Carpet Selection Made Easy

If you’re in the market for carpet but don’t know where to start, here’s some quick tips from magazine stylist and interior designer, Tahn Scoon...

When selecting flooring for client projects, I tend to start with the main living areas and then work out from there. Most commonly, timber or other hard flooring is selected for the main areas, tiles for wet areas and carpets reserved for the bedrooms, and perhaps the media room.

To avoid a ‘choppy’ look, select flooring within similar tones. In practice this might mean teaming stone grey tiles with charcoal carpet, or warm timber floorboards with soft beige carpet. This will allow the same palette to flow from room to room and create a greater sense of cohesiveness.

Whilst changing the depth of colour a little adds some interest, changing it too much can be jarring, so stay within a few shades. Having said that, there are times you might need to go a little darker than you prefer due to practical reasons. For example, lime-washed oak might look amazing teamed with warm cream carpet, but not if that carpet is going into a playroom. Take it up a few shades to a milk chocolate hue.

Light carpet will always show up more dirt than dark carpet, but dark isn’t fool-proof either as it tends to show up dust and light-coloured hair (both human and pet) more. Therefore, if it’s practicality you’re after, mid-tones are generally the easiest to keep looking clean.

The one room however where it’s nice to be less practical and more decadent, is the main bedroom. It’s not a thoroughfare and receives relatively little wear, so it can more easily take a plush cream carpet if desired. You might also consider splashing out on a high-quality fibre such as wool, which feels beautiful underfoot (and we’re often barefoot in the bedroom) and helps to absorb unwanted noise. For a little bit of luxe, you can’t go past the Saxby range by Windsor Wool.

On the other hand, select durable solution dyed nylon twist carpet for areas that receive a lot of traffic, such as the Eternity Ritola range from Tuftmaster. There’s peace of mind in knowing it can take a little wear and tear!

By Tahn Scoon

Tahn is a regular stylist and writer in Australian home and lifestyle magazines, including Home Beautiful, Australian Country and Queensland Homes. Tahn has also just released the second edition of her first book ‘New Vintage: the homemade home’ (New Holland Publishing). Tahn also runs her own decorating consultancy. TahnScoon Interiors, and hosts decorating and designing workshops in and around Brisbane. Check out Tahn's latest designs and find out more about her book on her website.