- In this video you'll learn how to choose
the best carpet for your home,
including how to spot good quality,
what colors to use,
as well as how to maintain them.
That's starting right now.
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- Hi everyone, I'm Karl.
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So today I'm joined by Rebecca Hotchkiss,
interior designer with Brookfield Residential,
and today we're gonna talk about and answer the question,
how do you choose the best carpet for your home?
So, Rebecca, to start off with,
what are the different types of carpet?
- I mean, different types boils down to a lot of things.
You have different materials, you have different styles.
I would say primarily people look at the different styles.
That's what we have here.
So I mean, you can see this would be a,
quite simple, like a cut pile.
This is a bit of longer, people maybe know it
as a shag, sort of frieze look.
You have a combination of a cut and a loop.
Then you have a loop.
So that's one way to describe types of carpet,
and then the next would obviously be materials.
- So Rebecca, how would you know
if a carpet is good quality?
- It depends on the material, that's one aspect.
Different materials do come with different warranties.
So good quality could be a 25 year warranty for some people,
could be a lifetime warranty for other people.
It just depends on what you're looking at.
- So when you install carpet,
do they kind of look darker when you install them
than when you see them or do they look lighter?
- Generally we say they look about
one to two shades lighter.
So the darkest you'll see it
is in this application right here.
- When you're looking at it from a design point of view,
does it matter in terms of where you put the lighter carpet
or the darker carpet?
- Generally we tend to use the same carpet
throughout a home just for consistency,
kind of for that flow.
I mean, if you did wanna do something
like a little bit of a more luxurious carpet
in maybe an en suite, that could be an area,
but generally speaking we do the same throughout.
So stairs, basements, upstairs, other bedrooms.
- Okay, so you actually would use
different types of carpets--
- Not really. - Really?
- No, we tend to do the same just to keep it simple.
High traffic areas like stairs,
where you may see a little bit more wear and tear,
we generally prefer to do something
a little bit of a lower pile,
but if it's just stairs to your upstairs,
people will keep it all the same.
Some people don't even have carpeted stairs,
so you don't even have to worry about that
because normal wear and tear would be the same
throughout bedrooms, throughout hallways,
that kind of thing.
- So Rebecca, I think the number one question
which all of us wanna know is,
what type of carpet is easier to clean?
- Depends on the material.
I mean, you're looking at things like wool,
which is great for dirt,
and then you're looking at things like nylon,
which is great for other staining products.
So depending on the carpet you have,
it can be treated differently,
making maintenance of it easier or harder
depending on the material.
- 'Cause I know before we actually started rolling
you were talking about the vacuum, I think, marks.
So can you explain how does that work?
- So here you have a bit of a longer pile.
So, I mean, it looks more like that shag.
This is where you see things.
So you see vacuum marks, you see footprints.
It never will look just perfect.
Something a little bit more lower a pile, like this,
it's got that cut and the loop, it hides that.
Because it's so small and so short,
you don't have that movement.
This one, again, that loop, even a little bit less,
but this is for sure where you see the most vacuum marks.
- And I also wanna talk about staining, too,
in terms of how to get stains out,
because I know a nephew of mine came over to my house
and put one of those goop stains onto the carpet.
Even no matter how much you vacuumed it,
you couldn't, like, it was stuck on.
Is there a different type of carpet that could prevent that?
- I mean, you can't prevent everything, for sure,
but having a man-made fiber, like a triexta,
may be your better solution.
It's probably your most durable, your easiest to clean,
and they generally have the longest warranties.
Some are 25 years, some are even a lifetime warranty.
So that's probably your better bet.
Something like a natural material, like a wool,
would be a lot harder to clean something like that out of.
- When you talk about warranty,
and I remember in a previous video
we talked about carpet replacement,
and is it true that you actually need your carpets
to be professionally cleaned for your warranty
to take into effect?
- It depends on the manufacturer.
We do have some manufacturers that every 18 months,
you do have to have it professionally cleaned,
and proof of that in order to have that lifetime warranty.
And then others, just given the nature of the material,
they're confident enough
that you don't need to have that professionally cleaned.
Just with your normal vacuum cleaner
is good enough to have that warranty in tact.
- So, Rebecca, which type of carpet
makes your room look bigger?
- I would do a carpet that's sort of
tone on tone with your walls.
That'll make it feel larger,
your floor will sort of carry up onto the walls,
and you'll have kind of that grand space.
Doing a darker carpet, it may create contrast,
which some people like,
but on the downside, it may make your room
feel a little bit smaller.
- And if you wanna know more about picking the color
when painting your interior of your house,
check out this video,
and as well as I'll leave it in the description below.
So, and in terms of color, how do you choose
the right color for your rooms and your carpet?
- I mean, you just have to look at your palette.
If you are going with warm grays,
you wanna do a warm gray carpet.
Lighting can be a big thing with carpet.
Even with these ones here,
you can see we have a little bit of a fleck,
so a light strand and a dark strand.
So that kind of works to our benefit sometimes
when we're working with a few different colors
within that home.
It kind of bridges the gap, which is nice.
- And maybe for 2019 and 2020,
what are some of the most popular carpet colors,
I guess that you're seeing?
- I mean, we're seeing a lot of gray beige.
You know, it's been popular for a few years,
but it is not going anywhere.
It's a nice warm gray.
Works with all sorts of different tones within your home.
- So Rebecca, do you have anything else to add
in terms of carpet selection, tips, for in your home?
- I really think it just boils down
to looking at your lifestyle.
I mean, different colors suit different lifestyles.
Different piles suit different lifestyles.
If you're doing vacuuming in your home a lot
or if you have kids or pets,
you have to look at different factors
to figure out what suits you best.
- So the question of the day I have for you is,
what type of carpet do you use for your home,
as well as do you have any additional tips
when selecting carpet when moving into a new home.
Let us know in the description below.
If you wanna know more about carpets and flooring,
check out this playlist here,
as well as additional videos on interior design right here.
I'll see you in our next video.