Choosing the perfect carpet for your living room: best carpets, average costs and colour options

In this guide, we cover:

• Carpets vs vinyl, laminate and hardwood for the living room
• Best carpet for high traffic areas
• Best carpet for pets
• Best carpet to hide stains and spills
• Berber carpets
• Average costs
• Colour options and ideas
• Best carpets for the living room

Carpets vs vinyl, laminate or hardwood for the living room

When choosing a carpet for the living room the first thing you need to ask yourself is whether a carpet is the right choice for you!

You need to consider:

• Your lifestyle and how you normally use your living room.
• What factors are ultimately the most important to you, whether it be aesthetics, ease of cleaning, price, how long the carpet will last and so on.

Families with young children sometimes prefer carpet in the living room because it’s safer than a hard floor and is better at hiding dirt and stains. If the living room is where your family spend a lot of the day, a carpet will keep the room warmer and give you more comfort than the alternatives.

In households where a harder floor isn’t so much of a concern, vinyl or hardwood is often chosen for its aesthetic benefits.

For a detailed comparison of different flooring options visit our flooring comparison page.

Carpet for high-traffic living rooms

When it comes to carpeting for high-traffic living rooms, the main aspect you want to be looking for is durability. Durability comes from the thickness of a carpet’s pile, the way the fabric fibres have been cut and the material the carpet is made out of. Durability is incredibly important for carpets in high-traffic areas because a low-durability carpet could quickly become damaged and need replacing.

All household carpets in the UK are graded according to durability. If your sroom is high-traffic you want to be looking for heavy domestic or extra-heavy domestic.

Best carpet for high-traffic living rooms
Gala Berber Loop		Short loop Berbers are constructed to produce a tight pile. Able to withstand heavy footfall without affecting appearance. Suitable for busy areas within the home. Hardwearing and durable. Great value for money and offers quality that lasts. £12.55 m2
Rustic Wool Berber Loop		luxurious wool loop cut length carpet that offers natural resilience to heavy foot traffic This strength of construction combined with its opulent, deep pile ensures both the carpet's plush appearance and comfortable feel underfoot are long-lasting. £14.99m2
Temple Tones		Luxurious, deep pile Saxony that combines comfort, style and practicality. Balances a hardwearing durability with a soft feeling underfoot. £12.99m2

Best carpet for high-traffic living rooms
Gala Berber Loop
Short loop Berbers are constructed to produce a tight pile. Able to withstand heavy footfall without affecting appearance. Suitable for busy areas within the home. Hardwearing and durable. Great value for money and offers quality that lasts.
Rustic Wool Berber Loop
luxurious wool loop cut length carpet that offers natural resilience to heavy foot traffic This strength of construction combined with its opulent, deep pile ensures both the carpet's plush appearance and comfortable feel underfoot are long-lasting.
Temple Tones
Luxurious, deep pile Saxony that combines comfort, style and practicality. Balances a hardwearing durability with a soft feeling underfoot.

Living room carpet for pets

As adorable as pets are, they can wreak havoc on your carpet! Sometimes a sticky claw or an “accident” stain can leave a carpet in a pretty bad state. Here’s a couple of quick tips when choosing a carpet when you’ve got a pet.

• Dark colours – perfect for concealing pet hair and dirt! Plus it makes large rooms feel much cosier.
• Nylon – provides an incredible amount of durability; perfect for your active pets.
• Polyester – very stain-resistant; great if you’ve got a puppy or kitten who hasn’t been fully toilet trained yet.
• Frieze cut pile – contains short, durable fibres that hide a lot of dirt and hair.

