Colors & Styles of Carpet

Tufted Carpet

• The most popular type of carpeting is tufted carpet. According to Emma Callery, author of “1001 Ideas for Floors,” tufted carpet makes up 90% of all carpeting sold in America. Subdivisions of tufted carpet include cut-pile and loop-pile versions. Cut-pile carpets are smoother and cut to a level surface while loop-pile carpet offers enough texture to reveal footprints. Loop-pile carpeting also lasts longer than cut-pile tufted style.

Shag Carpeting

• Shag carpeting is nowhere near as popular today as during its heyday in the 1970s, but is still available to those looking for its long pile. Shag carpets are constructed of very long fibers and the color of shag carpeting can be significantly affected as a result of how much dirt the long fibers collect. Shag is one of the most difficult types of carpeting to keep clean, according to Mary Gilliatt in her “The Decorating Book.”

Axminster Carpeting

• Axminster is a decoratively patterned type of carpeting that is usually quite vividly colored because the pile tufts are inserted individually from colored yarns. The looming process allows for the introduction of a vast array of colors and patterns. The texture of Axminster carpets also varies since fibers that can be used include wool, nylon, acrylic and various blends.

Non-Woven Carpet

• Non-woven carpets are the low-end types of soft flooring in which the manufacturing process ranges from electrostatic flocking of fibers to the backing or needle-punching fibers into the backing and using adhesive for sticking them. Non-woven carpets tend to be thinner than other types and the cheapest lack enough resilience to even be comfortable walking on. Carpet tiles are another type of carpeting that fall under this style.

Frieze Carpeting

• Frieze is sometimes referred to as hard twist carpeting because it has been crafted from yarn that has been twisted so tightly it appears to be snarled. This manufacturing process means that it is good for hiding footprints as well as masking the changes in color that occur when the pile is brushed in different directions.

Synthetic Carpeting

• Acrylic, nylon, polyester and poly-propylene are the primary non-natural materials used to make synthetic carpeting. Synthetic carpets may be manufactured using just one, a combination or all of these man-made materials. Acrylic carpeting tends to flatten beneath the weight of furnishings. Polyester is easy to clean but is not very resistant to fire. Poly-propylene resists stains well but also flattens easily and is flammable. Some synthetics do not dye well and the colors of most tend to be flat and unimaginative, according to Elizabeth Wilhide in “Flooring: The Essential Source Book for Planning, Selecting and Restoring Floors.”

Colors

• The color of carpeting can act as a road upon which the eye travels, searching for symmetry of design. Using the same color carpeting on your stairway as exists on the wall beside those steps facilitates movement of the gaze upward or downward. You should also keep in mind that the color of carpeting varies with the time of day and the lighting source, so you should test a swath of the fabric in the room at the time you will occupy it the most and under the lighting circumstances you plan to keep.