Emily Kiker (Morrow) Finkell says
September 20, 2016 at 3:09 pm

This was by far one of the most talked about and interesting discussions during my thirteen years’ tenure as Shaw’s Director of Color, Style & Design…in fact, we had more people stop in their tracks when they saw the swatches of these “vintage” pieces of carpet.

Pam Kueber, aka RetroRenovation, Thank you for your research into what continues to be a fascinating aspect of design…”RETRO”! I’ll be sharing your blog post on my own under “Design Spectator” as it is a timeless topic.

All the best,
Emily Morrow Finkell

http://retrorenovation.com/2012/01/16/wall-to-wall-carpeting-history-from-the-1950s-to-today-an-exclusive-interview-with-emily-morrow-shaw-floors/comment-page-2/#comment-978225Design Spectator: A fun look back at carpet trends with RetroRenovation

RETRO RENOVATION
CARPETING HISTORY FROM THE 1950’s TO TODAY — Posted by: pam kueber • January 16, 2012

Above: Emily Morrow and retro carpet swatches

AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH EMILY MORROW, SHAW FLOORS

Wall-to-wall carpeting history from the 1950s to today — an exclusive interview with Emily Morrow

Is wall-to-wall carpet “authentic” and appropriate for midcentury homes? You bet! Consider this data, provided by Emily Morrow, Shaw Floors’ director of Color, Style and Design for Residential Carpet and Hard Surfaces:

In 1951 — as the post-World War II housing boom in America was still ramping up — the carpeting industry sold about six million square yards of tufted wall-to-wall carpeting nationwide. Fast forward to 1968 – and the industry sold almost 400 million yards.

Carpet manufacturing tufting machine – Shaw Floors historic photo

To the American family of the 1950s on, carpeting was a luxury previously out-of-reach. In fact, I’m going to compare wall-to-wall carpeting to electric stoves in the way they both epitomized a whole new level of comfort and convenience that had become accessible, affordable – and desirable — to the masses for the first time. Wall-to-wall in the new living room said, “We’ve arrived and are staking our claim to our little piece of the American Dream. Take your shoes off, and stay a while.”

I had the chance to speak with Emily by phone recently about the history of carpet from the 1950s through today. We also talked about how the industry determines its color trends – including today’s gray-love — and what’s up next. 1980s teal, anyone? Buckle up. Read on for this exclusive interview chock-full of delightful carpet history and tips –>

Inside Shaw’s Color, Style & Design Studio – Eyes on the future with a view to the past

Retro Carpet Swatches

While she was talking to me, Emily had a bird’s eye view to the big “history of carpet” table in her design studio. It was covered with a growing collection of carpet samples reaching back several decades. For the past few years, she explained, her design team has been on the lookout for vintage carpet remnants that visually capture the key colors, style and design trends. “The past is always relevant to the future,” she said.
This look back in time is particularly pertinent to midcentury homes, because the big boom in residential carpet did not occur until after WWII. So “history” starts in 1946, at least as it pertains to the mass market.

Of course, Shaw’s blast-from-the-past mood board is a cacophony of: Color! For example, Emily knew I would like to hear about the team’s latest prize: A piece of multicolored burnt orange sculptured carpet from the 70s – found by accident under the filing cabinet in an employee’s office when they went to re-carpet. Yeah, baby!

Photos of 1970s Carpets shown on Shaw History Wall

Emily is an interior designer by training, and has been with Shaw for 15 years. She leads a team of nine composed of colorists, designers and stylists whose focus ranges from color development to pattern design and encompasses residential carpet, commercial carpet and hard surface (i.e. wood, tile, laminate and vinyl) styling. “Our whole staff works within the research and development facility,” she explained….more on the website at retrorenavtions.com

Carpet Sales Trends by Region
“A large portion of the 2ndfloor in R&D is our area — the color library. It’s entirely devoted to color, style and design inspiration and trends. One wall demonstrates the ever-changing sales by color in flooring, both nationally and regionally. To do this, we take 2” x 2” samples of each color and arrange them into bar charts sliced into both colors and regions.”

