apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Lisa--
We will not hold the epic hallways of your 'hood against you.

And score 15 points for working "naked" into your opening. Wait...

I bought a rug for a NYC apt. entry hall from Overstock
for around $400 and when a party was given in said
space a couple of days later the (Bulgarian wool "persian") shed it's first layer all over the place. I'm not sure this is normal behavior for a new rug, but it
was alarming at the time. The rug is pretty and I'm told by my client that it has now settled down. I was ready to send it back. The Flor tiles are great. Very fun and innovative.

Wish I'd thought of Flor tiles for a runner before buying our nondescript beige jobs. They look ok and serve their purpose and I think they look ok but my wife hates them.

The Flor runner is great. Carpet tiles make so much sense for a runner with one end in an entry area, where that end may need replacement sooner due to the ick of weather/dirt near the door.

I love the DIY approach.

We do something similar using dogs. We found the large ones add a little too much texture, especially after dark. The Yorkie/Shelty styles are great and feel wonderful underfoot.

Keeping them in place IS a problem, thanks for the liquid latex tip!

I would like FLOR more if everytime I saw them I thought something other than, Oh, FLOR tiles! Maybe bcs they send that catalogue every other day?

Also, is it just me or are those tiles sorta expensive? I am 100% bored here at work (Olympics not going well), so I "bought" that FLOR rug for a 17ft hallway. $312.75.

I bought my runner at ABC basement. Wool and 25 feet long and it was under $125, cut to my specs. I bound it at local carpet place (bcs ABC robs you on that) and it was under $175 total.

I like that FLOR idea, it's just that everyone plays up that disposable aspect and I don't get that. Of course, if I win Gold later, I'll have the $$.

Oh! I would never have thought of the Flor approach! Cool!

Our hallway isn't epic (an 8-foot runner is okay), but I'm not in love with anything I've tried on the floor yet, either.

A caution with Overstock: their photos seem to be even wackier than normal with representing colors accurately on a properly set computer monitor. Our first hall runner looked golden beige and brown on the screen, but was purple and green in person, and the description did not indicate this. I've read similar complaints from others (somewhere). Be prepared to be easy-going about color scheme.

Love the literary headline ;)

California Carpet is a really good recommendation -- it has a great selection of floor covering. Make sure to check out their "remnants" section... you can get really good quality carpeting for very little money!

Rugman.com has a lot of runners -- 16 ft or more, too. They are also on ebay.

These are all great ideas, but am I the only one who doesn't like runners and thinks they are not needed? I love a beautiful expanse of hardwood floor down a hallway.

We love hardwood floors and had them bare when we owned a house -- but if you're in an apartment, the odds are good that either the lease or the HOA rules require that 80% of the floor be covered with rugs. It's more likely to be enforced in areas that get heavy traffic, like hallways.

I think FLOR is the coolest thing since sliced bread! Waiting for Ikea to come out with the same for $2 a square vs. $10. And thanks for the recommendation on the liquid latex Mold Builder! Those are the kinds of useful tips that will really get you noticed and keep me coming back for more! Thanks!

I love the creative hopscotch look. I'd also love the look of a long hardwood hallway. But, since my SF apt sports linoleum hallways(what were they thinking?), I found Ikea cotton runners offered the best low-cost solution for full coverage.

I just ordered a runner from Sisalrugs.com -- their current special is $7/linear foot for custom runners up to 3' wide if it is something they have in stock and they claim to go up to 50' in some materials. That's delivered, custom bound, backed with latex and stain-proofed. I haven't gotten it to evaluate quality, but it shipped much faster than promised (today--ordered Monday) and they were great on the phone. Looks like there are lots of choices, too, including sisal-wool combinations. Also have ordered from Rugman on Ebay and found it a great price/quality value. Beware shiping charges on ebay orientals from some dealers--you can get gouged.

Not to be a spoilsport, but I find FLOR quite a bit overrated. While their catalogs are beautiful, we have it installed in our office (admittedly in some of the less attractive patterns) and I find it lacks the comfort/softness of true rugs while still often showing stains.

Obviously, you can replace stained tiles, but I would think color differences may show when new tiles are placed next to old ones. Furthermore, a close friend did more of a floating installation in his home and found that 1) the tiles didn't stay put; and 2) the adhesive ruined his floor anyway.

Given the high cost as well, creating custom shapes and patterns from bound-off wall-to-wall strikes me as a much better alternative, and also a much less permanent one. However, I do give FLOR credit for putting some incredibly sexy marketing around their product and encouraging people to get creative with it.

Tradeway Warehouse in Richmond is another local option, if you're willing to cross a bridge or two and play with remnants~I've heard great things about them.

RD, I do prefer the look without runners but our kids' scooters were in danger of scratching up too much of the floor so we reluctantly bought some. A necessary evil in my eyes so I was not that bothered about the less than perfect look because I did not like having to have them in the first place. Odd logic I know but it kinda works for me.

Another way to go is to buy a remnant and have them bind the edges. We fot a nice inexpensive neutral rug for our summer place
this way and they can cut it to any size you want from the remnant. Finishing the edges was $2 a foot I think.
d

I love this article, what a great recognition and description of problem without an obvious solution.

Building on that, you can even go the 'Ready-Made meets Martha Stuart' route by bringing an old twister mat to a carpet store or tailor and making it into a runner. Or, a long roll of butcher paper with crayon holders on the wall for that sit down-and-draw child in all of us.

Very cool, I suddenly feel an affection toward my long hallway.

I agree with you, eeeck--FLOR is overrated. I'd purchased the 'Home Movies, multi-level loop pile' tiles a few months ago for my dining room. Area rugs are a stipulation of my lease and FLOR seemed like an economical solution. Economical, sure, but they looked like a gigantic door mat once I laid them out--ugh!

My humble opinion aside, a friend got the deeper pile tiles for his bedroom and went wall-to-wall with them, which looked significantly better, despite not feeling that great underfoot. And with the higher price point of the deeper pile tiles--why not just go for the real thing?

Lisa -- Great feature and the best use of those little round rugs from Ikea I've ever seen. Well done!

Thanks for recognizing and solving a (local) problem. I find the rustic selvedge runners absolutely intriguing, and now that you have explained how to keep a runner from serving as a large banana peel, I will check them out.

THanks for all the info. I'm taking it to heart and setting up my hallway. These are all good food for thought. Runners are the way to go.

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