Thursday, January 1, 2009

Help! How do you buy carpet?

We apparently have a budget surplus going into 2009, and we're considering replacing the hideous Berber in the living room, dining room/kitchen, hallway of our house. We've wanted to replace this carpet for almost 6 years - since we looked at this house, long before we bought it, but various things (like Max's surgery, our furnace dying mid-blizzard, and our AC dying later that same year...) have gotten in our way.

I don't know the first thing about buying carpet.

I want it to match - or at least not clash with - the tile in our kitchen. I want it to be light, but not so light that I have to vacuum seven times a day before it looks clean (I have both a dog and a cat, so hair will be an issue). It needs to be kid-friendly. I do NOT want Berber. I think I should go with a shade of beige/brown, because the big couch in the living room is a dark beige/light brown, and the curtains are chocolate brown, and that's a nice neutral color, right? Did I mention that stain resistance is key? Think spaghetti and Koolaid. This carpet is going under the area where we eat all our meals, and so it needs to be tough. Preferably, stains will bounce off of it and hover in the air over the carpet until I can get them with a paper towel. I know this is possible, because I've seen it happen in my Aunt Kathy's car.

I obviously don't want to spend any more than I have to. Is there a particular time of year when it's better to buy carpet than another? A time of month? Does anyone know of any big deals that I don't know about?

Has anyone used Empire? 588-2300. How'd that work?

Do you need pictures? What do I need to know? Help! Mom, will you come do it for me?

Please leave lengthy comments, full of advice.

If you're here via BlogHer, please be sure to check out the pictures I posted here! Thanks!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year to the Pretty Babies family!!

This won't be lengthy, but my carpet advice is to just go out and start looking/feeling/pricing different kinds of carpet at all the local places to see what you would like. Talk to the pros and ask lots of questions. Make sure to take a piece of kitchen tile, if you have one, and any color swatches.

One of the most important things to consider is the type of carpet pad. You need to think of this as an investment and look at it in terms of resale if you think you may be moving in the next few years.

Wishing the PB family good health and happiness for 2009!

The Sickos,
Fran & "Pierre"

Anonymous said...

Have you considered not putting carpet under the area where you eat? That might help you decide what kind of carpet you want - you might be able to go with something a little bit more friendly on kids knees when they play on it.

Rob Monroe said...

We used Empire when we carpeted the second guest room in our basement. It was great - the guy (who looks just like the guy in the commercials) came by after work on a Thursday and I had to beg him to wait until Monday because they were ready to roll on Friday morning! The installers were great, the prices were better than Home Depot and Lowe's, even with their sales.

Best of luck with that!

morganna said...

I agree with Anonymous about considering not putting carpet under the eating area. We have to replace part of our kitchen floor, and we found peel & stick vinyl tiles (some kinds need an adhesive applied instead). There's ones that look like traditional tile, or stone (fairly fake looking) or wood grain. The wood grain is fairly realistic, and we are going with a light colored one, actually. It runs $1/square foot at Lowes (if you have one in your area -- it's like Home Depot).

DPA said...

I agree with not putting carpet in eating area OR getting a large throw rug that can be put under the dining room table that can be replaced every so often. (OR, as Ben used to say when BJ was little, 'we need a visqueen(sp?)floor!'

Have the T-shirt said...

Might I suggest Frieze (sp?) carpeting. I got mine from Empire (great service and prices).

My carpet is basically light colored, but has strands of varying darker hues in it too, so it doesn't show dirt as easily.

I also would recommend a large area rug for under your table, with kids it can begin to look like you just throw food on the floor and eat it from there.

Jen said...

Here's a link to what I think you should do there...
http://simplyremodel.com/Gallery/albums/Floor-projects/tile_floor_3.sized.jpg
I know what you said, but I think you're crazy to put carpet back in that room...

Anonymous said...

I would call a flooring specialist and ask them bring samples (ceramic, vinyl, wood, everything!) and discuss some ideas with you. I have gotten some great ideas that way when trying to make decisions regarding my landscaping, replacing windows, and our non-functional fireplace. You never know, you may end up doing something completely different from what your original idea was.

Unknown said...

Have you considered not putting carpet under the area where you eat?

Flooring service