The Only Buyer’s Guide You’ll Ever Need
As one of the softest and warmest floor coverings, carpets are a sought-after flooring choice in many Australian homes. Wildly popular in bedrooms, staircases and home offices, among other areas, they are favoured for their sound-reducing properties and luxurious feeling underfoot. They’re also a safe choice, given their ability to mitigate injuries from slips and falls. Thus, offering the perfect solution for busy families with children. Get to know your carpet flooring today. Read on.
How is carpet constructed?
Signature offers carpets tufted from natural fibres like sheep and yak wool or stain-resistant synthetic options like nylon, polyester and polypropylene. What you see as the upper layer is called the pile (the soft fibre density) attached to a backing (the base material on the underside of the carpet). With technology advancing, today’s carpets are incredibly durable, fade and stain resistant – making them easy to clean and maintain.
The advantages of carpet
- Choose from an abundant array of colour options. Plus, an extensive range of textures so you can pick one that aligns best with your room’s interior style.
- Create a more comforting indoor environment with a carpet’s insulating properties. This means you’ll be able to effectively keep excessive heat, or cold drafts from seeping through the floors, reducing your utility bills.
- Let’s not forget carpets create quieter spaces. With superior acoustic properties, they’re ideal for diminishing sound from walking and furniture movement.
- Reduce falls with anti-slip carpets. Even in the event of a slip or trip, a softer landing reduces the impact of the fall.
Which carpet fibre is the best?
Choose a fibre based on the amount of footfall your room experiences. For instance, treat yourself to luxury with a softer pile carpet that’ll stand up to bare feet or slippers in the bedroom. Alternatively, look for a dense, tight, low pile carpet for high traffic areas like hallways or stairs.
So, what are your fibre options?
Synthetic
Synthetic fibres include white nylon (Signature’s Colour Guard® nylon) and solution dyed nylon (SDN), which offers buyers some of the softest and most luxurious carpets in the market. Signature’s gorgeous Cashmere Touch range, for instance, provides you with the finest selection of luxuriously soft nylon carpets. In the former, fibres are dyed after the carpet has been made. The latter on the other hand, adds colour to the fibre while in liquid form. That’s why SDN has colour all the way through it. It’s also why these carpets deliver long-lasting vibrancy. That said, Colour Guard® treated white nylon carpets also boast enhanced colour longevity, especially when exposed to heat and light.
With Signature’s nylon carpets, once you touch them, it’s hard to take your hand away. Intuitively it makes you think, “soft = not strong” however, this is not the case. All nylons are made using a fine denier of yarn. And, with more threads per square inch, the denser and thicker the carpet, so the more durable it is. Nylon is also ‘springy’ – capable of holding it’s shape and bouncing back with regular upkeep.
Plus, nylon carpets are stain, soil and fade resistant. Nylon carpets clean well (wet cleaning is possible) as the fibres don’t absorb water like wool.
Signature also offers Comfort Luxstep, a wallet-friendly PET collection that represents superior value for money. Still wonderfully soft and available in trending shades perfect for any interior décor, these carpets are a sensible choice for spare bedrooms, second lounges and investment properties where you don’t want to over-capitalise.
If you’re looking for something robust, stain and fade resistant for spaces like home gyms, pool areas, boats or caravans, polypropylene carpets like Signature’s EcoTide outdoor carpets could offer a fitting solution. This UV-stable fibre is designed for the great outdoors.
Natural
If you’re leaning towards natural fibres – our favourite at Signature, is natural wool. Wool is tactile and textured and offers heaps of insulation benefits. Installing wool carpet means your home feels cooler in summer but warm in winter. Wool can also absorb or release up to 30% of its weight in moisture without feeling wet. These humidity regulating properties of natural wool help keep your indoor spaces feeling warm and dry.
Some of our ranges, like Brit & Jaro, also utilise Khullu – a yak wool blended with the best wools from across the world to make an aesthetically pleasing product to suit every home.
Wool carpets are naturally fire-resistant. Also, with the right kind of maintenance, they will age gracefully and last you a lifetime. As a renewable and biodegradable fibre, wool is kind on the planet. It repels stains naturally. Wool carpeting also traps airborne dust in its fibres until its vacuumed, reducing allergy triggers. The issue of indoor air pollution often stems from volatile organic compounds (VOCs), emitted by furnishings and finishings. With detrimental and damaging health effects, VOCs are simply bad news. In this instance, wool naturally binds and neutralises these VOCs.
There are three main carpet styles – twist/cut, loop and plush.
A twist construction gives the carpet a slightly textured appearance which also makes it hard-wearing. On the other hand, a plush pile carpet has the yarn standing up, which offers a luxurious look. Broadly speaking, plush pile carpets will show shading and tracking marks from footprints or vacuuming. This makes it an excellent choice for low-traffic areas like bedrooms. In loop pile carpets, the fibres are formed into loops and stuck to the backing. It’s what lends it durability but also helps hide dirt easily.
How to maintain my carpet?
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- It’s easy to keep carpets looking fresh during use. Vacuuming frequently and thoroughly, particularly in high traffic areas, can prolong your carpet’s life but also enhance its appearance.
- Also, periodic maintenance by a professional cleaner, preferably every 12-18 months will improve your carpet’s longevity. This applies to all carpets, including wool and non-wool fibres.
- Attend to spills and stains as quickly as possible. With regular maintenance, a quality carpet will serve you well.
Which carpet colour is the best?
Choose a colour that suits the mood and tone of your room. Neutrals work well in most rooms. They’ll anchor your room’s design without taking away attention from the things you’re looking to highlight in the space. Lighter colours can make small bedrooms feel more expansive. Dark carpets in the dining room, for instance, could hide accidental spills and make a large room feel cosier. Ideal if you’re looking to inject a hint of moodiness and luxury.
Looking for expert advice?
Download our helpful guide to selecting carpet as a place to start narrowing down your carpet considerations. This has practical advice on carpet maintenance, usual carpet characteristics and more. You can also use our store locator to find your closest Signature carpet stockist, where you can browse the ranges and ask any questions you have of the knowledgeable industry experts instore.
What to do next?
Start your carpet discovery by browsing our ranges, find your favourite shades and then order free samples. These will be delivered to your home, so you can feel the Signature difference and fall in love with your perfect match. And as a way to test out how your new favourite carpet will look in your home, simply use the Floor Visualiser to get a realistic preview of your chosen shade. You can upload your own photo, or use a demo room to get an idea of how different carpets look once they’re installed across a whole room.