We were delighted to be a part of this beautiful home refurbishment project just outside of Wetherby in West Yorkshire. The customer approached us for carpet guidance to cover the areas of an office, four bedrooms and multiple staircases & landings spanning four floors. The customer boasted a flare for interior design and had already begun pulling together ideas for the floorspace, but needed some help to choose the right carpets to complement the overall aesthetic of the project.
The brief was simple; a neutral colour pallet that would embolden the Farrow & Ball paint choices on the walls and woodwork. Distinctive carpet textures in different areas of the property to highlight sensations of comfort in the bedrooms, and create durability and style on the staircases and landings. Natural flooring that connects to nature and the heritage of undyed wool carpets.
The overall look
The customer chose three variations of the classic Lakeland Herdwick carpet from the manufacturer Brockway. This 100% undyed wool carpet comes in a variety of different weave textures; a twist, lattice, flatweave and 4 loops including a stripe and two tone finish. They also manufacture a coordinating runner with a set width of 69cm to complement the other carpet finishes.
This high performance broadloom range containing wool of the hardy Cumbrian Herdwick sheep was the obvious choice for this project due to its versatility and uniquely natural pigmentation.
The customer had a well thought out colour scheme using a mixture of natural earthy tones throughout and statement greens and blues on some feature walls. Their keen eye for interior design quickly highlighted the carpet colour 'Buttermere' to bring together the colours in cohesion and create a fluidity throughout the house.
Stairs & Landings
The wool herringbone carpet design of the Lakeland Herdwick weave lends itself beautifully to installation on stairs & landings due to its rugged durability and bold sophisticated style. The tightness of the weave creates a robust structure that will withhold its shape and appearance for years, even in such high footfall areas. The classic herringbone effect of this carpet creates a stylistic masterpiece that flows between the various floors of the property as you follow the pattern up the stairs.
Due to the design of the staircase, with open spindles running along the side of the stairs, we decided to finish the balustrade edge with a hand whipped finish rather than hemming the carpet. This meant that an initial visit was required from the fitters to cut the stair pieces to the correct size whilst lining up the pattern from one piece to another. Once the stair carpets had been cut to size, we took them to our local whipping firm near Leeds, where a complimentary wool yarn was used to hand finish the bare edge.
On return from the whipping company, we used a traditional wool felt underlay to fit the stairs and landing carpets, adding additional insulation and durability without the use of synthetic materials.
Hall & Landing areas F&B colour - School House White 291
Three Bedrooms
For three of the bedrooms the Lakeland Herdwick Buttermere Loop was used to add texture and offer a timeless elegant appearance. The structure and appearance of the loop creates a cohesion between the interesting look and tactile feeling of the carpet. The raised profiles of the yarns creates shadows between the loops and adds more depth of colour and body to the carpet.
Single bedroom F&B colour - Setting Plaster 231
Double bedroom F&B colour - Elephants Breath 229
The Master Bedroom
The sensation of comfort underfoot was at the forefront of the decision making process when it came to choosing the carpet for the master bedroom. The unique 100% wool, 3 ply structure of the Lakeland Herdwick twist carpet gives it an unrivalled softness and feeling of support beneath your feet. The cut yarns are carefully twisted together to give the carpet pile added structure and bounce back ability, so it maintains its appearance and shape for longer. Compared with the flatweave and loop textures fitted elsewhere, the twist has a more clean cut contemporary look that makes the space look modern and less of a statement. We fitted this carpet on a synthetic underlay that provided more cushion underneath the carpet and enhanced the sensory attributes of softness and comfort.
The Office
Due to the nature of the workspace and the regular use of a roller chair the Flatweave was carried on from the stairs & landings and into the office area. This offered a hardwearing and practical solution for the daily demands of the room that would retain its appearance and feel over time without loosing definition or becoming flattened/matted like some carpets can.
F&B colour - Card Room Green .79
Living Room Rug
The customer already had an engineered wood floor installed in the living room with a sisal rug from their previous address placed in-between the furniture. To create a sense of fluidity and cohesion throughout the property we factored in the material needed to create a unique rug from the flatweave carpet used on the stairs, landings and office. This allowed us to create a bespoke rug that was made to measure for the specific area, sitting just underneath the legs of the various furnishings in the room and creating a warmer, more tactile centerpiece in the middle of the room to break up wood floor. This was sent off with the stairs carpet to our local whipping company to be finished with a cotton herringbone border in the colour slate.
A link to our online rug builder and rug store can be found here:
Paint
The paint used throughout most of the property was Farrow & Ball and all mixed up in store using our Farrow & Ball in can tinting machine. The names of the various paint colours used can be found under the pictures in this blog post. A link to our online Farrow & Ball paint shop can be found here:
Finishing touches
We used a range of Premier Trims from Stairrods to join the carpets and other floor finishes between rooms. These luxury solid metal trims come in a variety of colour finishes but the Antique Brass trims were selected for this project. They also beautifully helped to highlight the differences in texture between the carpet choices in different areas.
