Welcome to this very special How2Girl post!
The Home Depot and The How 2 Girl are teaming up to show you just how much fun and easy the carpet shopping and installation process can be!
If you are in serious need of new carpeting or you just want to learn the ins and outs before your next carpeting project begins, this post is going to feature everything you need to know to make carpet shopping a fantastic and fun experience and it’s going to take you through the entire carpet selection process so you are sure to get the carpet of your dreams!
After spending a lot of time with the carpeting experts at The Home Depot I’ve learned lots and lots of tips and key factors when choosing the perfect carpet that I was unaware of until now and I can’t wait to share everything I learned with you!
First and foremost, here are some important factors you need to think about before you begin the shopping process:
#1. How is this room going to be used? For example, is this a room that has heavy traffic like a family room, hallway or stairwell? If so, you will need a texture style that’s very durable or a loop style which is also known as Berber, this provides max durability for active rooms like recreation rooms, dens and workout rooms.
Now, that covers our busy/high traffic rooms but what about our dining rooms, living rooms, offices and bedrooms? Is there a carpet that is a bit more luxurious since the wear and tear won’t be a big factor? The answer is yes and this is where it gets really fun! I have two words for you. Twist and pattern!
Twist carpets are chic and casual at the same time and are fantastic for bedrooms, sitting rooms and media rooms.
Last but not least, my favorite! Patterned carpet! What I love about choosing a patterned carpet is that it can drastically change the whole look and vibe of a room, giving it an instant, elegant and bold feel. Not to mention patterned carpets really hide stains, which is just an added bonus! This style is fabulous in bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, and even offices.
Now that you have a clear picture of what type of carpet will work in your room it’s time to ask yourself a few more questions to make sure you’re getting the perfect customized carpet of your dreams!
#2. What’s your timeframe? Depending on your urgency, your options will change. If you need your carpet ASAP you will be better off purchasing merchandise that is in-store rather than a special order which usually takes 7-10 business days.
#3. Do you have any children or pets? This is a huge factor! If you have children we all know the opportunity for accidents and stains on your carpet is always there, especially when those munchkins are little, and as much as we love our pets, accidents can happen from time to time. If this sounds like your family I would suggest asking the experts at The Home Depot to point you in the direction of a carpet with high stain resistance.
#4. Will this carpet be close to a door with a lot of traffic and dirt coming in and out? If that’s the case make sure the carpet is stain resistant and stay away from very light colors.
#5. What did you like and dislike about your previous carpet? Knowing the elements that worked for you and what didn’t will help you narrow down your selection and help you get exactly what you need and want.
#6. Is this carpet going in a small or large room? When you have a small space you’re working with you don’t want to go too dark for fear of making it feel like a cave. If you have a large space, you may want to go a little warmer or darker to give it a more cozy feel.
#7. Consider the lighting in the room where your carpet will be going. If your room doesn’t get a lot of natural light I would try and stay on the lighter side of the shades you are looking at, and if your room get’s great natural light, you can afford to go a little darker.
#8. Bring in pictures of the color of your walls, your curtains and your furniture when you head to The Home Depot to shop. You want to make sure that the carpet you are picking out goes nicely with the décor you have going on, but if you’re revamping your room from head to toe like I am then all bets are off! You can start with the carpet that speaks to you and build your color scheme around it. Either way, you always want your carpet to coordinate with your décor even if you’re buying a basic white or beige, there are still different tones to each shade so this is a really important step not to be over looked.
#9. Is this carpet for your home or an income property? This is a huge factor you need to consider before your making your purchase. If you’re planning on selling or renting your property it’s very important to stick with neutral tones so your new tenants or the new owners furniture and décor will go with it. Another tip to think about is that if you’re renting you certainly want to go with a carpet that is stain resistant!
#10. What’s your budget? Be sure to factor this in! If you’re only doing one room you may have more wiggle room but if you’re carpeting your entire home the price will vary significantly depending on what you choose and remember, after you calculate the costs for the carpet you still need to keep in mind the cost of padding.
#11. After you take the time to look around The Home Depot and you have a fabulous option in mind, be sure to take a sample home before buying to check the color in your intended room. Look at it at different times throughout the day and make sure no one in your family has any type of allergies to it. I can’t think of anything worse than installing carpet throughout your entire home only to have to rip it up because your husband or daughter can’t stop sneezing! No thank you!
#12. Last but not least, check out the guide below from The Home Depot to better understand what the fibers are made of in the carpet that you are considering buying.
Now that we’ve covered all of the important factors in finding your perfect carpet, let me fill you in on the project that I’m doing!
When I was asked to take on this project I immediately thought of a friend of mine who’s office needs a serious makeover. She is a wedding dress designer and just finished battling Ovarian Cancer! As you can imagine she is super busy juggling working with raising her 3 boys that her office is a total afterthought and has not been used in years. In fact it’s basically been turned into a storage room. She’s constantly working out of her dining room, I mean what a waste of a perfectly great office space! Now I’m on a mission to give it the fabulous makeover that it’s long overdue for using nothing but Home Depot supplies!
