Choosing Carpets

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31365, 10 May 1967, Page 2

Choosing Carpets

Colour and pattern are the qualities most people consider initially when they shop for carpets, for these can be important in helping to give an illusion of space or in “re-shaping” an unwieldly room, writes Edith Teague from London.

AU carpet manufacturers agree on specific points to be borne in mind if one’s aim in choosing carpets is to give rooms more pleasing dimensions.

Large patterns give an illusion of less size. Rugs can do the same. Plain colours and small designs expand a confined space. Low-ceilinged rooms lose their shut-in appearance if the carpet is in a deeper tone of the ceiling colour, while high-ceilinged rooms will look more in proportion if the ceiling and carpet colours blend and are a deeper shade of the wallpaper or painted surfaces. But to fulfil its function and give value for money a carpet must also have other qualities. Eye appeal is not enough—a good carpet needs to be utilitarian enough to withstand years of wear while still keeping its pile and fresh looks.

Wool is still the classic fibre for carpets, and blends of wools from many countries are selected to provide good “cover,” spring, resilience and lustre for the finished product

A quality wool earpet may finally contain fleece from Britain. India, Pakistan and New Zealand.

Blends may also contain man-made fibres like Brinyion for increased durability, rayon for bulk at an economic price and modified (strongly crimped) rayon to improve resilience. Acrylic fibres like courtelle are used on their own or with the modified rayons like evlan.

At one of Britain’s best known carpet manufacturers in Kidderminster, one can get an interesting picture of differing tastes in furnishing throughout the world. Orders from Japan, for private homes, tend to be for Persian and floral patterns, on red or green backgrounds.

Canada’s choice is in agreement with the current British

preference for block designs in browns, greens and ambertans. South Africa goes for broadlooms, in both contemporary designs and more traditional chintzes, Australia asks for soft, cool backgrounds with flashes of colour or “bud” chintzes for use throughout the house.

One enterprising firm of Yorkshire carpet - makers, recognising that people of Scots descent now live all over the world, is producing carpets in authentic tartan. The range of six tartans is produced in wool and nylon mixtures, in a hard-wearing quality for areas which have heavy foot traffic. The bright colours of the tartans used make the floor the focal point of a room, and are best set off by plain walls, unpatterned drapes.