Color Wall in Shaw R&D Color Library

The other half of the team’s working space, she says, is focused on developing future design strategies, specifically, their “research color forecast.” That’s where the historical samples are used as a point of reference. More importantly, I imagine “top secret” story boards and inspiration pieces strategically placed all over their R&D space – muses for the next-big-thing colors coming our way soon.

Color Wall in Shaw R&D Color Library 2
Color Wall in Shaw R&D Color Library
“The ‘new’ story over the past five years or so has been grey,” Emily confirms. “Looking ahead, we see the color story is moving towards blocks of “hothouse colors” like magenta and purple as well as the more traditional jewel tones. Color is very cyclical in nature.”

Yup: Cyclical – what’s old becomes new again. So let’s start at the beginning ish.

Key trends in residential carpeting, beginning in 1950

Emily explained that prior to World War II, most “carpet goods” were woven. Woven goods were often area rugs, but they also could have been installed wall-to-wall. After WWII, though, sales shifted dramatically to tufted carpet and to wall-to-wall installations.

Woven: The carpet is produced on a loom quite similar to woven cloth. The pile can be plush or berber. Plush carpet is a cut pile and berber carpet is a loop pile
Tufted: These are carpets that have their pile injected into a backing material, which is itself then bonded to a secondary backing comprising a woven hessian weave or a man-made alternative to provide stability. This is the most common method of manufacturing of domestic carpets for floor covering purposes in the world.
– Wikipedia

“The post-World War II era saw a surge in carpet sales that was primarily due to increased interest in home décor and new carpet fiber technologies,” said Morrow. “Carpet had been a luxury during the war – as many home goods had been – and once the war was over, there were plenty of stay-at-home moms that were ready to decorate their homes with products they couldn’t get during the war years. At the same time, there were technological advances taking place in the carpet industry – tufted nylon provided a similar look as the woven wool carpets and rugs from the pre-war years; however, nylon was more durable and much more attainable to the growing middle class. This combination of factors was really the perfect storm that led carpet to grow exponentially in the 1950s.”

carpet manufacturing tufting machine shaw floors

Carpeting trends in the 1950s

In the ‘50s, she said, carpeting was “Saxony” – smooth — style. Definition:

Saxonies are tightly twisted cut piles that are heatset straight. Saxonies consist of two or more fibers twisted together in a yarn. They provide a soft texture for formal and informal areas. Saxonies show every footprint and vacuum-cleaner mark. Source: http://www.carpet.org/types_of_carpet.htm

In the ‘50s and through to the 60s, colors tended toward the bold –reflecting consumers’ enthusiasm for the wide world of decorating now open to them.

Photo of Printed Kitchen Carpet

Carpeting trends in the 1960s and 1970s

In the ‘60s and ‘70s, there was a “revolution” in terms of the industry’s ability to create new piles and textures. “There were highly creative shags… textured sculpted multicolors creating all these different visuals… and imprinted carpet for kitchens,” Emily explains. These played into “people’s excitement about change in general,” she said. “Consumers liked anything hip and new.” Tastes were changing as consumers’ view of the world expanded through the evolution of media. By going from black and white to color television, they were able to see into TV homes such as “The Brady Bunch,” where colorful shag or sculpted carpet was used.

Technology played a key role in developing the shag carpets to be synonymous with the 1970s. Emily said that the industry was experimenting with endless combinations both in yarn types as well as dyeing multiple layers of color. She explains that tthe 1970’s were a time when consumers were trying new things “just because”. Shag carpets once made from 100% polyester evolved into 100% nylon, resulting in a much more appealing aesthetic and improved performance.

1960s-1970s Carpets

It’s important to note that polyester carpet fiber has come along way since the 1970s – today’s polyester carpets possess improved performance and softness, and they are very popular with a new generation of consumers who find polyester carpet to be generally quite affordable as well as durably attractive.

Color favorites were avocado green, brown, oranges, and multicolor. Emily adds that “layering” of single colors, like greens, was also popular, because the effect was very forgiving in terms of hiding dirt.

