Is there anything less appealing than sculpted, 30 year old carpet in mottled shades of hamster hair brown and band aid beige? True, the latest house for sale that The Hunny and I toured was not as spectacular a fail as the house with a tree growing through the middle of the kitchen, but it had its own share of disgusting idiosyncrasies. Carpet, carpet everywhere — in the living areas, the hallways, the bedrooms, even the bathrooms (shudder). As I walked from room to room I felt the gentle crunch underfoot of 30 years worth of dirt, skin and dog hair, and even though I could see past the home’s prairie wallpaper, its frilly curtains, cheap plywood cabinets, even its popcorn ceilings, the carpet raised my hackles and left me with a scratchy, hairball feeling in the back of my throat. I wanted to rip that shit out in a rage and punch it in its face.
Doesn’t this carpet look like dog farts?
Sadly, we are not highrollers. But we want a big house in a good neighborhood with a huge, wooded yard. For cheap. So we’re probably going to have to fix up whatever we buy, and flooring will most likely top the list. Although we’re passing on the farty carpet house, it did get me to thinking: what if we did buy it and renovate? What would we replace 2500 sq ft of carpet with? Hardwoods are expensive, but to me they’re worth putting in living areas. But what about the bedrooms?
What about… carpet?
This isn’t so bad, is it?
Not my favorite bedroom in the world, but I don’t hate the sisal at all.
And it’s not like I couldn’t layer other rugs over it. Ok, maybe not the zebra…
But this doesn’t make me angry (just pretend the sisal runs wall to wall — you can do it, mental giants). And carpet would be cheaper than wood, right? Well, probably not the carpet I would want…
I would not kick Kelly Wearstler’s carpet out of my bedroom.
Or could you imagine having something like this running wall to wall in your bedroom? Kelly Wearstler’s guest house makes me want to swathe everything in neutral patterns.
If you really had vision (and money to burn), you could even go super bold, like the wall to wall carpet in this Mary MacDonald room.
Hey, did I malign sculpted carpet earlier? Perhaps it’s not so bad after all.
So, what do y’all think about carpet? Could it ever look modern? How about in a super nice sculpted berber or a sisal? Does anyone out there have fancy carpet? Did it cost 500 zillion dollars?
Am I crazy for even thinking about this?
I think there are definitely some great non-dog-fart and awesome carpets out there. I used to be anti-carpet til we had kids. Especially during their crawling phases. Also, I think carpet in a bedroom can make it so much cozier. Someone elses carpet that is really old, however, is kinda yucky.
oh my -i had to come back b/c i totally forgot to comment on your post title. hilarious geniusness.
Ugh, I so feel you on the nasty carpet house hunting front. An open house my husband and I stumbled across was ONE MILLION GODDAMN DOLLARS (no, that is NOT our price range) and had the gnarliest, stained, nastiest-ass carpet ever. We were like, “Uh, if you want a million dollars for your house, could you at least fix your floors up right?” Barf in my mouth.
Timely topic, Toots. This year, we’ll be replacing the carpet in The Pea’s bedroom and our master bedroom. I wish I could find the exact same near-flokati wall-to-wall that was laid 37 years in the master. Ok, I probably can but it will be $$$$$$.
The rest of the house is laid with travertine which we’ll replace (with the same) in 3 or 4 years when we remodel the kitchen.
OK…this looks like our house when we bought it…and we compromised by putting hardwoods in LR, DR and kitchen, and carpet in bedrooms and playroom. The yummy sculpted carpets were too expensive for us, so we got a basic neutral berber and we have a rug thrown down on top in our bedroom. I don’t regret it at all in the bedrooms…it is so much cozier and my kids LOVE it…they always had hardwoods in their bedrooms before and they actually prefer the carpet.
Yay! I’m so glad you guys are chiming in.
Rebecca, that is unbelievable. Old carpet is enemy number one.
ModFruGal, mind if I ask you how long the flooring process took and how many sq ft you redid? Is the carpet easy(ish) to clean?
Raina, wall to wall flokati???????????????? Le sigh.
Sherri, Ike is about to start crawling and I feel sorry for his tiny baby knees… we have nothing but hardwoods and brick up in here.
If you wanted to do the work yourself, you could stencil the floors with any pattern you like. Lots of work, but it looks fabulous, it lasts, and it’s unique. You get exactly what you want.
We have hardwoods throughout our house except the master bedroom has carpet. We just gutted everything, and all of the floors are original woods so we went with the much more affordable carpet in the master. It’s a close-cropped dark gray. Very neutral but not anything taupe/beige/brown – that gives me an allergic reaction (well, that’s what I told my husband.)
