apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

maybe if you cover it completely with rugs?..........

/\/\ Ditto

Large wool area rugs laid over the existing wall to wall will make your rooms much more luxurious, interesting and inviting.

(Of course it helps to paint the walls too)

A carpet of beige is a huge chunk of neutral, giving you free range to go overboard with color.

Beige as a base really sets off light, silvery blues and chocolate browns very nicely.

Absolutely! As long as everything else about your apartment looks good to YOU, then that beige carpet will just fade into the background.

i agree with sparkle...we've lived in multiple apartments with beige carpet. When you love the house, you don't notice the carpet really. We have it now and I actually love it because it's softer than anything we've had before. So I'm actually really grateful for it even if I'm not crazy about the color.

i've got sun faded beige carpet and textured navaho white walls (which i can't paint) as well as a fireplace wall of lava stone. but i also have light in every room, downtown views, skylights in the bathrooms, a murphy bed in the office, a hugh kitchen, and a great floor plan.

i dream of buying and remodeling but for now i've filled it with great furniture, art, and objects, changed out lighting, and removed dated window treatments.

i've yet to have a visitor say "this place would look great if you could only ditch the carpet"....even if i still occasionally think so.

beige is a neutral....not my neutral of choice but one i was willing to work around given the space's pluses.

beige carpet IS neutral. while it isn't a "great wood floor", it has many positive qualities. it's keeps the space warmer in the winter, makes it more comfortable to sit on, and you have less dust bunnies roaming around the floor. while the floor won't be a "feature" in your room, you can always use an interesting throw rug, maybe to ancor a coffee table, if you want to liven it up. (you can get rug tape or rug mats that go under the rug especially for use on carpets, to help keep it in place). that's exactly what i did in my last apartment.

A lot depends on the texture of the wall-to-wall. A flat-weave berber is a lot easier to work with than shag.

Speaking from the perspective of someone that had to deal with beige rental carpet for 15 years...honestly, it sucks. Yes, painting the walls, putting up art and putting down rugs helps, but I feel your pain, crappy carpet really does make everything look cheaper. The one time I moved lived in place with hardwood floors, I was amazed at how much nicer all my mid- century street finds looked! And then had to move into another rental carpet nightmare a few years later...*sigh*

I have always had beige carpet in my rentals, and I've found that it really just disappears into the background. Now, I paint all my walls (no wall left white, anywhere!), have lovely furniture and replace some of the light fixtures, but my eye goes to those things, and the carpet is just a nonfactor.

Ignore the carpeting and stick area rugs where you want them. If you give your eye other things to focus on, you won't even notice the neutral carpet!

Of course. Put rugs where you need to.
However, I highly recommend going the no shoes route.

I have yet to live in an apartment where painting the walls is even an option. =/

I have hard wood, but its all seriously water damaged (previous owner did not take care of the place), so I am in the same boat of trying to distract from the floor. I recomend getting area rugs as mentioned before. Consider Flor, then you can go crazy and basically re-carpet the whole space in crazy fun colors with great texture. (I think there is a Fall Color Contest Entrant that did this...) Then leave the walls white and it will feel cozy and fun rather than a dorm room (or an institution).

i have the opposite problem: great hardwood floors but dingy beige walls i'm not allowed to - and my landlord won't - paint. it's quite frustrating.

Work with the beige. Choose wall and furniture frame colors/materials (like wood) that make the carpet seem complimentary to your plan. Because if you try to ignore the carpet, it'll only stand out more!

I'm going to be the voice of dissent here and say that honestly I don't think beige carpet places can achieve the look that wood can. A place can look great w/ beige carpet but the exact same place will ALWAYS look better w/ wood. The look of my place is very important to me so hardwood is on my must-have list when apartment hunting.

Consider your beige carpeting a "backdrop" for your other items to "pop" with. Use a colorful area rug and furnishings and artwork to make it all flow together.