Carpeting trends at the end of the 20th century

Beginning in the 1980s and continuing into the 1990s and 2000s, she said, consumers were becoming lots more savvy about owning homes. We also began moving even more frequently for jobs. “Real estate became such a big topic for consumer-homeowners,” she said. “We also were a more transient nation, and the idea that we could turn a quick profit by buying and selling was born.” As a result, Emily said, consumers gravitated toward: Hardwood. Homeowners believed hardwood was neutral, luxurious and would add to their home’s value at resale.

Then, there’s always the pendulum-swinging factor.

“Oftentimes the next generation has a little contempt for what was in their parents’ house. They want something better and also different,” Emily says, explaining another of the reasons why kids who grew up in homes with wall-to-wall carpet went for hardwood with area rugs, instead. As our lives got ever more complicated, homeowners also wanted to do less maintenance. “For homeowners who chose carpeting, berbers were the thing. We call this ‘trackless’ carpeting. You never see the vacuum cleaner marks.”

Yikes. I bought my first house in the mid-80s. It’s all coming back to me now — everything that Emily is saying is true!

Carpet trends today

Fast forward to today and like hardwood floors, the mass market color preferences in carpeting remain in favor of neutral underfoot. Emily says that buyers are comfortable with beiges, chocolate, and two forms of what I always call greige – “taupe” (brownish grey) and what Emily calls “true taupe” (which I guess would be a grayish brownish gray.) “No pink in it very little yellow,” she says. Bedroom areas, meanwhile, get lighter off-white. “This is a sanctuary space, with not a lot of high traffic.”

Consumers also are buying pattern – medium-to-smaller scale designs such as blocks and diamonds. Also, they get a “little bit of a fleck, like a tweed,” Emily said. The whole effect is smooth and tailored, but not solid. She says that this style looks good with all the midcentury modern furniture going into homes today, but that it is neutral and flexible enough for buyers still skittish about the economy and the need to make improvements with future resale in mind. “Homeowners still are thinking they may ultimately sell. Choices are conservative, but they still want an element of style that’s attractive and which they can appreciate.

She also mentions that midcentury modern is a “standout trend” influencing interior design today. “Mad Men is in its fourth year, and now we have [other tv shows] like Pan Am.”

teal carpet from shaw.

Carpeting trends for the 2010s

Between now and the next five years, what colors might be coming our way? Emily says to expect: Color! “When the pendulum swings it always swings the other way.” She also says to expect more carpet per square footage, with hard surfaces used in strategic areas. A backlash against all that granite and stone? Methinks, yes. “Consumers that have been living with hard surfaces realize they miss the comfort of carpet, especially in family and playrooms,” Emily said. Regarding pattern, she says to expect an evolution toward both tighter, and looser looks – pointing to natural seagrass and sisal as inspiration in both color and pattern. Chevron, herringbone or very simple loops in a limited array of flaxen neutrals are simple yet sophisticated looks for floors. For those who crave softness in broader color options, then casual textures and modified shags fill the need. “I call it ‘toe appeal,’ — it’s that wonderful feeling you get when you step into that soft and luxurious pile of carpet… barefoot,” said Emily.

Teal? Yes, Emily says this color is ascendant. “It’s one of those great colors that bridges well with other colors… grays, taupe, plums, magentas and other vibrant colors.” She even mentions mauve…well, a new version of the color formerly known as mauve. “That’s the fun part of how colors come back around, there’s always something new and exciting about them,” said Emily. ”Maybe it’s the other colors that they are paired with, or maybe they look wonderful simply because they are from a very happy time in our past.”

I was very alive and kicking (and kickin’ back quite often in fern bars) all throughout the 1980s. Are there others like me who remember all the – teal? I can get my head around it!

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Tikimama says
January 16, 2012 at 3:05 pm

Just for kicks, photos of the carpeted bathrooms (oh, the smell!) and kitchen of one of my previous houses:

Reply
Kate says
January 16, 2012 at 3:24 pm

I have a teal area rug that is almost identical to that last picture! Mine is carpet tiles from FLOR (www.flor.com)

I love my teal rug!