Find out more about choosing the right carpet for your pet by visiting our guide: pet-proofing your carpet

Best living room carpet for pets
Volante Deep Pile Saxony		features Stainsafe, making it the ideal choice for all areas of the home. Stainsafe allows the carpet to be bleach cleanable and resist most stains including tea, coffee, wine and even oil, ink and crayon. £8.96 m2
Imagination Deep Pile Saxony		100% bleach cleanable. resistant to many everyday household stains including tea, coffee, wine and even oil. Protected by our ‘Stain-free for Life’ guarantee for maximum peace of mind. £23.99m2
Soft Romance Deep Pile Saxony		Combines both supersoft luxury and Incredible durability for a carpet that looks fabulous and stays looking fabulous for years to come. Easy bleach cleanable properties. Designed to withstand the pressures of modern life. £15.00m2

Best living room carpet for pets
Volante Deep Pile Saxony
features Stainsafe, making it the ideal choice for all areas of the home. Stainsafe allows the carpet to be bleach cleanable and resist most stains including tea, coffee, wine and even oil, ink and crayon.
Imagination Deep Pile Saxony
100% bleach cleanable. resistant to many everyday household stains including tea, coffee, wine and even oil. Protected by our ‘Stain-free for Life’ guarantee for maximum peace of mind.
Soft Romance Deep Pile Saxony
Combines both supersoft luxury and Incredible durability for a carpet that looks fabulous and stays looking fabulous for years to come. Easy bleach cleanable properties. Designed to withstand the pressures of modern life.

Carpet that hides stains and spills

If you have young children, practicality might be your main consideration when buying a carpet. You should look for darker colours to hide any spillages or stains. There are several styles of carpets which are incredibly stain-resistant, while still keeping a luxurious look and feel.

The most practical choices are:

• Polypropylene – quickly becoming the most popular material for home carpets. It’s stain-resistant, resists fading and is very affordable!
• Wool – extremely soft and rich in appearance and is a natural way to hide stains. Considered top-of-the-line, it’s the perfect combination of luxury and practicality.
• Looped – a low profile and higher density construction than most, making this a great all-round performer.

Best living room carpets that hide stains
Glamour Flash Deep Pile Saxony Carpet		Glamour Flash Soft Sparkly Carpet offers proven stain resistance. Can be easily cleaned and maintained, wherever it is fitted in the home. £9.99m2
Noble Deep Pile Saxony Carpet		Luxurious 1.3 tog rating and robust 2-ply construction. Provides a sumptuous and long-lasting feeling underfoot Can combat heavy footfall with ease. 100% bleach cleanable Available in 11 colours £10.99m2
Splendour Twist Pile		Carpets that are to be situated in areas of the home where a spill is likely to occur or where there is a high amount of foot traffic can show wear very quickly. High performance yarns stand up well in terms of durability and keep that luxurious look for much longer than standard fibres. £21.99m2

Best living room carpets that hide stains
Glamour Flash Deep Pile Saxony Carpet
Glamour Flash Soft Sparkly Carpet offers proven stain resistance. Can be easily cleaned and maintained, wherever it is fitted in the home.
Noble Deep Pile Saxony Carpet
Luxurious 1.3 tog rating and robust 2-ply construction. Provides a sumptuous and long-lasting feeling underfoot Can combat heavy footfall with ease. 100% bleach cleanable Available in 11 colours
Splendour Twist Pile
Carpets that are to be situated in areas of the home where a spill is likely to occur or where there is a high amount of foot traffic can show wear very quickly. High performance yarns stand up well in terms of durability and keep that luxurious look for much longer than standard fibres.

Berber carpets are often a great choice for the living room

Berber is known to be a very versatile and affordable way to carpet your living room. It comes in a variety of quality and can complement many types of décor.

Berber is a looped style of carpet. Originally available solely in light colours, you can now find Berber carpet in darker shades too. It is extremely durable and due to the looped nature of the fibre, it doesn’t lose its shape when walked on. Plus it’s great at repelling stains.

Basically, if you’re looking for a top all-round choice for your living room, Berber is the option for you. For more information, see our guide to Berber carpets.