I don’t remember exact SF, but I can guess…the carpet only took a day and I’ll guesstimate 1300sf. The hardwoods took a week and I’ll guesstimate 1800 sf. That was every floor in the whole 3100 sf house that had to be replaced…it was nasty 36 year old stained green shag, a wee bit of splintered parquet and linoleum with holes in it. There wasn’t a lot of choice in the matter!
Oh and yes, easy to clean….every few months we rent a steam cleaner and so far so good.
The sad thing is that sisal carpeting is MORE than most hardwoods! I went down the sisal carpet “look” to cover up some mismatched hardwoods in my own home and it turns out its cheaper to repair, sand and stain the existing flooring.
Has anyone found any good looking budget options?
Diane, I like the idea of painted floors, but I’m afraid the carpet will have left us with uneven, pitted concrete. Even worse would be tile, which will leave glue everywhere. Have you tried stenciling anything yourself? How did it work out?
Barchbo, dark gray is a good option. Of course, I would like something light, but we are messy people.
ModFruGal, thanks for the info! Timing is going to be critical since we already have a house and will either have to sell or rent it and then move. Uh, just thinking about that part is making me sick to my stomach.
Alex, I was afraid someone was going to say that. Damn. Wish the houses we were looking at had existing hardwoods — we would just repair them. But that ain’t gonna be the case.
I second Barchbo – Our berber is also a grey, instead of the standard issue tan and we got it at Lowes with free installation. There are some tolerable and affordable choices. It’s not the lushness of the above photos…but budget reins!
The dog fart definitely has to go. I don’t think if you have to spend as much as hardwoods, laminates or wall to wall Karastan to get something cool though.
If the house is on slab pull the carpet and pad and resurface the concrete until it looks good (personally I am no fan of stained concrete; you could do that if you needed the color though), then put down the area rugs.
If the house is pier and beam redo the sub-floor with 5/8″ plywood and stain patterns onto the plywood. I have seen a few really cool floor treatments like that in boutiques in San Francisco recently (Five and Diamond comes to mind). I would think you could do plywood floor on a slab too using laminate noise reduction pads and sheeting.
Hi Michael, and thanks for dropping by! I am definitely open to alternative flooring solutions. I’m curious about the concrete resurfacing process — how involved and/or expensive is that?
Going to see if I can find some pics of the plywood floors you mentioned…
I´m not sure if I´ve understood you well (my English is quite poor) but I like the house. Light sisal will make it lighter, and white painted everywhere, with that tall ceilings and chimney (also white for me).
And I agree, if you want to sell a house, it will be definitely easier if it´s clean, as clean as possible.
Carpet = allergies. If asthma is a problem then carpets, old or new, are a no no, especially in the bedroom where you spend 7-8 hours sleeping–if you’re lucky. Our house had hardwoods (except for the addition that’s now the living room) that had been covered by carpet, even green shaw in the groovy ’70s, for most of it’s 50 years. We had them redone and they are lovely. Way less allergens too.
I put Shaw’s Heat Wave carpet in Jamocha in my living room. It hasn’t shown any dog dirt and is wearing well. http://shawfloors.com/carpetDetails/Heat_Wave-Twilight
Elena — welcome, your English is perfect! I think your vision is lovely. Sadly, we’re passing on this house because of floor plan issues, but I’m definitely contemplating an all white look for whatever we eventually buy.
Connie, I hadn’t considered that. Sounds like the carpet you chose is treating you well, though! I like the pattern. My mom put a diamond patterned berber in a similar color in her new house, and I have to say, it looks really good.
Other than sisal, carpet doesn’t usually get me excited. Soooo prefer wood floors with area rugs. For my own house I’m looking into this hardwood company that supposedly has some goods for 1.99 per square foot. Haven’t gotten them to call me back, or send samples yet. But if they do, and they are for real, I’ll certainly pass it along.
e -
did you find any pics of painted/stained plywood? the carpet in my son’s room (a not so great berber) has *got* to go. can’t afford new hardwood or carpet right now, so the plywood idea intrigues me.
i too think there are definitely some non-dog-fart carpets out there…
great posts though…
i liked mary mc donalds carpets – thanks for sharing…!!!
Naomi, definitely pass along that info when you get it
I have found that a great deal of the cost of wood floors comes from installation, though.
Anita, I may be working up a post for Wednesday, so stay tuned. It’s a good idea, but I wonder about the installation…?
Richy, thanks for stopping by! I love that carpet, too. Wonder if I would love it 10 years later?
could i just use the plywood that’s under the carpet now? –or would i have to install a new layer of plywood?!
