Stepping onto a nice, soft carpet is a pleasant underfoot experience that helps you to relax after a long day at work. Goodness knows there’s nothing quite like it in winter – rolling out of bed on those cold winter mornings to put your feet on icy tiles instead is an even greater justification not to get out of bed and go to work!
Although it requires a bit more care than tiles, carpeting in the home provides far more than just a decorative shade or texture to your room. Its soft surface provides cushioning on the body’s joints therefore making it easier to stand on for long periods, it is more child friendly and protects from hard falls, provides and conserves warmth in winter, and is excellent for sound proofing which is particularly of value in apartments or close living accommodation.
If you’re looking at carpet for your home, one of the key considerations before you set out is to have an idea of what style you want. It can be overwhelming at first to see the sheer number of options, so I’ve broken down the main categories for their key benefits as a starting point.
The main styles of carpet include Plush, Saxony, Berber, and Frieze, all names that refer to the style of the carpet’s pile.
SAXONY
This is the most common type of carpeting and is cut pile where strands of yarn have been twisted and heat set. The fibres are of equal medium lengths and stand straight up.
Saxony tends to show vacuum and footprint marks. As piles are swept in different directions they create lighter and darker patterns on the carpet, and as such this style can be best for areas such as the bedroom that have lower traffic – if durability is required for higher traffic areas you will need denser saxony with a higher twist to the piles. Saxony comes in a wide range of qualities and is available in almost every type of fibre (wool, nylon, polyester).
PLUSH
Plush is soft and inviting and provides a more formal look to the room than other options. It is highly dense tightly twisted cut pile and is also prone to showing foot marks and indentations on the surface. It can also be harder to clean and more likely to stain. That said, it is the softest and most luxurious carpet for the feet and can be a great addition to master bedrooms and formal living spaces.
BERBER
Berber is a looped carpet style. This is one of the most durable and stain resistant carpet options, making it well suited for high traffic areas. Berber is flat and dense as it is made from continuous fibre loops and as such does not show tracks or vacuum marks. It tends to be a more cost effective option.
FRIEZE
This is another cut pile carpet with crooked tufts of longer, highly twisted fibres, and is essentially a modification of the shag carpet. Its slightly shaggy appearance is less formal than plush. This is a soft, durable and elegant choice for the home and does not show up footprints as much as plush due to the kinked tufts. Disadvantages include that it is harder to clean than shorter piled carpet as spills run down and are retained by the longer piles, and it is also one of the more expensive options.
With all carpets be sure to check the quality. Despite the durability advantages of certain styles, higher quality carpet will last longer and is less likely to be damaged.
-Em from the LookLocalWA team
