a pretty neutral carpet, which needs to be reasonably hard wearing as I have a 20 month old 'dirt magnet' son.

I have been recommended to buy a polypropaline (SP?) carpet because it will stay clean, but when I went into John Lewis today they dismissed it out of hand as it apparently 'flattens' very quickly.

I dont want to spend the earth, but dont have to buy the cheapest carpet I can get. Can anyone give me some help here? Doozergirl - you seem to have fab taste (baths, taps, oak floor...do I need to go on??)

thanks for any advice / help you can give!:beer:

Doozergirl

I wouldn't use polypropelene either. Yuck. It will look really shiny, and feel rough.

We use an 80% wool 20% nylon wool twist carpet on the recommendation of our carpet fitter as it is supposed to wear well. It does seem to have a very thick, tight twist, which is what I assume keeps it from flattening. I lived with it for three years, it wore very well - looks just like the stuff used in new builds, whatever that is. Where I did go wrong was having cream carpet and thought I could scotchguard it and keep it clean. Big mistake!! I was cleaning that carpet constantly. I'd definately go for a mid beige/brown next time for practicality in my own home - it's the same colour as dirt!! The carpet I have here is dark and that is even worse - shows everything up within minutes of hoovering.

It looks like this, but I pay absolutely nowhere near that price! :eek: Must be a pretty expensive range!
http://www.cormarcarpets.co.uk/pages/ranges_highlander.html

mountainchrisriver

Hi there...

I used 'Corsa' carpet in my house, its a 100% wool berber twist carpet... seems to wear really well and was on offer at my independent carpet shop... (far better to deal with these type of folk than the big carpet chains with the constant sales on... IMHO!) As Doozergirl says go for a beige/mid brown in high foot traffic areas!!!

This isn't where I bought it but it does show you what I am on about!:

http://www.ukcarpetsdirect.com/products.aspx/carpets/corsa.CORS720.html

HTH...

iwilldoitthistime

thanks for the ideas. Would a wool twist carpet be easy to clean? Its just I have a pale cream carpet now (so i know what you mean about the dirt!!) and where my son has been sick a couple of times, I just cant get the marks out. I dont mind getting it properly cleaned once a year or so, but its the small(ish) marks that happen where I have the problems!

Doozergirl

They cleaned up beautifully with a Rug Doctor, but I really do think that darker carpets don't stain, or rather show up the stain, anywhere near as much.

The thing about man made fibre is that it will repel the water and stop things from sinking in. An element of man made fibre in the carpet I suppose will help with that.

iwilldoitthistime

thanks Doozergirl. I will have a look in my local independant shops next weekend for something like you have suggested (but hopefully a little cheaper!) in a little bit of a darker shade than I have now. The builder has already quoted me for carpet, but it was 100% polypropalene which I am glad you told me about before I went ahead! Im sure I will get something a lot better quality for not much more than they were quoting!

Doozergirl

The polypropelene will 'crunch' underfoot like you won't believe. Look out for carpet warehouses which will have lower overheads than a shop and more stuff in stock.

milkydrink

I've got a netural creamy/beige berber style 100% wool carpet fro my stairs up. I use that carpet power for spots (got a persian cat = fur balls!!!).

I would only get 100% wool, I think they are susposed to be the easiest to clean.

never_enough

mountainchrisriver wrote: »

Hi there...

I used 'Corsa' carpet in my house, its a 100% wool berber twist carpet... seems to wear really well and was on offer at my independent carpet shop... (far better to deal with these type of folk than the big carpet chains with the constant sales on... IMHO!) As Doozergirl says go for a beige/mid brown in high foot traffic areas!!!

This isn't where I bought it but it does show you what I am on about!:

http://www.ukcarpetsdirect.com/products.aspx/carpets/corsa.CORS720.html

HTH...

I have this carpet in my living room, even the same colour as the link. I hate the colour but the carpet seems to wear well (far too well, as I can't justify a new one!!! :mad: ) Even in this colour it cleans up ok too (even cat sick :eek: ).