Looking for beautiful area rugs to cover hard wood floors in your new home or townhome? Trying to find several carpets that coordinate throughout the main living level areas with wood floors? Today most home owners wish to design the main level of their home with a cohesive color palette that complements existing furnishings and looks great when your eye moves from one area or space to another. Well thought out complementary design concepts make the home appear larger. (Part 2 of 3 part series, issue one dated June 25, 2012)

Start with selecting matching ready-made area carpets for the Living Room, Dining Room, Foyer and adjoining hallways.  Adjacent rooms that flow off the main areas i.e.: Kitchen, Great Room, Sunroom; should have selections that coordinate comfortably for color, pattern and style with the LR, DR carpets. Ready-made selections are available in many standard size options:

10 x14, 9 x 12, 8 x 10, 5 x 7, 4 x 6, 2 x 3 and runners in 4, 6, 8 and 10 foot lengths

Some styles are available in 5 or 6 foot square and round shapes – great for Foyers

Many variation of sizes exist so review carefully if you are looking at the Nominal Size as listed above or the Actual Size. For example a nominal size of 5 x 7 could actually be 4′-8″ x 6′-10″ or a 9′ x 10′ could actually be 8′-9″ x 10′-6″. Carpets with fringe usually will list size with fringe and size without fringe. If not call for clarification should the few inches make a difference in whether the carpet will scale appropriately to the room size.  Carpet sizes vary greatly as the pattern style will dictate that the finished carpet looks best at certain overall size once they center the pattern field.

Ready-made selections work well for small townhomes and smaller scaled rooms. Starting the overall Home Design and Color Palette with the area carpet selections first allows you to build the home’s design concept and colors around the area carpets and enhance your existing furnishings beautifully. Whenever design options are limited this is the first product to begin your design selections. It is much harder to find a beautiful area carpet to bring the furniture, window treatments, fabrics and colors together when it is the last item purchased. Once you select a handsome classic pattern and design style for your main area carpets the rest of the finishes and materials will flow together easily.

Ready-made carpet styles are Persian, Oriental, Tibetan, or contemporary modern designs, with various patterns and color choices. Even with thousands of ready-made carpets you will still be limited by color, design and pattern options when trying to enhance your existing furnishings. With a lot of looking and testing out small samples you will find beautiful area carpets to tie all the main level living areas together. Know what approx. sizes you will need for all areas and eliminate any options that cannot work size wise for all rooms that need to match.  Catalogs and websites make looking a daunting task, search and find several options to choose from.  When buying from pictures either catalog or web, select 100% Wool Carpets.  Wool or silk carpet yarns have a welcoming luster that is hard to achieve with nylon. Great looking nylon selections are available from quality manufacturers yet it is impossible to see a carpet’s luster (sheen) until you have the carpet in your home. Safest to select 100% wool or 80% wool/20% nylon carpet from the start as they have a richer looking appearance. Wool is a natural fiber, easily cleans with hot water (great for pets) and is very comfortable to sit on. Nylon blends can be used in less formal areas of the home just review the sheen does not scream cheap knock off

After making several selections from catalogs or on line, cut them out and paste on a white background to view independently from the other items on the pages. Order test carpets of your favorites in the smallest size (2 x 3) which will work at any door opening or a Powder Room. Do not be surprised if when the test carpets arrive you are not as pleased with the look, color(s), plushness, sheen etc. You may need to order 4-5 of these small carpets to finalize your selections and see how the carpets look side by side before you see your design concept come to life. Keep the test samples as they are a minimal cost and will probably look great somewhere in your home without the hassle of returns. Small test carpets allow you to view the actual product and confirm you are happy with the color, pattern, style, thickness, plushness and luster once you have the real carpet in your home under your lighting. Now you can safely order large area carpets feeling confident you will be happy with the sections and not have to return them unless there are defects in manufacturing.

Black and Gold nylon selections in pictures are available is many patterns and color choices.  These handsome carpets do look and feel like real wool.  Call 703-425-9050 or send a picture of your room and we will assist with selection.

Or pgolden@goldeninteriors.com with Subject: area carpets request

Next up: Custom Made Area Carpets and Carpet Selections for Pet Owners

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