Carpet Isn’t Canceled

By Touch of Color Harrisburg, PA You may or may not be surprised to know that carpet remains one of the top choices for flooring among consumers today. With tons of styles, ease of install, and comfortability it makes sense why it is still a go-to product for homeowners. In this article we’ll cover what you need to know about the most cost-effective and innovative carpet products that are on-trend this year— and we might add, are most of all affordable!

Upcoming Trends

We’re beginning to see a lot of color and pattern implementation in the interior design world. Berber carpets remain a popular choice since they offer varying textures and can be a bold design statement. With a wide variety of all kinds of colors available for carpet, you can easily select a product that appeals to your style. The color of carpet plays a big part in the way a room feels. Darker colors create an optical illusion that brings walls closer inward, which can make the right room feel very warm and cozy. If you want to feel you’ve expanded your space, opt for lighter and more neutral colors.

Designers have noted that consumers are opting for fun experimentation in their carpet choices. Playful geometric designs, florals, bright color palettes, and patterns such as the herringbone which can be achieved with carpet planks, are all extremely trendy in 2022. Of course, the beiges and grays will always remain in popular favor since neutrals across the board in homes and multi-family spaces will typically always be in demand. Notable also is the interest in products like carpet tiles and carpet planks, which we see a lot of in commercial spaces, but can also be an interesting choice when incorporated into the home. These products can add even more creative design elements and patterns.

Types of Carpet

At Touch of Color, we pride ourselves on being trusted advisors and flooring experts. Not only do we provide topnotch customer service, we take the time to educate the consumer on the products they’re putting in their home. You can find resources like this blog and informational articles on our site. Below is an excerpt from one of our expert articles on how different carpets are manufactured:

Almost 75% of carpet today is made of nylon and, compared to the other fibers below, it performs the best overall. Nylon is the leader in: appearance retention, fade and heat resistance, soil and stain resistance, and color and styling. The highest performance nylon is Type 6.6, which has a tighter molecular construction, making the carpet more resistant to stain penetration.

The next most common material used in carpet manufacturing is polypropylene. Introduced in the late 1950s in Italy, polypropylene BCF has seen fast growth over the last twenty years, and today represents more than thirtyfive percent of the total fibers used in the carpet industry.

While polypropylene is not as resilient or resistant to abrasion as nylon, it is naturally stain and fade resistant. Its natural resistance to moisture means that it must be dyed before being extruded, resulting in a more limited range of color options. Polypropylene is most often used in loop pile carpet constructions.

The third type of material commonly used in carpet manufacturing is polyester. Polyester was introduced to the carpet industry in the mid 1960s, and has been well accepted for its bulkiness, color clarity, and good stain and fade resistance. While not as resilient as nylon, Polyester fiber carpet constructed with today’s new technologies can be a good performer.

The above three materials make up the majority of synthetic fibers. The other type of fiber used in carpet construction is staple fiber. While some synthetics are used in the creation of staple fibers, the original staple fiber used in the making of carpet is wool.

The wool used in today’s carpet comes primarily from New Zealand, Argentina, and the United Kingdom. Since wool is a natural fiber, it ranges in color from off-white to black, with many earthen tones between. Berber, now considered a type of carpet construction, actually comes from the name of a group of North African sheepherders called the Berbers. The Berbers were known to produce very coarse wool, with characteristic color flecks in their yarns.

Although wool doesn’t stand up to abrasion and moisture as well as synthetics, it cleans well and is known to age gracefully. Wool is the most expensive carpet fiber, and represents less than one percent of the U.S. carpet market.

Care and Cleaning

Knowing your price point and the look you are trying to achieve with your carpet will help you decide which is right for your home. Generally speaking, with the right amount of care your carpet should last a fairly long time. It is also wise to consider how much traffic your carpeted areas will generally see over their lifetime, and if you have kids or pets you may want to consider carpet products that will hold up to stains.

To extend the longevity of your carpet it is important to take proper care of the product and keep it clean.