I wanted to give the office a chic and feminine feel that goes with her style and that fits in with her bridal design business, but I also didn’t want to make it too girly because I want her husband to be able to utilize it as well. Here’s a fun mood board I put together with ideas and inspiration to bring with me as I started carpet shopping at The Home Depot to make sure I stayed on track!
When I began my search to find the perfect carpet for this room, I looked at all of the factors we discussed earlier and right away I knew patterned carpet would be the right choice. I wanted something soft and luxurious with a bit of spice to give the room a Parisian vibe and since this is a low traffic area and I knew her kids wouldn’t be playing in the office I knew a pattern was the way to go.
As I walked into The Home Depot flooring department I told the carpet experts what I was looking for.
I let them know I wanted luxury that was chic but not too feminine and they led me over to The Soft Spring Platinum Plus Collection.
First of all, I was blown away at the selection. I never knew there was so many gorgeous colors and beautiful patterns to choose from.
I always thought only extremely expensive stores carried such high quality styles but boy was I wrong!
My new friend Fernando couldn’t have been more helpful addressing all of my concerns and pointing me in the right direction!
After gazing through all of the different styles the Exhilarating II caught my eye and I looked no further! It had the exact chic, sophisticated and elegant feel I was going for and without the crazy cost of other retailers! Woohoo!
Click here to learn more about the Soft Spring Platinum Plus Collection and the Exhillarating II model I picked out!
Next up was choosing the correct color. Since I’m making over the entire room head to toe I decided to first pick out a carpet color that I loved and then build the rest of my room around that color. Since I wanted something cozy but not too dark I went with Brown Sugar, and no, not because it happens to be my favorite Rolling Stones song but because it was the perfect warm and romantic tone I was looking for.
After I had my heart set on Brown Sugar, I headed over to the paint department and picked out gorgeous warm paint colors that would go nicely with the carpet. The room was blue before so I wanted to go the opposite with warm and homey shades. I went with Sonoran Desert by Behr for the room and Country Cork by The Home Decorators Collection for my accent wall. I also knew that the fabric I would be using in the room for wall upholstery and pillows would be from The Martha Stewart Living Curtain Collection so I ran over to the curtain section and grabbed my fabric. I chose the Martha Stewart Living Hickory Moroccan Geo Back Tab Curtain. Then I took my paint swatches and fabric back to the carpet sample and took a picture to make sure my vision for this room was on point and that the colors went together.
The next day I took a swatch to my friends to make sure it was indeed the perfect carpet and color in all different types of lighting and I also made sure no one was allergic.
The moment of truth, it was time to calculate the cost of my order to make sure it fit my price range, now I was holding my breath because a carpet this gorgeous at any other retailer would have cost a small fortune!
To calculate my cost, I started by measuring the room with a tape measurer. 11×11 ft. I like to round up just to be sure I have enough, so I’m going with 12x12ft to be on the safe side. I can’t think of anything worse than running short after you get the carpet delivered. What a bummer that would be!
Now that I have my measurements it’s time to start calculating. To find out the square feet of the room you are going to multiply your measurements together so 12×12=144 sqft.
The Soft Spring Platinum Plus Exhilarating II Model # 0372D-22-12 is priced by square yards, so to find out how many square yards are in your total square feet you are going to divide the square feet by 9. (9 because each yard is 3 feet do 3×3=9) I know it feels like we are back in grade school… I knew math would pay off at some point! Our total square yards is 144 /9 = 16 square yards of carpet to cover a 12×12 ft space.
The carpet I picked out costs $36 per square yard so I am going to multiply $36×16= $576 for the carpet, now I’m almost done, I just need to factor in the cost of the padding I’ll be buying.
The Home Depot features lots of fantastic padding! Sometimes we can get so excited and busy shopping for the carpet that we forget what is going on underneath. Even though you can’t see the padding it’s an extremely important component to the over all feel of your carpet. Different padding gives your carpet different feels. Here’s a quick carpet padding guide The Home Depot recommends depending on what collection of carpet you buy to give you the best results as well as the four types of padding.
Don’t forget to check out their Carpet Pad Test Center!
This gives you a chance to place whatever carpet you are thinking about purchasing over each different kind of foam to see how it feels.
I put the Soft Spring Platinum Plus Exhilarating II carpet sample on top of all four different types of padding and touched and stood on them and let me tell you, this is so important to do because each type of padding has a totally different feel.
The padding I went with was .79 per square foot. I multiplied .79×144= $113.76 Making my total cost for the carpet and padding about $690.
Now that my carpet and padding has been purchased it’s time for the really fun part! The installation, don’t worry, it may sound a little overwhelming but it’s actually quite simple and fun! Join me next week on How2Girl as I show you step by step how to install this new gorgeous carpet via pictures and video!
On a final note ladies, you don’t have to be an expert to roll up your sleeves and get creative, just knowing the tricks of the trade will have you well on your way to becoming your own carpet guru in no time and if ever in doubt, the experts at The Home Depot are always there to help you and answer any questions you might have.
Last but not least be sure and click here to read this fabulous Carpet Buying Guide my friends at The Home Depot have put together for you! It gives you an in-depth look at the carpet buying process and even has a guide to help you calculate your costs! What’s better than that?
Thanks for joining me and I’ll see you next week for step by step instructions, pictures and a video tutorial on how 2 install carpet!
Comments are closed.