Pretty carpet or sensible one?

We have light carpets throughout that are quite easy to treat for small marks. they have been down for six years and apart from some wear on the hall are like new. I used to have a chocolate brown carpet in the living room in another house and it was very dark in that room.

If you don't want your carpet to show marks get a traditionally patterned Axminster.
No! Not my scene either. Particularly not in modern houses.

I have a beige? cream coloured carpet. It does show dirt relatively easily.
In my hall and dining room I have a terracotta carpet. It is very forgiving as regards stains. I like an easy life and a bit of colour in my home furnishings.

You can now get some light coloured but slightly patterned carpets in some places which are good and, although I never went for one, the carpet shop we used did have some modern very nice patterned Axminster style carpets

Many thanks for all your comments. We can't have wood or laminate floors as we live in an apartment and the floors need to be carpeted to keep the noise down. We went back today to have another look and have made a decision. A compromise of sorts. We are going for a creamy colour (more clotted cream than light cream) twist carpet with flecks or light orange, brown and dark orange. Not too much pattern but hopefully enough to distract the eye from any marks.

Salesman asked if we were particularly clumsy as we had asked so many questions about cleaning. What, he asked, were we planning to throw on it. Grandchildren we replied and then wine when they'd gone and we were recovering!

It sounds just like mine Crafting and I like it very much.

Just don't buy any red wine.

It sounds like ours too. Obviously I didn't describe it too well. I'm sure you will love it!

I remember my first ever cookbook as a young wife. It was Katherine Whitehorn's Cooking in a Bedsitter. She said that whether you drank red or white wine with a meal was nothing to do with whether you were eating meat or fish. If your bedsit had Lino you could serve red wine but if you had a carpet, you had to stick to white.
We knew how to live in those days!

I have just read through the thread and see you have made your decision! Good for you. I am still trying to decide on a carpet 18 months on from my initial decision to replace our sitting room one!

We have a pale apricot heavy-duty wool which has been down for many many MANY years and I seem to have spent many many years on hands and knees spot cleaning (mostly where Mr C spills tea and coffee as he carries it into the room, grrrr).

I bought a good quality VAX carpet cleaner and do the 'track' of dirt from door to the sofa we mostly use, quite regularly. These methods have actually kept the carpet looking remarkably good considering its age.

As we are aging, I thought I would buy a 'no-stain' carpet, as I read somewhere that these are no longer shiny 'Bri-nylon' or whatever they were originally made of. I can't find any reviews of such a product. If anyone has knowledge of a really good-looking bomb/age-proof carpet, please please post here!
Thanks and I hope your new carpet looks great, OP.

I had the longed for cream patterned lounge carpet fitted December 2015. We do the 'shoes off at the front door' thing and yet I feel it often looks somewhat grubby. Can't explain it other than to say it is not the high quality Axminster of 40 years it replaced. Didn't think I'd last another 40 years so compromised! Do I regret the purchase? No. It was a dream I was able to realise. However......we all know the difference between dreams and reality..........! Am I unhappy about the outcome? No. Just sometimes irritated. Irrational woman indeed!

All my carpets are light in colour and I just use carpet spot cleaner if something gets spilled on them.

light carpets here and we dont ask people to take shoes off,my other half is very good at shampooing ithem when I point out a stain or like last week when GD spilt red powdered food colouring all over the living room carpet ( it was an accident granny ,the kitten knocked it out of my hand ...lol) Thankfully I have never been precious about things ...its just a carpet and after some serious scrubbing it looks as good as new.We do have a good shampooer ,a bex bissell ,we've had it for about 10 years bought it for our rental property as tenants can often leave a bit of a mess and it has been very well used and gives great results

Addendum....... because I forgot (!!)......... I did consider wood floor with rugs but was advised that rugs are a MAJOR cause of tripping in later life. Decided to go with that flow at the request of children and a bit of boring old common sense. Check out the domestic falls statistics.

I love a gold/sand colour for carpet it sort of gives you some light back. Mine looked lovely for years.

I now have quality vinyl pretending to be wood and it never shows any dirt.......so liberating when life is full of kids and dogs, and me dropping stuff all the time. Not warm but big slippers get over that.

