What To Do When You Hate the Wall-to-Wall Carpet In Your Home

Erica Reitman Interior Designerimage via Nicole Cohen Much to my dismay, wall-to-wall carpet is a reality for many of us who are in rental apartments/homes. Not sure why the "ditch all wall-to-wall carpet immediately" memo has not reached the desks of any apartment owners outside of  NYC, but that shit is alive and well in almost every other city in the country.

"I love wall-to-wall carpet!"--said no one in the history of ever.

In my current, bomb-ass apartment in Los Angeles, we have w2w carpet in our bedroom, and it's the one thing I absolutely hate about this joint. Thankfully, it's a brand new building and no one has ever lived in our apt before we did (or walked on our ugly ass wall-to-wall carpet), BUT I still hate that carpet more than Nazis.

If you've got some wall-to-wall carpet that is making you murder-y, here are some ideas for you.

1. GET SOME SMALL AREA RUGS AND SURROUND YOUR BED. Ok so this doesn't totally cover your w2w carpet, but it does kind of soften the blow. In the pic above I used 6 layered small area rugs from Target to surround the bed, add some texture to the room, and try to distract your eyeballs from the beige carpet a bit. As an added tip, I have a dog that drools like a newborn child annnnd sometimes has an accident or two. So these area rugs also cover the carpet enough to ensure that I'll *probably* get my security deposit back.

area rug on carpetimage: Laure Joliet for Style by Emily Henderson

2. GET A LARGE AREA RUG. For a larger space like a living room, a giant area rug may look fab over your wall-to-wall. And, of course, by "fab" I mean "way better than just your ugly carpet," lookin' ugly, all ugly ass day and night. Again: will this make your wall-to-wall disappear? Uh no. Buuuut, it is an easy solution that can make a big impact until you get approved for a mortgage. NOTE: many ppl hate this idea of putting area rugs over carpet, and will potentially fight you on this decision. My guess is none of those ppl have wall-to-wall carpet.

3. COVER YOUR W2W CARPET WITH LAMINATE FLOORING. Ok, so this idea is definitely for certifiably insane ppl, as this takes a lot of time, effort, and a decent amount of cash. But if you have a rent controlled apartment that you don't plan to leave until you're being fed through a tube, then this solution might be for you.

And yes: I do get that there is some killer beautiful wall-to-wall carpet out in the world...I've just never seen any in a rental.

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