Rhiannon's Room: Working With Wall-to-Wall

San Francisco reader Rhiannon recently sent in some photos of her city apartment, and while we're inspired by a lot of her choices (look out for an upcoming house tour!), we're especially impressed with how she's made the best of the wall-to-wall carpeting so many renters have to deal with. Wall-to-wall is a necessary evil in many rentals, as it helps to reduce noise and can be a cheaper solution for landlords than maintaining hardwood floors. But Rhiannon has made a few wise and wonderful choices that really go a long way towards making that potentially drab carpet work...

• Part of the problem with a lot of rental wall-to-wall carpet is the drab light it casts. Landlords choose neutral taupes and grays because they hide stains, but they also can look murky. Rhiannon's bright accents—the blue pouf, the quilt, the blanket draped over a chair, and even the fresh flowers—provide pops of color to brighten up the room.

• Rhiannon's dramatic artwork draws the eye up from the floor, distracting from the carpet and any little stains and flaws that might be left over from previous renters.

• Layering area rugs over the carpet is perhaps the most efficient way to reduce the effect of unappealing wall-to-wall. The black and white pattern here is a great contrast with Rhiannon's blues, and its bold statement makes the blah carpet almost disappear.

Thanks for sharing, Rhiannon!

(Images: Rhiannon Smith)

Comments (10)

Who did that artwork? I have seen it plastered at an old Mobil Station. http://www.flickr.com/photos/scarlethue/3726065836/

posted by scarlethue on July 31st 2009 at 12:48pm
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Actually, it's false that carpets absorb more noise. Our housing complex had noise measurements done to test the feasibility of changing from carpet to laminate (fine, it's not hardwood, but it's a far sight better than carpet), and the noise difference was negligible: in some parts of units it was slightly more and in other parts it was less. Tests were done before and after the 'test units' were refloored.

Now, if you're going to romp around your house in your stiletto heels, that might be another story, but up here in Canada, people take off their shoes inside.

posted by wc_canuck on July 31st 2009 at 12:55pm
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Rhiannon's home was featured earlier this month in a House Tour I did:

http://rearrangeddesign.blogspot.com/2009/07/house-tour.html

posted by Ana on July 31st 2009 at 1:02pm
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scarlethue, the artwork is by Skullphone. I recognized it from a different building in LA (the former Small Bills space on 3rd street) and looked it up. So awesome.

http://www.shopskullphone.com/Scripts/prodlist.asp?idCategory=24

posted by nineLA on July 31st 2009 at 1:27pm
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I've always had terrible results with putting rugs on top of carpet, they tend to bunch up oddly. Is there any way to prevent this? My husband and I are looking at staying on our apartment another year and I think the living room might be a lot cozier with a rug.

posted by everythingistaken on July 31st 2009 at 1:35pm
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I've been reading too much Harry Potter... the first thing I thought when I saw the artwork was, "Hey, it's a thestral!"

I'm lame.

posted by iphigenia on July 31st 2009 at 1:50pm
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hehehehe!!!! it happened the same to me iphigenia!! don't worry....

posted by manu_pty on July 31st 2009 at 2:09pm
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3rd the harry potter thought. LOL

posted by chusmabilly on July 31st 2009 at 2:35pm
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@iphigenia and manu_pty: ayep!

posted by Dusa on July 31st 2009 at 2:35pm
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everythingistaken - i use one of those rug pads to keep area rugs in place. ikea has one that is working well for my rugs over carpet, and rugs over vinyl flooring. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90097130

posted by SanDiegoAT on July 31st 2009 at 7:03pm
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