It is a thing of joy to walk on plush carpeted floors instead of cold tiles. Adding that much needed touch of homeliness and comfort to each new home – or a little extra life and color to an existing interior décor – carpet flooring is almost always a good decision. What few people are aware of though is that it is also one of the most crucial decisions concerning the life and maintenance of your home. If you think you can just walk into a store and pick a color off the rack and tell the salesperson to install it for you the coming week then high chances are that in the near future, you won’t be too happy with your purchase.

Though color, finish and texture are essential as you hope to live with a specific carpet flooring for a considerable amount of time, factors like maintenance and carpet weave construction play a great role in the decision making process. There are firm and tightly woven surfaces which are easier to keep clean (longer lasting yet less gentle on bare feet), soft and plush carpets which are ideal to use in parts of the house where footwear is usually left out or where you tend to floor-sit, and lastly of course decorative carpets or carpet panels especially for use in drawing and dining spaces to accent colors of the wall or the furniture and add a little ornamentation.

How much ‘bounce’ a carpet gives your stride and how pliable it is depends on the weave of the strings and the material the strings are made off. For example tightly hand-knotted weaves from India are ideal for flooring where decorative patterns and long lasting surfaces are priority over luxuriant soft textures. Meanwhile if comfort is what you are looking at – especially in spaces like bedrooms and personal studies – the best would be hand-tufted carpets which provide just the right deal of spring for your feet.

Keeping them clean and dust-free is naturally of utmost importance, but what few people consider are the fibers that come loose from the carpet flooring itself. It is recommended that you buy carpets made and colored with natural fibers and dyes which are always softer on your skin, and be sure to check the density of the string as well. As far as the life of carpet flooring goes the primary issue which concerns wear and tear is the opening out of the carpets weaves, especially in the most frequently used paths and at the feet of couches and chairs.

Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten color and style – we just thought we’d finish off with the dull necessities first. Now naturally color is a personal and subjective decision that only you can make, but when in doubt stick to the classics and you can’t really go wrong –warm shades of reds, oranges or greens for the living and dining spaces with panels of lavish decoration and cool blue pastels and teals for inner more private areas. If you want to combine function and color, take slightly darker shades in recurrently used walkways to mask the eventual but inevitable abrasion and change in coloration.

It’s not only about how great your feet feel – your carpet floors can be styled to accent the color of your walls and furnishings, they’ll soften every slip or mistaken fall, act as noise buffers and minimize echo, and even trap in its intimate weaves particles of dust to considerably improve the quality of air.