What To Do If You Don't Like Wall-To-Wall Carpet

Wall-to-wall carpet can be a big deal-breaker for those looking to buy a home or renters checking out different apartments. If you do not have the permission, the budget, or, let’s be honest, the desire to rip up all the carpet and deal with what you might find underneath, you may feel like you're stuck with that sea of carpet. Despite what you might think, however, you have options outside of replacing the wall-to-wall carpet that is especially prominent in older homes. 

You do, however, have a couple of options if wall-to-wall carpet is not your thing. There are ways to distract from the carpet with other design elements or to design around or over it. 

Wall-to-Wall Carpet Step #1: Good Clean Fun

The first step is probably the most important in transforming your wall-to-wall carpet to make sure it better fits your aesthetic. Give it a good, deep clean. And we’re not talking swiping a vacuum over it a couple of times. You’d be surprised the difference this can make in your home and will find that it’s absolutely worth investing the time, money, and energy. 

There are two primary methods of cleaning carpet: dry extraction and hot water extraction, both of which are done with specialized tools and cleaning supplies. You can learn more about carpet cleaning in our Carpet Cleaning Guide. 

You really can’t get an accurate depiction of how wall-to-wall carpet looks until you see it in its best form. You may be surprised by the transformation and find that you actually really like the look of it. 

Wall-to-Wall Carpet Step #2: Distraction Tactic

If cleaning it didn’t make a significant enough improvement to the room, you can try the distraction tactic. If you use enough colorful, patterned, and bold items in your room, no one will even notice the carpet. What you’ll want to do is keep the colorful items high off the floor to pull the eye to the more vibrant elements of the room. This will allow you to express your personal style in the room. 

Wall-to-Wall Carpet Step #3: Add Layers

When all else fails, this is one of the most popular ways people deal with wall-to-wall carpet. Essentially, you treat the carpeting like you would any other type of flooring and place rugs in your room as if you were decorating as usual. A few ways you can go about this is buying a large area rug to cover much of the carpet or smaller coordinating rugs placed under furniture arrangements throughout the room. 

If you decide that none of these methods work for you, removing and replacing the carpet is a DIY project you can complete yourself. Just stop by your local Floor Trader and we can walk you through all the steps required.