What the Weft?

: All About Broadloom Carpet (&

My 2 Favorite Ways to Use It)

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This is a post that I’ve been meaning to write for some time, but it took some research and the kids’ heading to school
(YIPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEE!!!!) for me to sit down and write it. Here we go!

The Beauty of Broadloom /

When I rst became interested in decorating about 10 years ago, I didn’t have any experience with broadloom carpet
beyond the wall-to-wall super plush (but easily crushed) beige nylon varieties I saw at Home Depot (and can also be
found in our barn room) or the super thin, mustard gold iterations I found in basements.

Blech.

And that’s what you nd in so many carpet and home showrooms, right? A thousand varieties of beige and gray, thick
pile … not inspiring, just functional, right?

So why am I so excited about carpet?

Vincente Wolf. This carpet is SO NOT beige.

Because broadloom carpet can be very beautiful and a wonderful option, especially in some scenarios I’ll detail further
on. But rst let’s get down to what the weft … I mean “heck” … a broadloom carpet is.

 
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 Warp & Weft: Woven vs. Tufted Carpets

Woven broadloom carpets fall into 3 categories: axminster, wilton, and velvet.

Worker making carpet at a Jacquard Loom, via Wired. The rst power loom
with a Jacquard mechanism was developed in 1849.

Before I learned more about carpet, my head was spinning trying to gure out the different construction methods and
pros/cons of the 3 types of woven carpets, but Bloomsburg Carpet details these differences beautifully:

Axminster: Axminster carpet is produced on a jacquard loom, with each piece of pile yarn individually woven into place
and cut into tufts and then held in place by the weft. These carpets can therefore having an in nite scope of pattern and
colors.

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Axminster carpet construction, via Bloomsburg Carpet.

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 Antique Axminster rug via Nazmiyal Antique Rugs.

Wilton:  Wilton weave carpets are also manufactured on a jacquard loom but with a very different weave structure.  In
fact, in a wilton carpet, every yarn is kept in continuous strand — never cut or tufted — and is woven all the way
through.

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 Wilton weave carpet construction, via Bloomsburg Carpet.

Wilton carpet designs are created by inserting wires in the pile warps of the carpet and extracting the yarns wanted for
the pattern when needed. Because the yarn is buried on the back when not needed, wilton carpets are incredibly tightly
constructed, dense, and durable. They are considered to be the premier woven carpet.

Wilton carpets are capable of ‘all cut’, ‘all loop’ or a combination of the two, as below.

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 Prestige Mills Deer eld via the Carpet Workroom.

Velvet: Velvet looms create pile by looping yarn over the wires and cutting the loop as the wires are removed to produce
a soft, short, and dense pile. A loop velvet weave creates a high and low texture on the weave for a variety of patterns.

Velvet carpet construction, via Bloomsburg Carpet. /

 

Because it is so dense, it can be great for high traf c areas. However, due to its uniform surface, it can also show
indentations and tracks (not permanent!).

Velvet carpet.

The most popular kind of carpet since the 1950s is tufted carpet. It all began when young Catherine Evans Whitener
from Dalton, GA decided to try an copy a quilt she had seen using cotton yarns, a running stitch, and white muslin. She
thus unwittingly created what is now an American classic — chenille tufted bedspreads. Little did she know what else
was down the road….

By the 1930s, creation of tufted chenille bedspreads had become mechanized, and it was only a hop, skip, and a jump
to mechanize tufted carpets. Even today, Dalton, Georgia produces 70% of the world’s tufted carpets.

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 Tufted carpet construction, via Discount Carpet Warehouse.

In tufted carpets, clusters of yarn bers are punched through a material by a needle and held in place by adhesive latex
and the secondary backing. Tufted carpet is the most economical of the carpet producing methods and extremely fast.
One roll of axminster might take 8 hours to make whereas one roll of tufted takes approximately 1 hour.

Quick and Dirty Summary of Carpet Fibers

Wool and 3 synthetics — nylon, polyester, and Ole n (polypropylene)— are the most popular bers used in broadloom
carpeting.

Wool is the most expensive ber but is naturally stain resistant and durable.
Nylon is super popular due to its durability and relatively lower cost. You’ll probably start hating your carpet
before it wears out.
Polyester has a wool-like appearance and is soft underfoot but is less durable.
Ole n is glossy and one of the least expensive bers. Also less durable.

The quality of your ber  — whichever kind it is — is the best indicator of its ability to wishstand wear and tear.

My 2 Favorite Ways to Use Broadloom Carpet

I’m not much of a wall-to-wall carpet girl. I usually prefer wood oors with a rug on top. That being said, there are a lot
of areas where wall-to-wall can be really lovely — bedrooms and play rooms in particular.

