Friday 17 June 2011

Carpet issues


I've never been much of a carpet person. I think that in the entry carpets are essential, they collect all the smudge from the shoes and also protect the floor from getting scratched and wet. In other rooms I don't think they serve much of a purpose and it's harder to vacuum and wipe floors clean with carpets than without. I think there is only one room in my home that requires a carpet from only aesthetic reasons and it's the livingroom.

This is what the livingroom and it's carpet now look like.


I had this carpet in my previous home which had almost white, or very light grey floors. But in this apartment I just don't think it fits too well. The darkness of it is quite depressing on winter time and it's made from sisal which A does not like one bit. He often complains that it stings feet when walking barefoot and maybe it does, eventhough it has never bothered me.

A week ago I went to lunch with my coworkers to a mall and after the lunch they wanted to check a nearby clothing store, but because I'm not that interested in clothes I went to the carpet store next to the clothing store. A salesperson came to me and asked if I'm looking for something and I noticed myself saying that I'm looking a carpet for the livingroom that is made of natural fibers, but not sisal, and that it's light in colour. So she showed some to me and I liked them. She also mentioned that I can take few carpets home to test them and if I don't like them I can return them. I had never heard that one could do that and desided that I will take A there with me and depending if he likes them we could take one or two home for testing. So today we went to the store and brought two carpets home, a thicker one and a thinner one.


They are both made of wool, the thicker one has a cotton base and loops made of wool weawed in. Both can be washed with cold water (I can go to the rug washing station with these too), they are both the same colour and from the same manufacturer. They even cost the same. 



Here on top is the thinner one, the weawing is very simple, similar as in rag rugs. And under is the thicker one, with loops. 



Click photos to enlarge and to see details better. The thicker one is slightly bigger than the thinner one, but I think it's better big. I think I'm slighly leaning towards the thicker one, it looks more stately than the thinner. 

What do you think? I'd like to hear your opinion. I need to return at least one of them on monday. You think having this light coloured carpet is going to be a problem? I mean if it stains, although wool shouldn't stain that easily. Do you have any other suggestions that I could try?

Edit:
Look what A had done while I was out on friday night. He had moved the chair on the carpet (He played something with kinect and had to remove the chair and table and then moved them back). I was thinking it would look too crowded with everything so close together, but I think it looks fine.

6 comments:

  1. Personally, I'd prefer the thicker one, cozier in winter and feels more substantial. But for you, seeing as you transport it and clean it, the thinner one might be easier to manage. Think about how heavy it will be once it wet!

    They are all too small, though. Can you afford to get one that will go under the couch about a foot (30 cm) and extend the other way (about another 30 cm) so that the legs of the chair are on the carpet as well?

    If you can't go quite as large as to put one under the couch, do try to get under the chair as that's the biggest visual "cue" that the rug isn't big enough.

    They are beautiful and wool is never wrong. Have you looked into how to spot clean it?

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  2. PS, style-wise, the lighter colour is absolutely the right way to go!

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  3. Good points Alana, although I'm not sure about the size. The store I went to did not have any larger size but I understood there could be another store that might have. You are probably right it might look better to have the carpet under the chair, but I don't want it to be on the path to the terrace, because I walk with dirty shoes all the time from there to the other rooms in my home, I just don't want to step on the light coloured carpet, I even avoid stepping on the dark coloured, eventhough it would survive it well.

    I have not ever thought about putting the carpet about foot under the sofa, I've heard that "rule" before, but I've not understood it. I don't think the rule is much obeyed here, although I'm not sure, perhaps I need to test by placing the carpet under the sofa for a while.

    Can you hear that I'm justifying bying the carpet? :) I really like it, the thicker one.
    I will surely require some helping hands with me when I go to the rug washing station with that one or similar one.

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  4. It could be that cultural differences mean that the rug size that we are used to in North America may not be right for you where you are.

    My thought is to put the chair in the very corner of the carpet, angled toward the couch, so that all the feet of the chair are on the carpet, and so that it looks more like a friendly conversational grouping. (If it will turn so that you can still view the TV comfortably.)

    I like the weave of the thinner carpet better, but that's because I like things that are more out-of-the-ordinary. The thicker one would likely be more practical, except for the heaviness of it when wet. (This is one I wouldn't want to leave at the washing station unattended...)

    I definitely agree that the lighter color is the way to go.

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  5. scb:
    I would change the position of the chair this instant if I was allowed to do that. A is very keen on all his audio equipment and demands to sit right in front of them and the telly also needs to be right in front. So if I would want to move the chair I would have to move half of the speakers and also the telly. I don't think I'm up to that.

    And your vision of the conversational grouping would look nice but in real life, come to think of it, the livingroom is a place mainly where A can play his Xbox and we watch movies, so majority of time spent there is not spent talking.

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  6. Yes, the chair looks more "included" with all its feet on the carpet.

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