No matter how long ago the first carpets appeared on the walls and floors of homes since then this way of improving everyday life has not lost its relevance. Carpets in modern interiors have become one of the basic elements. They serve not only as a decoration and source of warmth for the feet but also help to line the space.
How to Match Carpet for the Floor
In a quality carpet pattern under the influence of time and use will become more distinct, the pile will be compacted and softened. Previously, hostesses sought to lay a new carpet in the most passable place in the house, so that the product has experienced as often as possible the footing of people and even animals.
This tradition came to us from the East, where people know a lot about carpets. There is a very high value just the carpets on the basis of silk.
Carpets originally served the purpose of decorating the house. But in addition to aesthetic function, carpets have a great practical value. Carpets could even serve as walls. In Eastern countries, the carpet was used to single out some small rooms in the house.
Of course, carpets were always used extensively in countries with cold climates. They acted as a kind of insulation. The rug could also hang and replace the door. But in most cases, such functions were used only by wealthy people. After all, the carpet is not a cheap pleasure.
Many people remember the days when in our country there was a carpet hanging on one of the walls in almost every family. Usually try to hang a rug near the sofa or bed. Today, interior styles most often involve installing a bed with a headboard against the wall. The rug is still often found hanging on the wall.
Modern carpets, furniture and interior accessories you can look at online stores. And choose for yourself original furnishings for your design.
How Many Different Carpets Can There Possibly Be?
Navigating the vast world of carpet selections can indeed seem daunting, given that there are over 20,000 styles produced by various manufacturers in the U.S. alone. However, there are effective strategies to help you find the perfect match or a suitable alternative for your flooring needs.
- Detailed Information is Key: When you come armed with specific information such as the manufacturer’s name, style, and color name of the carpet, retailers can efficiently determine if that particular carpet is still in production. This information significantly narrows down the search and increases the chances of a successful match.
- Production Timelines: Most carpet manufacturers produce a particular style for about 2 to 5 years. This timeframe means that if your carpet was made within the last five years, there’s a strong possibility that you can still purchase the same style or something very similar.
- Exploring Alternatives: If the exact match is no longer available, consider this an opportunity to refresh your space with a new look. Retailers can offer alternatives that closely match the color, texture, or feel of your original choice. Sometimes, an update can subtly enhance the room’s aesthetic while maintaining the overall vibe you enjoyed with your previous carpet.
- Professional Guidance: Don’t hesitate to seek assistance from flooring experts at the retail outlets. They can provide valuable advice on the types of carpets that might best suit your environment and offer samples for you to take home and compare under your lighting conditions.
Although the process might seem overwhelming, with the right approach and assistance, finding the right carpet or a delightful new option can be simpler than expected. Remember, the perfect carpet for your space is out there, and with a bit of effort, you’ll find it.
Carpet in the Interior: 7 Criteria for Choosing
It’s a well-known fact: even the most stylish room has an incomplete look without a rug and looks hollow, suggesting the thought of a place of presence or a museum. Designers advise approaching the choice of product with all possible seriousness. To make a successful purchase, you need to consider the interior design and traffic, as well as pay attention to the parameters of the carpet.
Purpose
In fact, rugs in the interior serve one of two functions. The accent rug draws attention to itself and enlivens the interior, while the background rug merges with the interior, dampens its brightness, and creates comfort. Additionally, both options zone, insulate and soundproof the space.
Material
Composition determines the service life, appearance, and cost of the carpet product, it is customary to allocate models made of natural, artificial or mixed fibers. The following varieties can be found on sale:
- Good-quality products are characterized by a long service life (up to 30-40 years for an industrial carpet and longer for a handmade model). They are dense and hard-wearing, and perfectly retain heat, but are not cheap and require careful maintenance. Some wools burn out in the sun and cause allergies.
- Spectacular, with a shiny surface and exquisite pattern, they retain their shape and color for a long time. Especially valuable are handmade products, dyed with durable natural dyes. Silk products will be a worthy decoration for any interior.
- Made of viscose. With their glossy texture and softness, they resemble silk models – just as bright, but more affordable.
- Of natural materials. These are products made of bamboo fibers, as well as jute and sisal, pleasant to the touch and practical to use.
The most popular are carpets with a mixed composition (20-30% synthetic). Their advantage is increased wear resistance and affordable cost. Synthetics includes products made of propylene, kapron, nylon and polyester. This type of coating is the most inexpensive, easy to clean, will not moving on carpet, but also short-lived. Among synthetics, acrylic carpets stand out as being completely hypoallergenic and virtually indistinguishable from wool.