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I love using broadloom carpet in 2, non-wall-to-wall applications. Firstly, broadloom carpet can be amazing as a stair
runner, especially if your stairs are too wide to use a typical 27″ roll runner.

Wendy Posard via The Inspired Room

I used a lovely cream and coral wilton weave as a stair runner in my rst One Room Challenge — my Artfully Fresh
Foyer.

The beauty of broadloom as a stair runner is that you can customize the width so that you can have 3-4″ of wood
showing, but not more than 6-8″ depending on how wide your stairs are. For instance, if you have a very wide staircase,
you can have proportionally a little more wood showing than on a narrower stair.
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via Laurel Bern Interiors

Yikes! We’re going to have to hop down these stairs on one leg.

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Another scenario in which broadloom carpet comes in handy is when you have a very large and/or oddly shaped room.
Most carpets come in widths of 12-13′ (size of the looms) and are priced by the square foot or square yard. Wider
widths can be created by seaming with another piece.

Have a 25′ x 25′ room? Buy a broadloom carpet and bind or serge the ends for an area rug. Have a huge replace
hearth sticking out into the middle of it or an angled or curved wall? Your fabricator can create a custom, bound cut-out.

Carla Aston

Using broadloom as a bound rug for a room of any size can potentially be a money saver, too, if, for example, you are
dying for a wool rug in your living room but that 9′ x 12′ hand-knotted piece is out of your budget. A 9′ x 12′ wool
broadloom, while it ain’t cheap, may be $1-2K less than a hand-made rug.

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/
 Kelly Rogers Interiors. Could you imagine that carpet could come in these colors?!

Bound broadlooms are also wonderful when mixed up with traditional rugs, either in the same space where you need
separate seating areas, or in adjacent rooms. (Check out my post on avoiding Oriental rug overkill.)

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In the above small library, I mixed a traditional Oriental rug in one conversational area with a Bellbridge Boxwood bound
carpet in the other.

My Go-To Carpet Sources

For a color/pattern lover like me, nding really great broadloom carpet to use as an area rug can sometimes be dif cult.
The market is really saturated with solid neutrals, sometimes spiced up here and there with a trellis pattern.

That being said, there is some hope. Stark’s omnipresent Antelope pattern has reignited the desire for interesting
patterned carpet.

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Chloe Warner
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So much so that Masland, Karastan, Prestige Mills, Silver Creek, Glen Eden, and even Ballard Designs (in an area rug for
the last) have all created their own iterations!

When I’m looking for carpet, I try to go for the highest quality makers out there. I also nearly always gravitate toward
wool. Why?

1. The FEEL — nothing feels as soft and as good as wool.

2. Stain resistance — the lanolins present in wools have a natural stain resistance.
3. Durability — wool wears well and is naturally springy, therefore holding its shape well long term.

That being said, wool is also the most expensive ber. There are a few wool/nylon blends that I’d be will to try — like
80% wool 20% nylon combos — if they were necessary to t the budget.

Some of my favorite broadloom carpet companies below. Except for Stark and PFM, I think you can source most of these
through various high-end carpet and rug stores, like one of my local resources PRG Rugs in Nashua, NH. Tell Fouad I
sent you!

Stark & Patterson Flynn Martin: $$$ Great sources. These companies also seem to “curate” weaves from other sources,
like Prestige Milles and Momeni (see below). Design trade only. Available to Home Glow clients.

Prestige Mills: $$$ So many favorites I don’t know where to begin. I’m dying to use some of the Missoni patterns.

Bellbridge: $$$ Really awesome patterns, beautiful quality. So many I love that it’s hard to choose, but I particularly like
the Soho II, Linen, Loft, and Cottage Collections.

Momeni: $$ Smaller, older company with some really interesting patterns. LOVE the Highlands pattern for an area rug.
The Zig Zag and Diamonds collections are well-priced.

Bloomsberg/Silver Creek: $$ Ginger, Skipper, and Zia are all fun.

Fibreworks: $-$$ My go-to for natural ber broadloom like seagrass, jute, and sisal. Neutral wool options at very
reasonable prices.

Here’s a Pinnable graphic to remember me by!

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Do you have any uses for broadloom carpet? Any questions?

‘Til next Saturday!

-Amy

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I’m a wife, mom to two super busy boys, old-house devotee, and decorator living in the great state of New
Hampshire! My passion is helping homeowners decorate their own “Forever Homes” with fresh classic
style that will stand the test of time. Welcome to Home Glow Design!

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