stair runners

[Bonnie Jean]

I am going crazy trying to figure out what kind of carpet runner to buy for my stairs. I want an oriental pattern since it hides dirt better. But my main concern is the products resistance to matting and flattening.

Choices are wool (best), nylon (good synthetic with resistance to matting), and poly's (not good with matting).

In my area, the poly's look and feel is much denser which to me translates to good resistance with matting. The $25/ft wool and $18/ft nylon's I've seen aren't as dense. The exception to that are expensive wool's like Karastan which for about $65 per linear foot.

So do I go with what appears to be a dense poly which on sale will run me about $600 or a Karastan which will run me almost $1700.

I'd very much appreciate any input you can offer.

Bonnie in So. Jersey

[Vox Humana]

I would tend to match the rug to the general quality level of the rest of the furnishings. That said, I think I would tend to favor the poly for the price difference, particularly if you don't plan to spend the next twenty years in the house.

[Mrs Bonk]

Did I ever tell you how I cut my knee on the brass hooky thing that holds a stair carpet runner in place? I was quite young and it was poking out. I was doing headstands on the stairs and fell. It went in deep and I had to have stitches. I still have the scar some 40 years later. I had visitors come from America once and they were quite taken with my carpet runner, it was Victorian and patterned. They claimed it was rare to see such a carpet in their part of America. They would have been welcome to it, as soon as my finances stretched to it I renewed with a fitted fairly plain carpet. I always wanted plain.