I used an alpaca carpet in a clients house recently. Cost a FORTUNE but is totally awesome & fabulous. (doesn’t fade -great for the Aussie sun, nor have nasty chemicals to inhale. But sadly, its not realistic for most (including me!) Im also a fan of bamboo flooring. Here anyway -its very cost effective & you can feel totally eco smug. just give lil Ike some stylin knee pads?
You know what? Try your hardest to afford hardwood floors throughout. And in the bedrooms, I think hardwoods are still more sanitary and easier on the allergic. Then, if you want to add something to warm things up, invest in a throw rug. But I really think it’s worth the effor to install hardwood floors…
Wow. I think I have seen at least five comercial establishments with plywood floors and a stained design. It had not occurred to me it would be tough to find images of this technique. The one place I know for sure is Five and Diamond. Lots of images of their clothing, alas none of their floor.
What I have seen that looked great is laying down the plywood, painting a border with a darker stain then painting a center design with 2 – 3 colors of stain (think curvy fleur-de-lis-ish type). Then going over the entire floor with a satin finish.
I did find a nice image of plywood cut into squares and laid out with the grain alternating: http://gardenopolis.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/plywdflr.jpg
And a painted example that’s not of my taste but gives you an idea of the technique:
http://www.toolgirl.com/toolgirl/images/2008/02/23/stencilled_plywood_floor.jpg
Camilla, SWOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gawd, that would be insane!
Pam, I hear you, but I’m still going back and forth. The cat hair tumbleweeds are blowing through my hardwood floors right now, and maybe that issue would be lessened by carpet? Maybe?
Michael, you are my hero of the day! I’m working up a plywood floor post for Wednesday. You’re right — it’s very hard to find pics (I checked Five and Diamond’s site, too) and I appreciate all your help. If you happen to wander into any of those plywood floored establishments, take some pics and we’ll be happy to post them.
Did your carpet interest pop up when Ike started crawling and playing on the floor? My girls still play games, watch tv, lie around and generally hang out on the floor. And they HATE our woven jute/sisal rugs and hardwoods. Our only w2w carpet is in our bedroom and it looks hideous. The carpet industry has a term for it: “ugly out.” Carpet just uglies out over time. Wool definitely looks better longer…
Cat hair tumbleweeds do stop tumbling. But, it just builds up in the carpet. Schmissell, Schmhoover, Schmyson, they don’t get it up as well as you can when you clean a hardwood floor.
I’ve always been a fan of wood and wouldn’t even entertain the idea of carpet. So when we bought our new house which has carpet in the bedrooms, one of the first things I planned to do was replace it with wood. I even had someone come out and take measurements and figure out how to match the wood in the hallways and stairs. They commented on how nice the carpet was and seemed surprised that I was ripping it out. At the same time, we were putting floors in the basement (tile in some of the rooms and industrial carpet in the others) and the person who came out to do the estimate saw the carpet in the bedrooms and also commented on how nice the quality was. (No one really lived in the house so it was also like new, which helped.) Then we moved in and I was shocked to learn that I actually liked the carpet. It was hard for me to admit it at first but I like how it feels underfoot, I like being able to sit on it and roll around it with the dogs. I never do that on any of our rugs. So in the end, we had it professionally steam cleaned and we’re keeping it. My name is Ally and I like carpet.
You three ladies have pretty much encapsulated the gist of my inner turmoil: it’s comfy! It gets worn. It’s cheap! It’s allergenic. It’s soft! It’s dirty.
Oh, and Ally — you crack me up, lady.
Ugh, this is a hard one. I think, as Ally has come to learn, carpet is just an accepted flooring choice here in the South. At least with new construction. Our entire upstairs (bedrooms) is carpeted. Do I love it? No. Do I hate it? No. It’s held up pretty well over the course of nine years, considering there are three boys and a dog inhabiting the house and really, hardwoods just don’t invite frolicking on the floor. And boys frolick (read: beat the shit out of one another) a lot. So with little ones, I almost prefer carpet. It’s not too difficult to clean by the way. Regular vacuuming is a must and an occassional spot clean/steam clean when necessary.
In our basement, which we finished about three years ago, we used a combination of Flor tiles, cork tiles, and stained concrete. I love all three, but definitely for different areas. The concrete was just the original foundation. Not in the best condition, but we had it stained and we’re very happy with the result. Super easy maintenance. As for the Flor tiles, you know all about the flooding (twice) and how resiliant they turned out to be. And the cork floor I love. It has the warm element of wood, but is much softer and cushy underfoot and very easy to maintain. We actually need to replace the berber in our keeping room and I hope to replace it with the cork tiles, as it would be difficult to match the hardwood in the adjacent kitchen/breakfast area. So there you have it. Did I just add to the confusion? :0)
Hmmmm, I want to hear more about the cork! Expensive? Durable? What happened when it flooded????