“I’ve always been a great fan of a fitted carpet,” says Daniel Slowik, of the flooring choice also known as wall-to-wall carpeting that is shaking off its passé associations and being laid (or at least contemplated) in homes up and down the land. Partly, it’s down to the steady softening we’ve seen in recent years; a fitted carpet goes hand-in-hand with lines becoming more sinuous, fabrics more voluminous – whether on an Austrian blind, a bed canopy or cushion frill – and bathrooms and kitchens giving up their more angular edges. But fitted carpets also bring practical benefits: once upon a time, “much like fabric walling and tapestries, carpets were vital for retaining warmth in old, draughty country houses,” says Philip Hooper of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler. They can do that same job today in a whole range of houses, from a Victorian terrace to a country cottage, while also, continues Philip, being “acoustically successful.” But where do you start? And what’s a Brussels weave? Is underlay essential? Can you have a fitted carpet and underfloor heating? Is there a way to stop sisal from staining? And what sort of carpet is best if you’ve also got cats? For the answers to all these questions, read on:
Historical use – and suburban takeover
Let’s start with a quick glance at the past, for it might seem like a 1980s throw back, but fitted carpet has its origins in the late 17th century, when wool carpet was specially woven for the area it was due to cover, a luxury affordable only by the few. By the second half of the 18th century, carpet was woven and laid in strips – and then there was a pause, for in the 1870s a fashion for loose rugs and hardwood floors took over. In the 1920s and 1930s there was another wave of desire, prompted by fitted carpet being used to glorious effect by Madeleine Castaing, Nancy Lancaster, John Fowler, et al - while at the same time, innovations in machine tufting (as opposed to weaving) and synthetic materials (hello nylon, polyester and polypropylene) made fitted carpet eminently affordable for the masses. By the 1960s, fitted carpet was widespread, and being put down in every room in the house, including bathrooms and kitchens – which is why we collectively went off it, until now. (Though carpets – the good type – are finding their way back into bathrooms: Daniel Slowik is in favour, and so is Emma Burns.)
The terms and types
Once upon a time, all carpets were woven, and there are several names, terms and places to know. Firstly Wilton, which is where carpet making began in England in the 1700s, the weavers having been smuggled out of France to Wiltshire by the 9th Earl of Pembroke (evidently a big fan of the fitted carpet); their process is known as a Wilton weave. In the 1800s, Axminster in Devon became another centre for carpet weaving, and thus there is also an Axminster weave – which, due to the technique, can incorporate more in the way of colour and pattern than a Wilton weave, though a Wilton weave can be more texturally rich. The Wilton weave derived from the Brussels weave – a third term, and the type of weave that Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler use for their carpets, after John Fowler discovered an example on an antique stool and revived it in the 1930s. The weight and thickness of each type can vary – rather like a thread count on linen.
Also important to understand is the difference between cut pile, which is carpeting that is sheared, and loop pile, when the loop is left closed. A traditional Axminster weave is cut pile, a Wilton weave can be either, or even a mixture of the two, and the Brussels weave is a loop pile. A tufted carpet – as opposed to a woven carpet – can again be either, or both. Shag pile – which generally tends to be more popular in the US, is cut pile with a long pile height (it was liberally used at Graceland, which you’ll have spotted if you’ve seen Sofia Coppola’s latest film, Priscilla). Loop pile, incidentally, can also come at different heights – the longer the loop the more luxurious the carpet will feel. At the other end of the spectrum is flat weave, which is lovely but comes with the issue of hard-to-hide seams which is why it tends to be used for stairs or runners, or loose rugs. And natural plant fibre carpets – such as sisal – are woven, but there is a wide variety of weaves and designs.
Choosing a carpet
“You’ve got to be honest about who you are, and your lifestyle,” ordains Jon Flannigan of Crucial Trading, who specialise in natural floor coverings, i.e. carpets in wool, sisal and seagrass. “If you’ve got a family and pets, you want something that is hard wearing, as stain resistant as possible, and aesthetically pleasing,” he continues – though of course, you don’t have to put the same sort of carpet down throughout your whole house. But while we’re here, let’s get straight on with the elephant in the room: yes, sisal looks really attractive – especially with oriental rugs placed on top (it’s the contrast in texture, and the humble-grand juxtaposition) – but it marks easily, and “exposure to direct sunlight is an issue; you have to be really proactive around them.”
One of the ways of being proactive is to have a stain-resistant treatment applied, a service that Crucial Trading offer. “If you drop water or wine on the floor, it’ll collect in a bit of a pool that you can blot away – always blot! Never scrub!” says Jon. Seagrass, reports Jon, is fractionally more stain resistant, (and cat claw resistant) “though I wouldn’t advise it for stairs as it can be slightly slippery.”