Our neighbours have wood flooring it's very noisy can hear every step and movement
We are looking to get a carpet for our through lounge we have a brown suite and at moment we have a cream/beige carpet it's ok but boring . Kim I agree with you re rugs and trips rugs are not recommended as you get older ?

If you really want a light coloured carpet go for an acrylic.
Not in my opinion as classy as 80% wool but acrylic stained carpet is easier to keep clean than wool.

I find darker carpets show every mark & bits of fluff etc. I'd much rather have a lighter one & plenty of carpet cleaner!

I have Cream carpet in lounge and bedrooms and it does show the dirt. My kitchen diner and hallway however are oak flooring with a very hard wearing sealant. This is fantastic and I would have it everywhere if I could, I do have a lovely rug on the oak in the dining room and hall to soften and brighten.

We decided to have laminate in the back of the house where we spend most of our time. With a light rug by the sofas it's cosy but practical, especially when the grandchildren come .... and dropped food is easily cleaned. I want our family to feel welcome and comfortable when they are here, not always having to "Be careful of Grandma's carpet". That, along with washable dining chair covers means they and we don't worry about inevitable messes.

I think dark carpets show up bits more. I have a beige carpet in the Lounge. I did get a piece edged as a runner by the carpet shop and this is placed on the main run. I have had the carpet a few years now. I have a dog. It is fine. My cleaners husband has a carpet cleaning business she wants me to use him but it is a powder cleaner and I am not keen on that.

The trouble is - a light carpet shows up dark marks and dark carpets show up light marks. I chose cream carpets throughout four years ago with a degree of trepidation but I haven't regretted it. The one I chose can have anything thrown at it and can even be bleached. Having said that, I never have. There's something about applying bleach to a carpet that feels just wrong!

I too have a good quality VAX carpet cleaner and run over the main areas once every month. It only takes 20 or so minutes and I must say it does do a nice job. Thinking about it though, I don't think that I would have cream carpets if I didn't have the cleaner.

Jalima, such a simple tip....but that is what I am going to do (I am not buying red wine)
I have taken up my hall carpet, now have victorian tiles.Not only do they look good, but so easy to clean.
My sitting room carpet is oatmeal with flecks.With a large Kelim rug in front of the fireplace. (John Lewis) have an extensive collection.

when I moved in here 2 years ago I thought about having carpet replaced as it is plain beige throughout, carpet was only 1 year old, needed to get furniture out of storage, acquired a cat (was my DD's - long story), walk straight in from garden (forget to kick trainers off), so now I'm stuck with carpet as I would have to put furniture in storage to have new carpet down

I do have doormats & a rug which is very flat & can't move as my heavy coffee table is part on it to save trip hazzard.

Need to borrow a carpet cleaner again, find it difficult to get down on my hands & knees

Much prefer a touch of Iran myself lol x

We have a cream stair carpet .What was I thinking ...I think the problem with it is actually not suitable for stairs (so why did a well known store sell it to me...)About to get rid of it but cant decide on replacement. We have a wooden floor in hall and whole of downstairs except lounge
Lounge carpet was scotchguarded at factory before being laid .18 years later it doesn't have a mark on it .I spot clean with vax cleaner and marks just lift off .Its called dragonfly so a lightish teal blue with very faint reddish brown fleck.The room faces north so it warms it up without being beige iyswik.It's faded ,but very evenly and you cant tell until you move a piece of furniture (the room has two windows and gets a lot of late afternoon sun) .If they still did it I'd replace it .But it's a bg room so would no doubt cost a fortune

My DCs both had cream carpets laid before the DGCs, but now they shampoo them regularly and they are not too bad, even with dogs and cats. I loved the sandy twist pile one I had which was amazing, the blue/grey one was also very good, though a little dark. I once had a dark green carpet which looked lovely at first but I was forever picking up pieces of fluff etc, anything light showed horribly.

Now that I live with tiles and wooden floors I would never go back to carpets when I see how much muck I hoover up everyday! Despite shampooing regularly they must have been filthy! shudder.