The process of choosing the perfect carpet for your living room might be a life-long operation, especially if you are a picky person (or your wife is). So, instead of looking for THE best carpet, for starters it would be enough to get one carpet that would adequately suit the living room environment.
Colour-improvisation attitude
Most of us have been being taught all our lives that colours should be chosen so that they “go together”. However, who is that great colour leader who decides what is right and what is wrong in terms of colour combinations? From clothes to product and interior design, it is always stressed out that colours need to match. However, when it comes to your carpets and rugs, why imposing some outdated rules to your living room, which should be the main place for relaxation and your ultimate freedom? If you are a little bit OCD-ish, then you are most probably going to try and incorporate only carpets and furniture so that they are by the book (written by the unknown colour master). However, if you are a type of person who is open to experiments, you will see that the only criterion when it comes to the carpet colour is your own imagination and your personal design affinities. What is more, you can even have your living-room carpet custom-made with whatever patches and colours you want. If you think that suits your vision of the living room, there can even be patterns with pink elephants.
Hygiene-related issues
Carpets are great when it comes to the visual outlook of your living room. However, there might be some hygienic issues with carpets, especially if you have a family and your kids are allergic to dust or animal hair. Families usually have pets and these pets (if not bird-like ones) tend to lose their hair, which is then spread all over the place. Having a carpet in the living room, a pet and an allergic kid is not the most desirable combination. So, one of these three must not be combined with the other two features. If you have already got a child, then you will agree that the only option is either getting rid of the pet or the carpet. Of course, the only reasonable decision is looking for a new carpet. If so, a carpet made of natural wool fibres is a fine option, because it repels moist and, consequently, dust has nothing to stick to.
In addition to that, rugs are also a health-friendly option. They are smaller, they are easily removed and, most importantly, rugs are easily cleaned. If necessary, you can clean and wash rugs several times a week. Of course, they are more inconvenient than carpets for children’s games, but they are incomparably more appropriate in terms of children’s health.
When choosing a carpet for the living room, you can follow all the guidelines from the interior design magazines or you can simply follow the guidelines from your head. Whatever suits you, you should follow it, but always think about your children’s health and let that be your leading star and not some interior design magazine wannabes.
Sophie Andersen is an interior designer from Sydney. She’s fan of home accessories, especially modern rugs. Sophie loves to write and share her decoration ideas. Follow her at @andersen_sophie.