Carpet is back: how to choose the right carpet for your home

Carpet is back, and not without reason

Anyone who still thinks of the floor covering from decades ago when they hear carpet will be surprised by what is possible today.

Modern carpet can look particularly stylish, calm and luxurious.

From soft natural shades and subtle textures to sleek woven qualities and bold colours: carpet can give an interior a completely different atmosphere.

But the biggest difference you may not even notice with your eyes.

You feel it.

Carpet makes a room softer, warmer and calmer.

That makes it an interesting choice for bedrooms and stairs, but also increasingly for living rooms, studies and other rooms where comfort is important.

At NTU Vloeren we therefore don't only look at the colour of the carpet.

We look above all at:

Where will it be laid, how will the room be used and what feeling do you want to create?

Why choose carpet?

A hard floor has many advantages.

But sometimes you want exactly the opposite.

More softness.

More warmth.

Less harsh noise.

And a floor that is literally more comfortable to walk on.

Carpet has several important properties:

• feels warm and soft;
• brings more calm to a room;
• dampens footfall and impact noise;
• is available in an enormous range of colours and textures;
• can make a bedroom extra comfortable;
• is particularly pleasant on a staircase;
• gives an interior a soft and luxurious look.

Carpet also absorbs sound and can contribute to less sound transmission between rooms and floors.

You notice that especially in homes with many hard surfaces.

Think of large windows, plastered walls, a sleek ceiling and few soft materials.

In such a space carpet can make a striking difference to how calm the room feels.

Not every carpet feels the same

Perhaps the biggest mistake when choosing carpet is looking only at the colour.

Two beige carpets can look almost identical in a photo, while in reality they feel and behave completely differently.

That has to do with, among other things:

• the yarn used;
• the pile height;
• the density;
• the texture;
• the backing of the carpet;
• the way the carpet is produced;
• the usage class.

That is why with carpet in particular it is important not only to look at a sample.

You have to feel it.

Run your hand over the material.

View it from different directions.

Lay several colours side by side.

And see how light affects the look.

Depending on the pile direction and incoming light, a carpet can look lighter or darker.

High-pile or low-pile carpet?

One of the first choices is often the texture.

High-pile carpet

High-pile carpet has longer fibres and usually feels fuller and softer.

It can therefore give a luxurious and comfortable look.

That makes it particularly suitable for, for example:

• bedrooms;
• quiet seating areas;
• rooms where comfort matters more than intensive use.

A high-pile carpet can also gain more visual depth because the light falls differently on the fibres.

Low-pile carpet

Low-pile carpet has a more compact structure.

This often gives the floor a sleeker and calmer appearance.

It can be practical in rooms that are used more intensively and is often easier to get around with, for example, furniture on wheels.

Which texture is best therefore depends strongly on the room.

Carpet in the bedroom

The bedroom is perhaps the room where the advantages of carpet come out most clearly.

In the morning you don't step onto a cold hard floor, but onto a soft surface.

Carpet also contributes to a quieter room.

That fits well with the character of a bedroom: comfortable, calm and relaxed.

For bedrooms, soft natural shades are often chosen, such as:

• sand;
• beige;
• taupe;
• greige;
• warm grey;
• cream;
• calm earth tones.

But a dark floor can give a lot of atmosphere in combination with light walls and bedding.

Carpet on the stairs

Carpet is an interesting solution for stairs too.

A carpeted staircase feels softer and dampens the sound of footsteps.

That difference can be big when the staircase is at the centre of the home.

With carpet you can also create different styles.

From fully carpeted treads to a more classic stair runner.

It is important here that you choose a carpet suitable for intensive load and for use on a staircase.

A bedroom quality is therefore not automatically the right quality for a staircase.

Carpet in the living room?

Absolutely.

Carpet is often automatically linked to bedrooms, but in a living room it can be particularly beautiful.

Especially when you want to create a warm, calm or hotel-like atmosphere.

A fully carpeted living room gives a completely different experience from PVC, wood or laminate.

The sound becomes softer.

The room feels warmer.

And furniture is visually more connected.

That means carpet can look surprisingly luxurious, especially in larger rooms.

Which colour carpet do you choose?

Colour has a lot of influence with carpet.

Not only on the style of the room, but also on how big and bright the space looks.

Light shades

Beige, sand, greige and light grey can keep a room calm and spacious.

They also combine easily with:

• wood;
• natural stone;
• light furniture;
• warm whites;
• natural materials.

Dark shades

Dark brown, anthracite and deep earth tones can add a lot of warmth and depth.

That works beautifully in bedrooms, for example, or rooms where you want to create a more intimate atmosphere.

Bolder colours

Colour is coming back too.

Think, for example, of:

• olive green;
• rust;
• terracotta;
• warm blue;
• greyed-off colours.

With carpet a colour can come across much softer than the same colour on a painted wall.

Can carpet go with underfloor heating?

That can be done in certain situations.

But here it is more important than ever to look at the complete floor system.

Not only the carpet itself counts, but also, for example, the underlay and backing construction.

The total thermal resistance ultimately determines how easily heat from the floor reaches the room.

That is why we recommend not looking at carpet and underfloor heating separately.

First have it checked which quality is suitable for the specific situation and installation.

Is carpet hard to keep clean?

That depends strongly on the chosen carpet and its use.

An important part of daily maintenance is regular vacuuming.

There are also big differences between fibres and qualities when it comes to dirt and stain resistance.

That is why a family with children or pets may need a different quality from someone who only lays carpet in a quiet bedroom.

So here too:

don't only choose what is beautiful, choose what suits the use.

Think about the room first, then the colour

At NTU we therefore advise answering a few practical questions first when choosing carpet.

Where will the carpet be laid?

A bedroom makes different demands from a staircase or living room.

How intensively will the floor be used?

The more intensive the use, the more important the right quality and construction become.

How soft do you want it to feel?

Some customers want a very soft and full carpet.

Others are looking for a compact and sleek surface.

Which look are you after?

Modern, hotel-chic, natural, minimalist or perhaps bold?

Once we make those choices first, far fewer irrelevant carpets remain.

And that makes choosing a lot easier.

Why large carpet samples make such a difference

Carpet is something you really have to see in person.

On a computer screen you can hardly judge the texture.

And even the colour can look different.

That is why larger samples help enormously.

You can see better:

• how the texture runs;
• how the light falls on the fibre;
• how soft or compact the material is;
• how the colour combines with wood and furniture;
• how the carpet looks over a larger area.

If you like, bring a colour sample, cabinet door, piece of wallpaper or photos of your interior.

Then different combinations can be laid side by side straight away.

Not a hundred carpets. First the right direction.

A showroom full of options sounds attractive.

Until you actually have to choose.

That is why we don't believe good advice means showing you a hundred possibilities.

Good advice means first understanding what you need.

Then we can narrow the collection down to a much smaller selection.

A few good choices are worth more than a hundred random samples.

See carpet in Utrecht?

Do you want to experience the difference between different carpet qualities?

Then come to NTU Vloeren in Utrecht.

In our showroom you can view and feel colours, textures and qualities side by side.

We discuss where the carpet will be laid, how the room is used and which look you want to create.

That way you don't just choose a carpet that looks beautiful today.

But a floor that really suits your home and daily life.

Visit NTU Vloeren at the home-furnishing boulevard in Utrecht, next to IKEA, and discover how much difference the right carpet can make.

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