So, onto wool – which is seeing an uptick in sales, something Jon attributes to its comfort, and to the wide range of colours and patterns. Generally, a weave is more durable and lasting (and more expensive) than a tufted carpet, with a good quality loop pile Brussels weave being particularly durable, especially if it’s a tight loop. If it’s less tight, know that “a cat can get behind it and pull the loop up,” warns Jon – whereas with a cut pile, there’s nothing for a cat to get behind, and he explains that twisted cut pile is particularly resilient, and it doesn’t show footprints and dents in the same way that straight pile or shag pile does (it is those carpets that you need to hoover in the same direction too – unless you like the stripey look.)
Also worth considering is patterned carpet: “I’ve always embraced pattern on pattern and a wild carpet design adds that perfect extra layer,” says Daniel Slowik. He reminds us of the time when “it wasn’t just fabric and wallpaper that matched, but carpet too, the fullest of a ‘full look’” – and among the Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler classical period designs and geometric motifs is ‘Bowood’, remade in a Brussels weave. A significant benefit is that pattern, as we all know, is tremendously forgiving; Madeleine Castaing used leopard print carpet in the drawing room of her house outside Paris, where there were large French windows leading directly into the garden. Her dog, Bobby, was able to come in and out at whim without anyone worrying about mud.
That said, Jon would recommend anybody who invests in wool carpet also to invest in the wool owners’ warranty, which is an aftercare service designed to keep your carpet spotless for its entire lifetime.
Selecting underlay
Does every type of carpet need underlay? “Yes,” says Jon. “You need to support your carpet – whether it is cheap or expensive – and maximise its lifetime.” Underlay, he explains, is essentially a cushion backing that also increases the comfort, for it absorbs impact. There are different types of underlay, with different depths, going up to about 12 mm. Usually, the deeper it is, the more comfortable it is to walk across, though remember to think about whether or not you’ll still be able to open and close your doors, and you’ll also need to think about its tog rating (just like a duvet!) which you’ll want to be higher or lower depending on whether you are insulating against draughts that come up through the floorboards, or you’ve got underfloor heating. If it’s the latter, and you go for a high tog underlay, you will negate the underfloor heating. Ideally, says Jon, if you’ve got underfloor heating, you wouldn’t go above 2.5 togs for the underlay and carpet combined.
There have been some quite impressive developments in underlay, at least since old newspaper was the go-to (which we discovered when we pulled up in the carpets in our house.) PU – polyurethane underlay – is made from recycled elements from the furniture industry, and crumb underlay is made from recycled car tyres. And there’s more to think about than depth and tog, for also crucial is breathability if you’re in a house that tends to damp, or if you’re laying carpet over parquet (otherwise, “the parquet will swell and pop,” says Jon.) And, if you’re choosing a woven wool carpet, what you probably want is a felt-backed underlay, which is breathable, and is made of recycled carpet fibres (that’s the felt) and crumb. It’s heavier than PU – so some carpet layers might be resistant to it and try to convince you that it's not what you need, “but it is what you need,” says Jon.
Where to go, where to find a fitter, and how to prepare for installation
Crucial Trading has a list of approved retailers on the website, “and they’ll offer a recommended fitter,” says Jon. For the Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler collection, which is made bespoke to the room (rather like those late 17th-century carpets), the showroom can provide a quote for fitting. Then, Daniel Slowik recommends Sinclair Till, Henriette von Stockhausen of VSP Interiors suggests Tim Page Carpets, Lily Allen and David Harbour opted for Pierre Frey, if you’re looking for a Madeleine Castaing-inspired leopard print, Stark Carpet does a good contemporary version, and for flatweave runners and stair carpets in a myriad of colours there is Roger Oates. There are yet more excellent companies listed on House & Garden’s The List, including – for those who are still lusting after sisal flooring but aren’t quite sure how to commit to a proactively stain-avoidant lifestyle – Unnatural Flooring (though, if you are going for a manmade fibre, do remember to ask about breathability if that’s an important consideration.) Alternatively, if you want to create your own unique pattern (remembering the carpet that the surrealist Edward James designed, featuring his wife Tilly Losch’s footprints) Christopher Farr can do anything.
In terms of preparation, you need to remove all the furniture from the room or rooms (if there’s something that really can’t come out the fitter might be able to work around it), remove any other carpet (some fitters might do this for an additional charge – otherwise Tarkett will collect it and recycle it), and generally give the room a good hoover and clean. And contrary to (some people’s) belief, you do not need to remove the skirting board to fit a carpet, rather, the skirting board should be fitted before the carpet.
Finally, know that if you decide that you don’t actually want a fitted carpet, but have fallen head over heels for, say, Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler ‘Heartsease’, or one of Crucial Trading’s Sisools (their mix of sisal and wool) you can order them as rugs instead of carpet, and there’s a whole range of different borders. Rugs, of course, look lovely over fitted carpet. . . But that’s a whole other article.