CHROME AGAIN

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Jamie D says
January 17, 2012 at 6:05 pm

I love your teal rug too! Great color scheme. We’ll likely get Flor for rugs in our house. We figure it’s nice to be able to pull up a tile and wash it in the sink when the dog horks something up on it.

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Jordanna says
January 16, 2012 at 8:45 pm

As a kid I thought a house HAD to have wall-to-wall carpet or it wasn’t a house people lived in. I had only seen historic homes with hard floors (aside from in the kitchen and bathroom – those could be lino/tiled)

My oldest generation of living relatives were very fond of two colours in every apartment or house I stepped into: red or green.

Not a mossy grayed out green – a really strong, but NOT teal green. I’m not sure when this bright, strong, grassy colour was a thing but they loved it, in either dark but not diluted w/ gray or blue, or straight up kelly. This was the smooth, Saxony cut. I liked it. It “popped” their dark wood furniture.

The red looked okay to my child’s eye too, especially with white walls, but my mom said it looked like a church.

I had much less fondness for the shags and ’70s-’80s stuff, I thought the green and red which was earlier was much more classic. And it didn’t eat my Legos and Tinker Toys like the shag did.

“White carpet” is my mom’s definition of delicate, impractical luxury.

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Laura says
January 16, 2012 at 8:59 pm

After having removed five room’s worth of wall to wall carpet in my 1939 Cape Cod I can’t imagine replacing it with new. There was perfectly gorgeous oak floor under most of it, VCT under the rest. There was even carpet in the bathrooms. Removing that carpet was some of the dirtiest, smelliest, grossest work I’ve ever done (shudder). Granted the property was neglected, but the experience doesn’t make me all that enthusiastic about wall to wall from the standpoint of cleanliness.

And here’s a memory: My best friend in high school had ultra-long green shag carpet in her bedroom, even though by then it was the 80s. We used to rake it with the shag rake to look for spare change. With gas as low as 69 cents a gallon back then, a productive ten minutes of labor with the shag rake could produce the wherewithal for a night out on the town!

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Mike says
January 17, 2012 at 2:03 pm

Does anyone still make shag carpet? I would love to install some super shaggy carpet (the kind that comes with a rake) in my basement.

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Katie says
January 20, 2012 at 7:29 pm

Hi Mike. I handle the public relations for Shaw Floors, and I wanted to let you know that Shaw makes a variety of textured, shag-like carpet styles today — and with the new advances in carpet technology, you don’t need a rake to keep it looking new! Check out Wild Thing from Shaw’s Tuftex brand: http://shawfloors.com/carpetDetails/search/Wild_Thing_Z6275-Almond_Silk

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JKM says
January 17, 2012 at 2:09 pm

I saw my grandparents’ former home online a couple years ago on a realtor’s website when it was for-sale. The house, which they built in 1949 and sold in 1980, was immaculate and fresh and, thankfully, hadn’t been ruined by careless “updating” since they moved out 30 years ago – even the tile bathrooms and kitchen with its tile countertops were still there looking brand-new! What struck me most, however, when viewing the interior photos were the gorgeous hardwood floors in the living room, dining room and bedrooms. I’d never seen them before since all were covered with wall-to-wall carpeting at some point, probably around the time I was born in 1960. Wow!

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Jamie D says
January 17, 2012 at 6:15 pm

I think the shag carpet we just ripped out of our “new” 1950 brick split is far more eye searing than any of the samples shown in this story. It was at least 3″ deep and was a white background (well, I’m assuming it was white sometime in the 60s) with red, fuchsia, pink, lavender, purple, and orange splotches. There was even a hint of baby blue if you looked really close, but overall from a distance, it read as bright red and pink.

It was so insane that I would have kept it if it wasn’t so grungy around the edges. And I’m sure it was stained…you just couldn’t tell with all the craziness.

Probably not the best floor covering for homeowners with bad allergies and a dog.

Now we need to get rid of all the 30+ year old high pile carpeting in the bathrooms. Ick.

