When deciding between carpets or rugs for your home or interior, the choice comes down to what best meets your needs. Factors like room shape, versatility, design preferences, allergies, and noise reduction are crucial considerations. In this month’s blog, we explore the suitability of carpets versus rugs for your space and purpose.
The aesthetic appeal
When choosing between a rug or carpet for your space, consider your existing flooring first. If you have hardwood or tile floors, assess their condition since area rugs will leave parts of the floor exposed. However, if your floors are in good shape, rugs can serve as artistic focal points in the room, offering diverse colors and designs. Unlike carpets, rugs inject vibrant colors and patterns into a room without overwhelming it, making them ideal for defining separate areas in open-plan spaces.
On the flip side, if you’re looking to replace or upgrade your flooring, wall-to-wall carpeting is ideal for uniquely shaped rooms, creating a unified design and color scheme throughout your home. Carpets add coziness with a soft, inviting surface that acts as a natural insulator, retaining heat in colder months. Additionally, they effectively reduce noise levels, making them great for sound dampening in your home.
However, rugs can pose a tripping or slipping hazard, as they are not securely fixed to the floor like wall-to-wall carpeting. Another issue is that if your flooring is not in ideal condition, you’d need to invest in fixing or refinishing it, before opting to use area rugs.
Carpets, on the other hand offer the benefits of being cosy, muffling sound, and providing cushioning and comfort underfoot. One of the downsides to carpeting however is the wear and tear in high-traffic areas, and it’s worth remembering that once worn down in certain areas, the carpet will need replacement.
Current trends
Carpets on the Move highly recommend choosing carpet that is 100% wool, or mostly wool, because it can be treated and easily cleaned. Wool carpet also lasts longer, making it a worthy investment. In addition, loop and twist carpets continue to remain a popular choice, particularly in hardwearing areas such as hallways and living rooms.
Currently, vibrant carpet colours, or multi-coloured patterns are being used as the focal flooring of a small space. This trend seems to work because these days, carpet is used to create interest and variety in your design.
Not convinced about bold carpet? Opt for layering area rugs or carpet runners over hard flooring. Don’t forget to consider the scale of the room and the repeat size of the print when choosing a patterned rug. If you’re lucky enough to have rooms with original wood parquet flooring or limestone flags, the last thing you will want to do is cover them up, which is where the beauty of a rug comes in. You can keep hold of your original hard floors and then layer with rugs for added comfort and softness underfoot.
Environmental options
For an ethically sourced option, why not take advantage of the benefits of natural plant fibre carpets? With a plethora of styles, ranging from rustic country to minimalist, there are plenty of options to suit all interiors. In addition, with glossy, yellow tones, jute is one of the most eco-friendly fibres, as it is fast and easy to grow. It’s also one of the softer plant-based carpets, so is better suited to low-traffic areas in the home.
Eco-friendly rugs often utilise natural fibres such as wool, jute, sisal and organic cotton, which are renewable and biodegradable. This not only minimises the impact on the environment, but also provides consumers with a product that is safe and healthy for indoor environments. Moreover, the production process of sustainable rugs typically involves less water and energy consumption, further enhancing their environmental appeal.
At Carpets we can make any sized rug for your space, made from offcuts from our carpet ranges. This offers a sustainable solution as well as providing easy comfort with a quick solution to cold floors.
Time to consider your space?
We are your one-stop carpet store in Tweed Heads, offering both carpets and custom-made rugs, all designed to suit your space or interior style. Servicing the Tweed, Gold Coast and Northern Rivers areas. Given we have an extensive range of wholesale and discount carpets, we are the carpet store with something for everyone – regardlesss of your budget. Book your free measure and quote today, to see how our range of carpets and unique rugs can transform your space.
