Carpet Flooring Choices

Do you remember your home hunting days?

You looked at a great many possibilities and then, bingo, there it was – the perfect house.

Sure, it fit your budget, but it also matched your style and lifestyle needs.

Because the floor covering in your home impacts the same three things it should be considered with the same critical eye.

Here you’ll discover the beautiful yet practical styles, the elegant and easy-care types – the entire spectrum of carpet choices available for your every room.

Choosing the right carpet style is all about knowing the right combination of aesthetics, performance and budget that suits your lifestyle and your home.

To begin with, there are six basic styles of carpet
Texture, Saxony (also referred to as Plush), Frieze, Cable, Loop, and Patterned (also referred to as Cut & Loop).

Each style has its own characteristics and performance capabilities.

You should carefully consider all of each style’s features, qualities and conditions in making your buying decision.

Texture: for wall-to-wall casual.

This is a very popular cut pile carpet that has alternating twists of yarn often times creating a tonal appearance.

The textured surface of this carpet does a great job of hiding footprints and vacuum marks, while creating a more casual atmosphere in the room.

Textured carpets are great for all areas in the home; they are ideal for today’s active families and are available in a broad range of colors and densities.

Saxony: for a plush, velvet touch.

For a more formal, traditional and elegant look, consider the beautiful saxony.

This style has a smooth, soft, velvet plush look and a luxurious feel.

Each yarn has a uniform twist and finish, making this carpet the perfect solution for a master bedroom, dining room or a formal living room.

This style is not a good choice for high traffic areas or rooms with active children.

Also be aware that this style will show footprints and vacuum marks.

Frieze: stands up to traffic and time.

For an active area, a frieze carpet may be the way to go.

This is a cut pile style that has a very high twist level, meaning each strand of yarn is twisted so tightly that they actually curl over at the end.

This creates a textured surface with a casual appearance, and a carpet of high durability and very good wear-ability.

These carpets are great performers in high-traffic areas and can go anywhere in your home.

They also help minimize footprint markings and are available in various pile heights that create a variety of different looks.

Friezes may also have a berber flecking or flecking of neutral color for additional styling.

This style may also be referred to as a cut-pile berber.

Cable: great underfoot but choose wisely.

Cable style carpet is constructed of thicker (and sometimes a combination of thicker and thinner) yarn characterized by a longer pile height.

This style is very comfortable underfoot and beautiful in a bedroom or living room.

Much like frieze styles, cable styles can also feature a berber flecking or flecking of neutral color.

This style may also be referred to as a cut-pile berber.

Keep in mind that this style may be better suited for rooms without a lot of activity.

Because of the longer pile heights, cable style carpets can matte and crush with heavy foot traffic so it may not be the best choice for stairs, hallways or other busy areas of your home.

Loop: durability and livability = popularity.

A loop style carpet is often referred to as a berber.

Loop pile carpets are uncut yarns that are either produced in a level loop or multi-level loop carpet construction.

Loop carpets are very durable.

This is the result of not cutting the yarn tips. This reduces the ends of the yarn fraying and allows you to see each individual loop.

Loop carpets are ideal for casual, active family rooms and come in solid colors, berber fleck and patterns with varying levels of loops.

This carpet helps minimize traffic patterns, but be advised that this style may make seams more apparent and its backing is more visible on stairs.

All in all, this is a great all-purpose carpet, a long lasting performer and very popular in homes across the country.

Patterned or Cut & Loop: great for most patterns of living.

Patterned or cut & loop is a combination of cut and looped yarns that create pattern effects by the variation in surface textures.

Like loop styles, these carpets are low profile and thus perform well, however, because of their density, seams are sometimes more visible in this type of carpet.

Patterned carpets are very fashionable, and can be used in casual and traditional rooms.

With a huge selection of patterns to choose from ranging from small geometrics to larger scale botanicals, this is a great style choice for any room.

These distinctive pattern carpets can add an element of style to any room in your home.

Now you’re familiar with carpet’s six basic styles.

We hope this information helps you match a carpet style to the pattern of life in your home.