Ideas for Carpeting a Room

Using light-colored carpeting in a small room can help the space seem larger.woolen carpet texture image by Tolbxela from Fotolia.com

Carpeting comes in a wide range of colors and textures, so homeowners have many options when it comes to decorating their home with carpet. Wall-to-wall carpeting is often used to cover the floor of an entire room in a solid color, but it may not offer enough design flexibility for some homeowners. Fortunately, there are many ways to use carpeting creatively to give your home a more personalized and unique look.

Be Creative with Carpet Tiles

In some rooms, it may be difficult to find carpet in a color that matches your decor or a pattern that coordinates with other design elements in the room. You may want a specific shade or pattern in one area of the room and another style in a different area. To create a truly custom look, consider using carpet tiles instead of wall-to-wall carpeting. Most carpet tiles are one square foot of carpeting with adhesive on the back, and can be placed over a variety of floor surfaces, including stone, tile and concrete. Because this carpet comes in individual pieces, you can mix and match colors and use the tiles to create a customized pattern, allowing you to be as creative as you would like. A checkerboard pattern can look both elegant and fun depending on the colors used, or contrasting tiles can be used to create a border around a room with one color in the center. Carpet tiles are also easier to remove than wall-to-wall carpeting, so you can change the look of your room more often and at a lower cost.

While it may seem easy to choose a color for your carpeting by matching it to the rest of the décor in your room, consider the effect that you would like to achieve as well. Light-colored carpeting works well in small rooms because it can help make the space seem larger. It can also be used in larger areas to create an airy, open feeling. Dark-colored carpeting is effective in creating a warm, cozy feel, so it can be a nice addition to a master bedroom, family room, study or den, particularly if these rooms are large spaces with high ceilings that may seem imposing or cold.

In some cases, you may become bored with the look of your wall-to-wall carpeting, but the cost of removing and replacing the carpet may not fit into your budget. If this is the case, consider updating the look of your carpeting by layering an area rug over it. Area rugs can add a pop of color or an interesting pattern to an otherwise neutral carpet and give it a fun, new look. When pairing area rugs with carpeting, be sure to use colors with the same undertones; a warm-toned rug may clash with a cool-toned carpet. In addition, remember to use padding between the carpet and the rug. It will help the rug lay properly over the carpet and prevent color transfer from the rug to the carpet.