Best Berber carpets
Dapple Berber Loop		100% Polypropylene, Tried-and-tested for its durability, making it the practical choice for your home. Its comfort underfoot can be enhanced by pairing it with one of our Airstep underlays. £6.99 m2
Bastille Berber Loop		Hard-wearing, short loop pile berber carpet Eye-catching chequered design. 100% Polypropylene. Can be bleach cleaned to remove the most stubborn stains with ease Perfect choice for those high traffic areas within the home. £7.16m2
Orient Berber Loop		100% wool loop pile carpet. Natural resilience to heavy foot traffic due the natural springiness of the woolen fibre. Deep wool loop pile ensures both the plush appearance and comfortable feel of the carpet. £19.99m2

Best Berber carpets
Dapple Berber Loop
100% Polypropylene, Tried-and-tested for its durability, making it the practical choice for your home. Its comfort underfoot can be enhanced by pairing it with one of our Airstep underlays.
Bastille Berber Loop
Hard-wearing, short loop pile berber carpet Eye-catching chequered design. 100% Polypropylene. Can be bleach cleaned to remove the most stubborn stains with ease Perfect choice for those high traffic areas within the home.
Orient Berber Loop
100% wool loop pile carpet. Natural resilience to heavy foot traffic due the natural springiness of the woolen fibre. Deep wool loop pile ensures both the plush appearance and comfortable feel of the carpet.

Average costs

The average cost of a living room carpet for a medium sized home is around £260. However, you can carpet a medium-sized living room for as little as £50 if you choose one from the lower end of the range.

For a detailed breakdown of costs per size of room visit our carpet costs page.

Colour options and ideas

Colour can often be one of the hardest decisions to make. A colour change in a room can have a dramatic effect, good or bad. It’s often hard to imagine a colour over a wide space when looking at a small piece of fabric.

Lighter colours are a respectable choice when choosing carpets and can add some dramatic class to your living room. However, you will need to assess your lifestyle before purchasing. Are you prone to spills or stains? Do you have kids or pets? If the answer is yes, light carpets may not be for you. Whilst looking luxurious, they don’t offer the same stain protection or hide the dirt nearly as well as neutral or darker colours. Maybe wait until the kids have moved out!

Dark colours can give a stylish, elegant look to your living room. Combined with the right colour furniture and walls, a dark carpet can bring about a dramatic look. The main benefit of dark carpets is that they hide dirt much better than lighter colours.

Neutral colours are the biggest sellers in carpeting. This is because bright colours can overpower when spread out across vast spaces. Different bright colours can also come in and out of fashion in a matter of months and you don’t want to be stuck with a bright orange floor when we’ve all moved onto green! Neutral also means

For more colour tips and tricks visit our carpet colour guide

Best carpets for the living room
Opulance Twist Pile		A plush cut pile Twist carpet. Tackles heavy domestic use with style and ease. Superbly cosy feeling underfoot. Robust and long-lasting due to its deep twist pile. 100% polypropylene carpet Forever stain free as it is entirely bleach cleanable. £12.99 m2
Sandstorm Deep Pile Saxony		Soft-to-touch luxuriously deep pile 1.4 tog rating Incorporates Xtron high performance technology into the robust 2-ply yarn ensuring improved resilience and a longer-lasting look. £14.49m2
Lambro Deep Pile Saxony		Lambro deep pile Saxony carpet is suitable for practically every room in the busy modern home. Backed by our ‘Lifetime Anti-pile Reversal’ warranty that covers changes or compromises to the appearance of its high quality, stabilised pile. £21.99 m2

Our favourite carpets for the living room
Opulance Twist Pile
A plush cut pile Twist carpet. Tackles heavy domestic use with style and ease. Superbly cosy feeling underfoot. Robust and long-lasting due to its deep twist pile. 100% polypropylene carpet Forever stain free as it is entirely bleach cleanable.
Sandstorm Deep Pile Saxony
Soft-to-touch luxuriously deep pile 1.4 tog rating Incorporates Xtron high performance technology into the robust 2-ply yarn ensuring improved resilience and a longer-lasting look.
Lambro Deep Pile Saxony
Lambro deep pile Saxony carpet is suitable for practically every room in the busy modern home. Backed by our ‘Lifetime Anti-pile Reversal’ warranty that covers changes or compromises to the appearance of its high quality, stabilised pile.