Characteristics
The main characteristics are pile length and density. Pile length (pile height) determines the softness and appearance; it determines the difficulty of maintenance and resistance to crushing. According to the height of pile, there are three categories:
- Short pile (pile length up to 5 mm). The most practical and unpretentious in care products. This makes them indispensable elements in the decoration of corridors and other places with intensive traffic.
- Medium-waisted (7-10 mm). Sturdy, warm, easy to clean. The best choice for rooms with a medium load.
- Long wool (up to 10 cm). Furry models – the coziest and most beautiful, they are adored by children. Most often they are purchased for a child or bedroom.
Carpet density is the number of knots (hairs) per unit area, and the average (sufficient for home products) is the density of 200-300 knots per square meter. Products differ in the way the surface is formed. The pile can form a looped surface (when the nap is not cut), velour, frieze, as well as their combinations.
Position
Carpet is selected, taking into account not only the interior, but also the purpose of the room, as well as the lifestyle of the owners. In this case, guided only by common sense:
- Carpets in the interior – a good way to zone the space and combine several elements of design.
- Gone are the days when the carpet covered the whole room against the walls, from baseboard to baseboard. This method visually narrows the space, so it is not good.
- The snow-white model with a long pile would be a great choice for the bedside area in the bedroom, and extremely unsuccessful for the room of active offspring who love to fumble with the dog.
- In modern bedroom interiors, the use of bedside products is considered a poor choice. Two rugs break up the space and remind you of the design preferences of the late 80’s.
- The rug should match the size of the upholstered part. Even an exclusive designer but small rug will be lost against the background of massive upholstered furniture.
Size and shape
To find out what size rug would be perfect for a particular room, you have to ‘try it on’. You can experiment with old newspapers, laying them out at the place of future purchase. In this case, it is useful to take into account some subtleties:
- The shape of the product is influenced by the shape. A round rug in an elongated room will clearly be out of place.
- Do not skimp on the size of the rug for the upholstered area, it should partially (and preferably completely) go under the upholstered furniture.
- Choose a rug for the dining room so that its edge extends beyond the perimeter of the table by at least 70 cm. So you can freely move the chairs without fear of ruining the edge.
- For zoning, choose a model sufficient to fully accommodate a group of furniture (for example, a cozy chair with a floor lamp or a lounge corner).
- Fancy shaped rugs (other than rectangular, square or round) rarely fit into modern interiors.
- Small fancy rugs can be used as an accent in combination with a large product. The idea would be especially successful in a spacious living room or library.
Color
Color is chosen depending on the purpose of the product. In general, (without regard to style) bright colors are appropriate for the living room, and pastel and monochrome – for the bedroom. In order for the carpet to become a decoration of the rooms, it is recommended not to forget about the following rules:
- You can save a lot of effort and money if you pick up the carpet products before or together with the curtains, because it is easier to pick up the curtains to the carpet, than vice versa.
- Option, when the room is variegated, with an intricate pattern wallpaper, or upholstery with a complex print (vegetable, geometric) is selected for the furniture. In this case, the floor should have a discreet carpet, one-color or with a quiet pattern. The opposite rule also works – faded walls and upholstery complemented by richer colors and ornaments on the floor.
- The rug has a floral or geometric ornament. It is desirable to support it with similar prints on curtains or furniture (not necessarily all of it, just a sofa or a pouf).
- If the rug desperately does not fit into the interior, but you do not want to give it up. A good way to support the thing you like – sofa cushions with a similar color scheme.
- If the walls and curtains are decorated in cold tones, it is necessary to choose a carpet with synthetic pile. The fact is that natural models are dyed with natural dyes, which are mostly warm in tone.
- Always a good result is obtained if the rug contrasts with the color of the floor. For example, a dark oak floor is a good contrast to a model with white, beige and pinkish-blue motifs. Floors in red-brown tones will make a successful duet with the model of light ochre and all possible shades of green. Light floors will harmonize with the products of warm shades, and gray – with cherry or purple coating.
Figure
The opinion that tastes do not argue should not contradict the recommendations to avoid blandness in interior design:
- Products with a central pattern (medallion) attract attention and look good in the center of the room. If it is planned to put a table on the carpet, it is better to settle on a model without a pronounced central medallion, perhaps with a frame around the edge.
- In order to create a harmonious color space, it is enough to combine the rug with one element of decor, such as curtains, furniture upholstery or wallpaper.
It is much easier to incorporate a monochrome product, as well as with an abstract or patchwork pattern into the environment. The most important thing here is to choose the right color scheme and style.