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JKM says
January 18, 2012 at 10:10 am

When my parents built a new house in Dallas in the early 1970’s, every room was carpeted. Thinking about it now I think “ugh” but it was the very latest in design back then. The formal living and dining rooms had gold plush carpeting (showed every footstep and vacuum track) and the balance of the house had rust colored shag except for the kitchen and laundry room, which each had flat “kitchen” carpet in a multi-colored pattern of gold, rust and brown. The only mopable (is that a word?) floor was the marble one in the entry foyer. Our previous home, constructed in 1964, had a carpeted living room, staircase and master bedroom with the rest of the rooms having cork tile floors. When designing the new house, our mother said she never wanted to mop or wax another floor so wall-to-wall carpet was what she got. She eventually came full circle, I guess, for the last house they had had all wood floors.

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miblue1 says
February 7, 2012 at 12:43 pm

I remember in the 80s we put in kitchen carpet–OH WHAT A MISTAKE.My husband spilled a gallon of red Kool-aid on it and never stopped coming up through the padding.We then went with vinyl in the kitchen and baths and dark green carpet in the living room and hall.The prettiest green ever except it showed every little thing.Now in our new house we went with a total laminate in our upstairs living and sleeping area due to my allergies.They have so improved since we did that.We took the carpet from the upstairs and moved it into our finished basement.If I had it to do all over I would go with real wood and be done with it.
I loved the history lesson it was really a blast from the past.

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Jay Cruz says
February 8, 2012 at 5:25 pm

What a great article. I’m so glad to see someone preserving the past.

I didn’t see anywhere that any vintage shag carpet is actually for sale. Is it for sale, and how do I go about speaking with someone about purchasing some? If it is not for sale, does anyone know of any resources for this stuff. Preferably the multi-color shag from the seventies.
Thanks.

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Leigh says
March 2, 2012 at 1:47 am

My grandma used to work 2 jobs so she could have the home decor of her dreams, which included wall to wall carpeting…yellow background with formal red, purple, and green flower design…the reason she needed 2 jobs? $56/sq yd, in 1958! Her home was always very beautiful. As for me and my mid century carpet story, in our 1954 Alexander designed Palm Springs home, we removed the carpet to find 3000 sq ft of original white marble! We no longer live there unfortunately, but Im looking forward to renovating my “new” 1953 ranch : )

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Maureen Bajeyt says
April 24, 2014 at 6:59 pm

I know this is an older post, but I admire how your grandmother worked two jobs to have the decor of her dreams. My folks went heavily into debt after borrowing $$$ for the decor of their dreams – we can learn a lot from our elders.

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andrew says
June 25, 2012 at 2:37 am

This article provided me some great info… I’m buying a 1950 ranch and want to change the flooring… Part is a travertine tile I won’t touch, but the other part is a carpet that just doesn’t do it for me. Had been thinking about a bamboo floor, but now am thinking about some cool carpet that can create that cool vintage look… This piece has me thinking..

Any suggestions would be appreciated.. Here’s a link to the house.

http://www.trulia.com/property/3085354861-7019-N-14th-St-Phoenix-AZ-85020

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karen says
July 1, 2013 at 5:30 pm

Finally, a fairly positive site about carpet.

After refinishing several hardwood floors in various houses throughout the years, I am now at least six months into a new carpet that we installed in our 1925 bungalow. I know, I know …”Gasp!” and “Why?!” There are beautiful hardwoods under there! Yes, the wood floors were in moderate condition and we could have spent at least 1500 bucks to get them up to snuff. However, for me, my carpet choice boils down to two words: luxuriously soft. I have been teaching senior high school students in a classroom with a hard floor for over 25 years and every day I wear my dogs out because I am a very physical instructor as a result of the way I move around the classroom.

I have found that now with carpet gleefully look forward to this nurturing bungalow at the end of the day. Suffice it to say I would not enjoy moving into a home with “mystery” carpet. The newness is a must for me. Moreover, I came from a childhood home with carpet that was very clean. My mother vacuumed and still vacuums nearly every day. I know, I know… carpet can never be as clean as hardwood. Well, my mother’s is darn close and I have been in too many homes where the hardwood floors have looked less than stellar and sometimes downright gross.

