Your staircase is a unique part of your home, and choosing the perfect carpet for them can be incredibly difficult. You may visit a friend’s house and be immediately impressed (and a bit envious) with their uniquely carpeted stairs. Not to fear, it is an easy design feature to implement in your home.
When you look in showrooms and online, there are hundreds of carpets and designs to choose from. In this guide, we’ve simplified the choices, offering you the ten best carpet options for your stairs and explaining how you can use them in your home.
What’s The Best Carpet For The Stairs
When fitting carpet to any location in your house, you need to evaluate the activity and use it will face. Your staircase is one of the most high-traffic areas in your home, so choosing a durable carpet (and underlay) is essential. You should also look for a carpet with a high noise reduction rating to prevent disturbances from loud, heavy footsteps.
Do I Need A Special Carpet For The Stairs?
Not necessarily. You should consider properties like durability and noise reduction when choosing a carpet for the stairs. You also might want to use a slightly thinner carpet as it is easier to install, though a professional fitter can work with any carpet.
Why Should You Fit Carpet Up The Stairs?
There are four main reasons to carpet your stairs: appearance, comfort, protection and safety.
Most people’s primary consideration is appearance. They might want to add colour to fit their interior design or cover worn steps. Carpet offers a revitalising finish.
A high tog-rating carpet insulates cold hardwood stairs, and when combined with thick cushioning, you’ll love walking barefoot on them. You can also use carpet to reduce noise disruption for other people in the building when ascending and descending the stairs.
Carpeting your stairs also helps to protect them. The high traffic and footfall can wear wood over time, and it’s far easier to replace carpet than wooden steps. A durable underlay and carpet can withstand years of use.
Finally, carpeted stairs are safer than hardwood. If you have children or like to walk around in your socks, carpet with decrease the risk of slipping and injury.
Wall-To-Wall Carpet Or Runner Rug?
There are two common ways of carpeting the stairs: carpeting from wall-to-wall or using a runner rug that covers the middle, most used portion.
Both have different benefits and aesthetic effects. Runners have become increasingly popular and are one of the latest carpet trends for stairs. They are typically used as an accent feature, making them perfect for showing off a pattern or design. However, they are usually only possible for staircases with decorative wood underneath, as part of the step will show through. For plywood staircases, a wall-to-wall carpet is a much better option.
Wall-to-wall carpets are a more conservation option and often have a uniform, complimentary colour. If they do feature a pattern, it is typically discrete. They significantly reduce slipping risks compared to runners.
The Latest Trends
Here’s a rundown of the newest trends for installing carpets on the stairs:
1. Stripes For Space
Verticle stripes are one of the biggest trends in carpet design. They elongate your stairs, offering a sense of grandeur and space, which your guests see as soon as they enter your home.
You can experiment with the width of your stripes and their colours. Some of the best results come from choosing an array of complementary colours that become the centrepiece of your hallway.
Generally, stripped stair runners are more popular than wall-to-wall alternatives, but you should consider both for your space and settle on the one you like the most.
2. Embrace Nature With Textures
Using your carpet’s weave as a stylistic effect is a great way to get more from it and integrate it into your interior design. Popular options, such as herringbone, provide a unique feel underfoot and a satisfying pattern. They are great for rustic aesthetics and add texture to your colours.
You should also experiment with the carpet material. Honey-toned plant fibres like Sisal pair excellently with dark colours and themes, especially when complemented with accent borders.
3. Be Creative With Bold Patterns
If you want to draw attention to your staircase, a bold, patterned carpet works wonders. Use it as the focal point of your hallway, the stand-out aspect of your interior design masterclass.
An expert tip is to choose contrasting colours. The best way to find these accents is by using a colour wheel and choosing opposites, as these accents will help the pattern pop. There are lots of online variations that can help.
4. Accent Borders
Accent borders add an extra dimension to your carpet. If you would like to reinvent a neutral colour, contrasting borders elevate it. Again, consult the colour wheel to find the best pairings.
Borders are ideal for stair runners but rarely used for wall-to-wall carpets. Don’t forget you can experiment with their size or even try a trim instead to vary the textures of your carpet.
5. Match Your Hall Or Landing
Nothing shows off professional carpet installation as effectively as matching your staircase carpet with your landing and hall. Accurately piecing a tessellating pattern together displays expertise and is a statement design cue.
6. Compliment With Neutrals
Multiple accents and designs can clash and fight each other. If you already have bold designs in your hallway or landing, a neutral carpet will fit seamlessly and work quietly in the background to bring the room together.
Say you have invested in a beautifully patterned wallpaper. It looks great, and you’ve adopted complimentary colour patterns throughout your hall. You should do the same thing with your carpet.
7. Match To You Staircase
An intricate staircase should be your primary decoration in your hall. They are expensive and difficult to craft, so are worth highlighting. However, you can actually accentuate its beauty by matching your carpet accordingly.
It is a traditional aesthetic, perfect for hardwood staircases that you want to insulate but not hide. To maintain the staircase’s detailed beauty, choose a runner carpet that reveals the wood underneath. You can also paint or varnish the wood to match the carpet.
8. Earth Tones And Plants
If you invested time and money into keeping house plants thriving in your hallway, you have a perfect opportunity to create an earth-tone design. Think of the colours of nature and autumn: forest greens, burnt orange, golden yellows and more. These options work brilliantly together and are great for multicoloured striped patterns.
When you choose earth tones, try a minimal light blue accent in a stripe or design, as it can often be the final piece of the puzzle, adding an extra professional touch.
9. A Colour Medley
Integrating several colours with your staircase carpet creatively brightens your hall. As the carpet will not cover the whole room, it is a gentle way to introduce vibrant colours without overpowering the room. This balance makes coloured carpets ideal for greeting guests and welcoming them into a happy home.
Generally, the best way to use multiple colours is in a pattern or stripe. However, you should balance colour and pattern complexity, or they will clash and confuse the eye. If you want an intricate pattern, try a range of subdued complimentary colours, perhaps matching your other decor. If you want the colours to be a bright focal point, choose a simple design, such as a stripe.
10. Monochrome Model
Monochrome colour palettes have been popular for a while, offering designers a clean, modern aesthetic. It creates a uniform style, meaning patterns and textures become central details.
Traditionally, monochrome has meant whites, greys and black, but we often see modern monochromatic cream colour schemes, as well as other neutrals like oatmeal. You could even experiment with coloured monochrome palettes using blues or greens.
A dark monochrome carpet has the added benefit of concealing stains and wear from heavy traffic.
Deliver Carpet Trends to Your Clients
For stair carpet trends, physical samples are especially useful when customers are comparing stripes, runners, borders, textures and colour combinations.
ADP’s bespoke swatch samples help flooring retailers showcase trend-led carpet ranges clearly, with professional swatch cards, shade cards and sample books that customers can see and feel before they commit.
Carpet Distribution Services
As a supplier, you need a reliable distribution service. ADP distribution carry carpets from warehouse to store, and direct to client’s doors.
Our drivers transport flooring of all types between key supply chain points throughout the UK and mainland Europe.
We also provide warehousing and fulfilment, offering you a fast, friendly logistics solution that can link manufacturers, retail outlets, and customer deliveries.
