Sea grass or Traditional Carpeting? August 15, 2012
The hardwood floors are in upstairs, and I love them!
Our son’s room is still in pieces, so I’ll show you later. At least our clothes are out of boxes and back on the shelves, as of this morning!
We decided to leave the stairs carpeted and I’m looking to replace the once white carpet as soon as I get it. I’m just not sure what to get.
This is the current carpet. I’m only authorized to show you a few stairs because it’s not pretty! I’ve actually never seen stair carpet look good for any length of time, no matter what. That was unti I visited a neighbor, who had a natural fiber carpet running up her back stairs. I asked her the brand and she said she didn’t remember because it had been in place for 10 years. She said she loved it and that it was indestructible. My kind of carpet!
So my question for you is, have you ever installed seagrass carpet in your home? Or any job that you have done for a client? I was told by the wholesaler, that sea grass is more durable than sisal. Here are the two options I’ve selected.
Yay or nay? I need some guidance here!
Thanks for being here!
Barbara
I am debating this very thing myself. I need an area rug for my renovated basement media area and like the look of sisals (all the designers and magazines seem to be showing them). I’ve heard, however, that they are not comfortable to bare feet and limbs and that they do not wear or clean well. I need help deciding.
I hear sea grass wears better than sisal and that smaller weaves are longer wearing than larger. My friend Jane Schott sent me lots of info that I’ll post as a comment.
Barbara, Your link to your email didn’t work so I hope you receive this. I
have the top seagrass selection on my stairs and have also had it for 10 years
and it is FABULOUS. It holds up so well. Everyone that comes into the home loves it. It is the only material for stairs in my opinion.
I have a couple of seagrass area rugs, but not wall to wall. All I know is it is durable, but not very comfy to my bare feet. I have a mix of traditional and seagrass. I would love to replace the carpet on the stairs with a runner and get new carpet upstairs some day. Wish that money tree would grow.
I have had both and the seagrass is in my opinion the best choice.Joni from Cote de Texas chooses seagrass over the other natural materials for rugs. She even has a comparison post if you do a search on her site!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
2012 Artist Series featuring Harrison Howard
Yes! That’s what I heard from another friend! Thanks so much!
My stairs to the upper level are pretty gross too. We have new treads in the garage waiting for installation. (They have been there for 3 years) This is a DIY project and will be wonderful if I can get Hubby to get moving. There is also the patio stone stacked in the back yard, but that’s another story. My plan is to use a sea grass runner as I love the look. I look forward to your readers comments.
Wow, our husbands should get together! Yours could help mine, finish the master closet cabinets that have been out in our garage for almost three years! Normally, he gets right on things, but I think that this may be a bigger project than he’s comfortable with. Good luck on your stairs!
The sea grass is beautiful, love the texture. I suppose it really depends on if you are a barefoot kind of gal or not! Personally, I’m barefoot most of the year, even in the winter, and I think I would not find seagrass soft enough. Interested to see what you decide! Good luck!! 😉
Hi Barbara!
Great post! I have been confused by this situation as well! I love the updated look that the seagrass and sisal gives. I would love to replace my family room area rug with a natural fiber one , but I have concerns on comfort as well as being our cats gift from heaven … The largest scratching pad ever!! Let us know what you decide!
Hi Keven, I like that…the cats would think they were at a party! I’ll keep you posted! Thanks for stopping by.
I’m totally sold on it, especially for stairs or other areas where you don’t require a super soft feel under foot. We have sisal in our formal living room and it looks beautiful. I am very tempted to get two more for our entry and dining room…I think that would be a great choice!
Thanks, Barbara! I was on the fence about this, but watch out, I’m moving forward!
love the looks and glad to hear about this as my stairs and up stairs…hall way would be great with this and they really need it…berber from the early 90’s….any way I like the simple designs feel like it will transition to the wood floor with more ease….and weather bare foot or HIGH heels I think less pattern would fair better and last longer….good luck
I say Yay Barbara. I love sea grass and have a few in area rugs in my house. It’s not the most comfortable on bare feet but I still love it. I like the choice on the right.
I would definitely do the seagrass if I were you! I have a seagrass area rug in my family room and it is VERY durable. I love the texture it gives a room too. I am glad that you’re not going with bare hard wood floors on your stairs. I think they’re unsafe (slippery) and loud when people go up and down them. Joni from Cote de Texas blog is a huge fan of seagrass. I bet she could give you some info about it. I have never had it installed in my home.
As long as you don’t have animals or children young enough to be messy! Had to throw away my wonderful dark brown sisal rug because I couldn’t clean it.
I am the biggest fan of seagrass, and ironically, I love the way it feels underfoot. It’s easy to clean – just a little club soda – and gets more beautiful as it ages to me!
Just wondering with smooth soled shoes on… could this be “slippery” or with heels “trippy”?
I think it LOOKS beautiful! I pulled up the same white carpet wall to wall in my dining and living rooms – though it has been 7 years, I still like the bare concrete slab better than that gross carpet (it was way older than yours).
Cheers!
Wow! Concrete slab! There’s thinking “outside the box”! I’m taking a chance with the sea grass. Fortunately, not many excuses to wear stilettos around here. We’ll be sure to hold the rail! Come visit us in the hospital, please!! 🙂
I love seagrass, though I wasn’t aware it was available as carpeting. My experience with seagrass was as a decorative element when I was weaving baskets in the 1980s. The one thing that sticks in my mind, all these years later, is the wonderful earthy/grassy smell of the seagrass. If the seagrass carpet smells that good, I would install it in a second! (Well, if I had a home in which to install it … apartment owners don’t really like tenants doing that sort of thing!)
Hello and thanks for stopping by! Yes, the owner might have an issue with you with you changing the flooring! Ha! I remember those days! Maybe a small sea grass mat in the kitchen or bath would be nice?
I like seagrass in small doses…prefer traditional carpeting under my feet in large areas….just me…have fun deciding!
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Sorry for the slow reply, but thank you for sharing this post. It all confirms what I’ve heard. Hope I can talk someone into installing it for me!
This will be a rather outdated reply, but I grew up in a home with sea grass carpeting. I also went barefoot every day. It was very comfortable to walk on, comfy to exercise on as well. I inherited that house and want to replace the old sea grass carpeting with new—this is how I found your site. Believe it or not, that carpeting lasted approximately 60 years. Usually what happens is that the seagrass “threads” holding the individual squares together come apart, so that the old carpeting in my childhood home has many areas with breaks. (I used to have to sew them back together when I was a kid.) Also, where the dining table chairs got pulled in and out over and over, holes developed. But it’s pretty good for 60+ years of use. The color is wonderful—like that of straw. Really warms up a room, ages we’ll, has simple appearance.
The one thing I am leery of is that some nowadays is not so tightly coiled as the old stuff, so it would not be as comfortable, nor would it last as long.
Not sure how well it would work on stairs. Someone might trip, as it isn’t smooth. It is smooth enough that I have done tai chi on it, though, in the living room. Heels would not be good. It is not slippery, though. This is the kind of floor covering that really works best barefoot, with cloth soled Chinese slippers, or with regular flat shoes.
Hi Kim,
This is a tough one. First of all, I am by no means a sea grass expert. There are all sort of varieties and I would recommend you talk to a real expert at a floor covering company. Best of luck!