Carpet Color: What's best?

Have you seen the choices in carpet colors? It can be mind-boggling! The choices can overwhelm even the most decisive persons.
Are you redecorating or building a new home and need to choose colors? Do you know how to coordinate the wall colors with the carpet colors and the window treatments? 
It can be challenging if you don't know where to begin and if, like most of us, you can't afford to hire a designer to help you, you may become paralyzed by the decisions you need to make. What if you choose the wrong item and it ends up looking awful and it's too expensive to change? 

Well, here are a few tips to get you going forward for a successful design outcome:

1. Begin with a piece of fabric. It might be the curtain or couch fabric, or fabric you love and want to use for accents, such as valances, or pillows.  
2. Identify the three predominant colors in the fabric. For example, you have a tropical floral with green, tan and peach as the dominant colors. 
3. Take the fabric with you to the paint store, or paint department at your bigbox store, and pick out paint swatches that go with the dominant colors. For example: In the "white" paint samples, you find a white that has a warm, peachy undertone. This will be your main paint color.  Choose several paint swatches for the peach, the green and the tan.  Choose a couple "whites" that look good, as well as, a few pastels and a few deeper shades. 
4. Take the fabric and the paint swatches with you to look at carpet samples. Using the paint swatches, take home 5-6 samples of carpet at a time. You might have to do this several times but it's important to see all the colors in the natural light of your home. Most carpet stores, including the carpet departments at Lowes and Home Depot, will let you check out sample books. When trying to determine which carpet samples to take home think about where the carpet will be laid. Will it cover the entire house except for kitchen and baths? Will there be different carpet in the bedrooms? What activities will take place there? (You probably do NOT want white carpet in the family room.) 
5. Take into account the size of your house. If your home is under 1200 square feet, it is probably best to choose one carpet color, preferably a light color, to use throughout. Your house will appear larger and more spacious. If your house has multiple floors, or the bedrooms will be connected by tile or hardwood floors, mixing up carpet colors won't look as disjointed. 
6. Think about each room to be carpeted. Is it a big room? Then it can handle darker colors.  Is it a small room? You might want to stay with lighter, airier colors, like pastels and creams and beiges.
7. Now, think about the use of the room. For a bedroom, think soothing colors like blues and greys, or warm neutrals like cream, deep tan and rose. Adjust the depth of color to the size of the room and the mood you want. Again, if your house is on the smaller size, or you like flow and continuity, then choose colors that are lighter. There has been some research on the psychology of color and reading up on this some may help you decide.
8. This last suggestion may seem strange, but examine the color of the dirt outside your place. Is is red clay? Is it deep brown loam? Do you live at the beach where the sand is slightly pink? This is the color you will track into the house. Choose a carpet color that will mask or blend with that dirt.

Hope these suggestions help you in choosing the next carpet colors for your home.
Remeber, no matter what color you choose, take good care of your carpet with regular cleaning.  
 
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