Stair runners

While I contemplate the plethora of projects that eventually need to get done around my house, figuring out what to do with my what-were-the-former-owners-thinking-??? yellow/orange stained floor is always on my mind (seen here, and it's toned down in the photo). And whether or not I can figure out a way to get the floors re-stained while owning too many cats to make it easy, perhaps a stair runner is a good option. Makes hiking up and down them easier on us humans as well as the cats, and would add a fun punch of colour and/or pattern to my pretty fabulous foyer/staircase. So on that note, I thought I would do a stair carpet runner roundup. 

Bill Kingston Photography

amoroso | design

Optimise Design

Design*Sponge

Sage Design Studio

Hill Mitchell Berry Architects

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Lilly Bunn bonus

A little Lilly Bunn extra special yumminess for your viewing pleasure. 

The most luscious dark teal glossy walls. TO DIE FOR. 

A quirky yet perfect combination of a beni ourain rug, a deep green velvet sofa, a brass and glass table and floral chair...oh yes, and a hippo. Eclectic awesome sauce.

A gorgeous pale mural paired with bold chair and lighting choices makes this an absolutely stunning dining room.

Leopard carpet in the bedroom? YES PLEASE!

Bizarre

I came across the following photos on AT Casa and had a good laugh. Now, I think conversation pits are cool, especially coming across the one I blogged about here via Linebox Studio that I'm desperately hoping will be do-able in my new home. But a huge, fully carpeted one is just so....70s. And kind of ugly. No offense to Jason Miller, furniture designer and owner of this lovely shag pit he created in his 600 sq. ft apartment in Brooklyn. But really? (I found more details here).

My new flor carpet tiles

Ever since I first heard about the carpet company Flor I was floored. LOL Such a genius idea - to sell carpet by the tile instead of a whole rug. This means you can create a rug of whatever size you want and arrange the patterns/colours however you wish - and have the ability to change it up over time when you become bored with it. Not only that I have 7 cats who love to barf on carpets so this way if a particularly nasty incident arises I can replace a ruined tile with a new one instead of having to replace an entire rug. I had been wanting to get my hands on some Flor tiles for quite some time and was super excited to have the chance to pick out a sample of 12 tiles. I chose the Askania tiles in grey from their new Floresse line, which is made of 100% natural wool. OMG the wool is incredible...it's so comfortable and will be nice and warm in the winter months. The pattern turned out to be really cool and I opted to make a 5'x7' rug in my living room while alternating the pattern. LOVE!!

Some other points to note: Flor ships to Canada (YAY!!), the backing is rubbery so they stay pretty much in place (you get some stickers that help with that too, although I opted not to use them because my floors are painted wood ***UPDATE: my bad - I assumed the stickers were double-sided) and you don't need those annoying carpet pads. Oh - and when you're done with your tiles you can send them back to Flor and they will guarantee they won't end up in a landfill. (P.S. I plan to use these tiles or buy others to cut and line shelving I want to install for the cats to hang out on).

Wall to wall

We received this request via email last month from Eileen: (and I finally found some time to scour my photo stash)

"I've always lived in older homes with wood floors, but I recently purchased an 80's tract house with wall-to-wall carpet. The carpet has to be replaced now, but it's going to be a few years before I can afford to put in wood. Can you pull together some photos of inspiring living rooms with carpet? Is there such a thing?"  I have selected some photos of living rooms with wall-to-wall carpet (and if it's not wall-to-wall, pretend it is) to help give Eileen some ideas. I'd suggest a very neutral (cream or very light grey) berber or a sisal-type carpet (but not a rough sisal) and then layer some fun area rugs on top (kilims and cowhide are my favs). Being the owner of a plethora of cats, carpet is my worst enemy. So might I suggest something a little zany. If your subfloor is plywood and is in decent shape, how about sanding it smooth and then painting it in the meantime? I've seen this a few times and think it looks great considering the inexpensive material. (If you don't believe me check out this post by Erin of Design Crisis).

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MHZ                             Steven Gambrel