How to Combine Carpets With the Style of the Interior
All products, whether they are manufactured industrially, or hand-woven, can be conventionally defined in one of the following groups, combined with the corresponding interior styles:
- Similar rugs decorate museums; they can be seen in the paintings of great artists or in modern mansions. Such models are characterized by aligned patterns in the style of classicism, Renaissance, Baroque, or Art Nouveau. Depending on the direction, a luxurious palette of gold, crimson, red, or pastel shades is chosen.
- Products inspired by folk art. They can be easily recognized by the patterns – exquisite oriental (for us it is Central Asian and Middle Eastern) or more restrained European (Provence, Greek). The palette is unlimited, and the theme of the carpet is mostly geometric and vegetal patterns. Handmade models are often made in patchwork style.
- Ethno-style. Products imported from Egypt, Morocco, and other Africa, as well as from India or Japan. For the inhabitants of these countries, the local carpets are a tradition, but for us, they are exotic, made in a reddish-brown natural palette with the inclusion of brighter shades.
- The modern interior, in one way or another, carries the signs of such styles as minimalism, loft, high-tech, eco, or fusion. In principle, the carpet can be anything, but there is a strong tendency to choose products in a restrained two or three-color palette. White, brown, gray, and navy blue are preferred. The pattern, if any, is rather geometric or abstract, and vegetable ornaments have little in common with traditional ones.
Choosing a Carpet
The main purpose of carpet products is to create atmosphere and comfort in the home. All products are up to this task: tufted and lint-free, any shape and material; as long as the model matches the interior.
For the Living Room
A distinctive feature of fashionable rugs on the floor for the living room is considered to be beauty, present ability and durability; usually select models of two kinds:
- To be placed in front of the sofa. According to the rules of design, the length of the carpet should slightly exceed the length of the sofa. The edges of the product must protrude at least 10-20 cm on each side. The width is not as important; it is determined by the available space. Also, the sofa should go over the edge of the carpet at 20-25 cm.
- For zoning the living room. If you want to allocate space in the room for relaxation, the rug will be the perfect opportunity. You’ll need a large piece, 4x3m or larger, to comfortably accommodate upholstered furniture.
- The carpet is chosen after the main decoration is completed and the furniture is arranged. Traditional oriental rugs, wool or silk, bearing the stamp of status and luxury, are in steady demand to decorate the living room.
- Carpets with the effect of slight aging, when some of the nap is neatly cut to size, are becoming popular in both classic and modern interiors. Carpets with inserts of different colors in leather, cotton or silk look very advantageous in modern interiors.
For the Bedroom
Carpets for the bedroom, a place of recuperation, are chosen very carefully, with a focus on products of high quality and environmentally friendly materials. In the bedroom there are two basic solutions:
- In a small bedroom. The rug goes under the bed and ends at (or behind) the bedside tables. With this method of placement, the feet are guaranteed to be on the soft covering. The average size of this product is 2,5 m by 3,5 m. Replacing one rug with a pair of bedside mats is more typical for classic interiors.
- In a large-sized bedroom. Here it is possible to place the bed completely on the rug (if it is moved away from the wall). Otherwise, the rug is tucked under the bed by 10-15 cm.
For the Dining Room
For spacious dining rooms, a rug is the rule rather than the exception. The right model should accommodate the entire dining group – table and reclining chairs, so when calculating the area of the chairs is also taken into account. If the length of the table, designed for 8 people, is 2.5-3 m, it will require carpeting at least 4×3 m. If the chairs extend beyond the carpet, it will have to be replaced, too uncomfortable to use.
For the Nursery
In the nursery’s interior, a rug is an essential item, protecting your child from the cold and cushioning falls. Any carpeting, designed for the nursery, must be safe for health, as well as easy to clean. No restrictions on shape and size, fluffy models with long pile are preferred. Such rugs should be especially high quality, to withstand a no-joking load. For children try to choose mats cheerful colors, often with the appropriate subjects – cartoon characters and funny animals.
For Other Rooms
For other rooms, carpets are selected according to their functionality:
- For the hallway and doorway area. Low pile models with maximum abrasion resistance, usually made of synthetic or blended fibers (e.g. acrylic or viscose). A woven or felted product is also suitable.
- For the kitchen. It is much easier to get dirty in the kitchen than in any other room, so the criterion of easy cleaning is especially important here.
- For the bathroom. A rug in a potentially traumatic bathtub is an absolute necessity. The best mats are made of 100% cotton or synthetic. If the bathroom floor is heated, a model with a rubberized underside will not do. It is good if the mat can be washed in a machine.
If you want to know more about it, you can watch the following video:
Conclusion
To make a room look good, it’s worth taking the time to choose a rug. While style and pattern have a major impact on the impression a rug makes, it is also important to find the right place for it. A tastefully chosen rug is a brilliant way to showcase your style, impress your guests, and pamper your feet.