DIY carpet sample flooring

 Heidi and Jon's weekend 'free' carpet installation.

Jon's offices are moving to a new location in Portland which means they've been purging stock piles of old product samples. He works for an architectural firm that specializes in 'Environments for Health' hospital and assisted living facilities. Part of their client services is to offer custom tailored interior boards that feature flooring, wall coverings, paint and trim samples. Instead of unloading the leftover commercial carpet samples he brought them home with a Memorial Day weekend den remodel in mind.

Commercial carpet samples have heavyweight rubber backing, making them ideal for high traffic areas.

Since the day we moved into this home we've loathed the dark blue shaggy nylon carpet in our TV room. Six years later we were still living with it. The one redeeming quality is that it hid the kids and dogs spills and messes. On the other hand the navy color showed every stray thread and fiber from my sewing and felting projects.

 You can change the appearance of two of the same patterned titles by simply orienting them in a different direction.

The worst part of this project was discovering that the floor underlayment needed replacing under the old carpet pad. Once we got through taking it out and installing a new one, the actual placement of the tiles was quick and easy. I camped out on the floor sticking the two foot square tiles in place with a double sided flooring tape (easily found at a hardware store). Jon devised an effective cutting strategy, he clamped either end of the carpet square between a straight cutting edge and cutting board. This secured the tile so that it stayed in place while he trimmed it to size with a utility knife. We worked from one side of the room, one row at a time across to the other side. If necessary it'll be easy to pull up a square and replace it with a new one. It took two hours to cover our 10.8 x 11.8 room.

The purple paint went on the night before it's Martha Stewart 'Lavendar Verbena' and works well with the yellow, orange, and aqua colors in the adjoining rooms. What brought me the most satisfaction was finally printing Celia's baby pictures and getting then up on the walls alongside her brothers. We missed a day on the beach and in the workshop working on lobsters but it was nice to relax on the couch and enjoy the room watching Shrek with Celia.
Please check out my book Craftcycle for more recycled home decorating ideas.