To keep nylon carpet clean, regularly vacuuming will help remove dirt from the fibers of the carpet. A steam clean will also give it a deep cleaning, removing dirt trapped deep in

continued on next page

the pile. Nylon is generally stain resistant, so it won’t require too much effort to remove stains if accidents are cleaned up right away.

Polypropylene carpet is also stain resistant which makes cleaning easy. A routine vacuum and a deep steam clean will keep this carpet thriving in your home.

Wool carpet requires immediate attention to spills and accidents as it does not tolerate the kind of wear and tear nylon or poly will withstand.

Certain brands like Stainmaster are specifically manufactured to live up to their name and are popular for households prone to pet accidents and wear and tear of active kids. Not only is the product impervious to stains, there has also been a big shift in focusing on carpet that is hypoallergenic to common indoor allergies and irritants like pet dander.

Especially since the pandemic, the market has demanded high performance products with a focus on cleanliness and supporting the health of their family. One can find beautiful, stylish carpet products that are also made sustainably and eco-friendly, which is another component top of mind of consumers today.

What About Rugs?

Area rugs are extremely popular on the market. The rise of e-commerce shopping has contributed to their popularity since it is now easier than ever to shop for your home from your phone. Area rugs can dress up nearly any room in the home and make it easy to change up a decor scheme all while adding plush comfort to the existing floor. They come in a massive variety of sizes, patterns, colors, thickness, and pricing. There are even area rug products on the market that are machine washable.

Area rugs can play up any interior design style. Whether you’re into the modern farmhouse trend, boho, vintage, maximalism, minimalism, or mid-century modern design, there will be an area rug out there that complements your scheme. Mid-century modern, which remains a highly popular style today, is arguably the birth era for carpet in the modern American home.

Mid-century modern refers to the interior design elements and styles that began in the middle of the 20th century, right as carpet manufacturing really started to boom in the industry. Colors, varying textures, and geometric patterned carpet all fall under what most designers could consider “mid-century modern carpet.”

Carpet in the Home versus the Office

These days, those two might be one in the same. As more people across the nation began working remotely as a result of the pandemic, there had been a shift in demand for creating comfortable and serene home offices. Floor Covering Weekly reported, “While the COVID-19 pandemic had several terrible consequences, home renovation projects boomed as more people decided to spruce up their lockeddown spaces. Flooring was a significant component of these projects and virtually every category saw sales gains. This included carpet — a category that had not grown nearly as quickly as some of the other flooring segments in recent years.”

With the hope that the world will “go back to normal” and businesses have started opening their office doors again, commercial projects for office renovations picked up during the lockdown.

The most popular carpet products for commercial spaces are generally carpet tiles and carpet planks. Designers focus heavily on crafting a sensory experience in both residential and commercial spaces. Floor Trends notes, “These days, when it comes to color, there are many more similarities than there are differences in what’s trending throughout regions,” says West. “Across the board, blue is making its presence known as the new neutral; green has taken on a stronger botanical presence; neutrals are still the bed stone of commercial color influence with an emphasis on material you can feel and experience like the building blocks of brick and stone; and the desire for calm in a busy world has given rise to whites becoming ever more impactful as a color.”

Whether you’re still working from home or are back in the office, in one way or another you have probably witnessed the change in consumer trends across the interior design industry as a response to more indoor dwelling during COVID-19.

Where to Start with Your Carpet Project

If you’re interested in putting new carpet in your home it’s best to ask yourself what you’re looking to achieve to determine which product is best for your family.

Are you looking to update old flooring that is no longer comfortable or stylish?

Do you require a carpet product to hold up to heavy duty wear and tear from kids and pets?

Are you looking for fun designs and texture, something unique outside the neutral beiges and grays?

Whatever your goals are, it’s best to shop with some samples and seek the advice of our experts. You will want to begin with a free in-home estimate to get an accurate depiction of the project scope and the measurements. From there, you can shop the hottest styles of carpet that have the exact color, softness, texture, and price point for your home!