I’ve been a crazy lady rolling around on my floors again because we just got new carpet in the living room. (When we carpeted the basement we took a celebratory roll before moving in the furniture.)
Replacing the carpet in the living room was a must before we sell our house. A while back our rambunctious puppy ATE a chunk of the carpet where it meets the wood floor. A strategically placed ceramic stool has been covering a makeshift patch I made from a carpet remnant. Classy, I know. But we made do until we had the budget to replace the carpet. Thank heavens he ate a chunk in a room bordered by wood floors so we only had to budget for one room of new carpet.
Because we are planning to sell the house soon, I needed to match the carpet as closely as possible to the rest of the carpet on the first and second floor.
I also wanted to spend the least amount of money possible while maximizing the quality of the carpet.
Our spacious two story living room with great views is the WOW factor in our home. We know that this is the room that sold us on this house.
We also know it’s likely the first area of carpet potential buyers will step on without their shoes. We want them to feel quality underfoot while they marvel at the beauty of this room.
To get the best quality for the lowest price, here’s what I did:
1. I chose the most expensive carpet pad available.
- This was a non-negotiable. It had to be the best. When we put carpet in our basement, we used the best carpet pad available and it’s a dream underfoot. Perhaps that’s why the salesman at Home Depot called the best carpet pad they have, what we installed in the living room, the Dream Carpet Pad. (It happens to be a dreamy shade of blue too.)
- We knew our existing carpet pad was lesser quality. That was confirmed when I saw them rip out the carpet to reveal what looked like a 1/4″ rebounded foam pad…basically the lowest quality carpet pad possible.
- Upgrading the carpet pad instantly makes even the cheapest carpet, and even flatter looped carpet styles, feel more plush and cushiony. Test them out at the store. You can put the carpet pad sample on the cement floor of the store. Top it with the large carpet sample and step on it. You can instantly feel the difference the premium carpet pad makes.
2. I spent just enough to get free installation.
- In the interest of saving money, I first chose a builder grade carpet with 72-hour installation from Home Depot. Now if your carpet and carpet pad are over $699 you get free installation.
- When they measured our room and gave us the estimate, our total for the builder grade carpet and the premium carpet pad was only $630. So they tacked on approximately $150 for installation, bringing my total to $780.
- Of course, I wanted to play with the numbers to increase the quality of the carpet just enough to get over the $699 mark. Basically instead of forking over $150 for installation, I wanted my money going into the quality of the carpet. The flooring guy at Home Depot was super helpful crunching the numbers to figure out how many pennies per square foot we could go up on carpet price without going too far over $699.
- I ended up paying a total of $725 for a better quality carpet with the premium pad and got free installation. The carpet was still in the 72-hour guaranteed installation category too. So overall I saved over $50, got better materials in my home, and had new carpet in under a week.
As far as affordable carpet goes we are extremely happy with how the living room turned out. We were able to get a color that very closely matches the rest of the carpet in our home. Even though the rest of the carpet upstairs is still builder grade with a thin carpet pad, I think potential buyers will get that wow factor and sense of quality when they first step foot on the carpet in our living room.
Our old carpet almost sank down where it met the wood floor, because the carpet and pad were so thin. The new carpet puffs up at the wood floor and looks plush and lush.
Bonus: Since the carpet was installed, I don’t have to fight the kids for a spot on the sofa anymore…they prefer hanging out on the floor.