But the real turning point for me was when the family including teenagers and toddlers gathered for Christmas at my mother’s last year. Her house is smaller than mine but it lives bigger. Why? The carpet. Cousins were on the floor playing board games while I was leaning up against a couch with my niece looking at college photos and it hit me as I looked around the room that there were 12 us in various parts of the room and five us were on the floor.

When I came back to my bungalow I realized that we didn’t really use the floor except with our feet. It was simply a surface to get from here to there. That’s what tipped it and I have thoroughly enjoyed my carpet ever since. The floor has become a living and doing space, a soft refuge and retreat.

I try to vacuum every day ; )

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pam kueber says
July 1, 2013 at 5:41 pm

Very very interesting points. Our basement family room is carpeted. Yes, I end up on the floor half the time. Very very interesting points!

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karen says
July 4, 2013 at 8:08 pm

Thanks Pam.

Another thought…

I was hesitant for so long because I had always heard (and still do) that hardwood floors make a house look bigger. This was not the case with this house which was chopped up with various and sundry area rugs. Perhaps it’s relative to the actual size of any given house. Ours is quite small to begin with and carpeting actually “expanded” our space–possibly because the carpet is light and possibly because I am constantly working at “sparing” down the furniture and accessories so that I have plenty of negative space–a sward of carpet much like a well manicured lawn.

In addition, I am working at keeping a very limited and neutral color palette.

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Catherine says
October 24, 2013 at 8:56 pm

Great article! We’re in the process of picking out carpeting for our 50’s basement remodel, and this was just the article I needed today. I’m going to look for Saxony carpeting… now just to choose a “bold” color! Not sure my husband is going to go for teal (although I do like that photo example above).

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Chris says
October 24, 2013 at 11:48 pm

mother was the only career mom in the neighborhood. In a sea of maple country and poodle lamps, she dared to paint cocoa brown walls, with matching wall to wall, over hardwood, early pieces of simple line blond wood, with nubby orange loveseat. Leap to selling new homes, which she decorated, she fervently urged young couples in an era of quick work transfers to keep expensive basics, “light bright and airy” for quick resale. Color to be added in removable easy carry decor. She was always ahead of her time. Next personal change was move to danish style medium walnut, Steward McDougall, which after 49 years I am proud to own. Another hallmark of her style, was that in era of cookie cutter homes, hers had all different elevations, bricks, space between houses, no sheds, no fences, only decorative safe fences for in ground only pools. Those neighborhoods stand out today as unique, entirely eschewing a period of ghastly sameness, and remain beautified by the parklike back yards. Pleasant to pass through these communities, and still see her forward sense of design still at work.

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sarah says
October 25, 2013 at 9:09 am

i have been looking for a star trek aera rug with the fedaration of planets logo on it to go in my lil office cubakle 10 x 7 ft wide ..can any one sugguest were to look thank you ……

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Joe Felice says
January 27, 2014 at 12:39 am

The only carpet I remember from the ’50s & ’60s was sculptured nylon. And usually in bright colors–burned orange, avocado, gold, etc. And to think, everyone covered their gorgeous hardwood floors with the stuff!

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tina b says
May 26, 2014 at 10:08 am

hmm? that reminds me, I think that I have a bolt of burnt orange shag carpeting in the basement (affectionately called the dungeon) given to me years ago,that I can shampoo and clean and lay down in the appointed breakfast nook area. It is a sunken room with almost a full wall of French type windows!!! Might be enough to cover that area 🙂

Reply
Emily Kiker (Morrow) Finkell says
September 20, 2016 at 3:09 pm

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

Hi Pam, this was by far one of the most talked about and interesting discussions I had as Shaw’s director of Color, Style & Design…in fact, we had more people stop in their tracks when they saw the swatches of my “vintage” pieces. Thank you for your research into what continues to be a fascinating aspect of design…”RETRO”!
I’ll be sharing your blog post on my own under “Design Spectator” as it is a timeless topic.
All the best,
Emily Morrow Finkell

Reply
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