A conversation with Emily Morrow
Director of Color, Style and Design,
Residential Carpet and Hard Surfaces, Shaw Floors
Is wall-to-wall carpet “authentic” and appropriate for midcentury homes? You bet! Consider this data, provided by Emily Morrow, Shaw Floors’ director of Color, Style and Design for Residential Carpet and Hard Surfaces:
In 1951 — as the post-World War II housing boom in America was still ramping up — the carpeting industry sold about six million square yards of tufted wall-to-wall carpeting nationwide. Fast forward to 1968 – and the industry sold almost 400 million yards.
I had the chance to speak with Emily by phone recently about the history of carpet from the 1950s through today. We also talked about how the industry determines its color trends – including today’s gray-love — and what’s up next. 1980s teal, anyone? Buckle up. Read on for this exclusive interview chock-full of delightful carpet history and tips.
Inside Shaw’s Color, Style & Design Studio – Eyes on the future with a view to the past
While she was talking to me, Emily had a bird’s eye view to the big “history of carpet” table in her design studio. It was covered with a growing collection of carpet samples reaching back several decades. For the past few years, she explained, her design team has been on the lookout for vintage carpet remnants that visually capture the key colors, style and design trends. “The past is always relevant to the future,” she said.
This look back in time is particularly pertinent to midcentury homes, because the big boom in residential carpet did not occur until after WWII. So “history” starts in 1946, at least as it pertains to the mass market.
Of course, Shaw’s blast-from-the-past mood board is a cacophony of: Color! For example, Emily knew I would like to hear about the team’s latest prize: A piece of multicolored burnt orange sculptured carpet from the 70s – found by accident under the filing cabinet in an employee’s office when they went to re-carpet. Yeah, baby!
Emily is an interior designer by training, and has been with Shaw for 15 years. She leads a team of nine composed of colorists, designers and stylists whose focus ranges from color development to pattern design and encompasses residential carpet, commercial carpet and hard surface (i.e. wood, tile, laminate and vinyl) styling. “Our whole staff works within the research and development facility,” she explained.
“A large portion of the 2ndfloor in R&D is our area — the color library. It’s entirely devoted to color, style and design inspiration and trends. One wall demonstrates the ever-changing sales by color in flooring, both nationally and regionally. To do this, we take 2” x 2” samples of each color and arrange them into bar charts sliced into both colors and regions.”
The other half of the team’s working space, she says, is focused on developing future design strategies, specifically, their “research color forecast.” That’s where the historical samples are used as a point of reference. More importantly, I imagine “top secret” story boards and inspiration pieces strategically placed all over their R&D space – muses for the next-big-thing colors coming our way soon.
“The ‘new’ story over the past five years or so has been grey,” Emily confirms. “Looking ahead, we see the color story is moving towards blocks of “hothouse colors” like magenta and purple as well as the more traditional jewel tones. Color is very cyclical in nature.”
Yup: Cyclical – what’s old becomes new again. So let’s start at the beginning ish.
Key trends in residential carpeting, beginning in 1950
Emily explained that prior to World War II, most “carpet goods” were woven. Woven goods were often area rugs, but they also could have been installed wall-to-wall. After WWII, though, sales shifted dramatically to tufted carpet and to wall-to-wall installations.
Woven: The carpet is produced on a loom quite similar to woven cloth. The pile can be plush or berber. Plush carpet is a cut pile and berber carpet is a loop pile
Tufted: These are carpets that have their pile injected into a backing material, which is itself then bonded to a secondary backing comprising a woven hessian weave or a man-made alternative to provide stability. This is the most common method of manufacturing of domestic carpets for floor covering purposes in the world.
—Wikipedia
“The post-World War II era saw a surge in carpet sales that was primarily due to increased interest in home décor and new carpet fiber technologies,” said Morrow. “Carpet had been a luxury during the war – as many home goods had been – and once the war was over, there were plenty of stay-at-home moms that were ready to decorate their homes with products they couldn’t get during the war years. At the same time, there were technological advances taking place in the carpet industry – tufted nylon provided a similar look as the woven wool carpets and rugs from the pre-war years; however, nylon was more durable and much more attainable to the growing middle class. This combination of factors was really the perfect storm that led carpet to grow exponentially in the 1950s.”
Carpeting trends in the 1950s
In the ‘50s, she said, carpeting was “Saxony” – smooth — style.
Definition: Saxonies are tightly twisted cut piles that are heatset straight. Saxonies consist of two or more fibers twisted together in a yarn. They provide a soft texture for formal and informal areas. Saxonies show every footprint and vacuum-cleaner mark. Source: carpet.org – but link now gone.
In the ‘50s and through to the 60s, colors tended toward the bold –reflecting consumers’ enthusiasm for the wide world of decorating now open to them.
Carpeting trends in the 1960s and 1970s
In the ‘60s and ‘70s, there was a “revolution” in terms of the industry’s ability to create new piles and textures. “There were highly creative shags… textured sculpted multicolors creating all these different visuals… and imprinted carpet for kitchens,” Emily explains. These played into “people’s excitement about change in general,” she said. “Consumers liked anything hip and new.” Tastes were changing as consumers’ view of the world expanded through the evolution of media. By going from black and white to color television, they were able to see into TV homes such as “The Brady Bunch,” where colorful shag or sculpted carpet was used.
Technology played a key role in developing the shag carpets to be synonymous with the 1970s. Emily said that the industry was experimenting with endless combinations both in yarn types as well as dyeing multiple layers of color. She explains that tthe 1970’s were a time when consumers were trying new things “just because”. Shag carpets once made from 100% polyester evolved into 100% nylon, resulting in a much more appealing aesthetic and improved performance.
Color favorites were avocado green, brown, oranges, and multicolor. Emily adds that “layering” of single colors, like greens, was also popular, because the effect was very forgiving in terms of hiding dirt.
Carpeting trends at the end of the 20th century
Beginning in the 1980s and continuing into the 1990s and 2000s, she said, consumers were becoming lots more savvy about owning homes. We also began moving even more frequently for jobs. “Real estate became such a big topic for consumer-homeowners,” she said. “We also were a more transient nation, and the idea that we could turn a quick profit by buying and selling was born.” As a result, Emily said, consumers gravitated toward: Hardwood. Homeowners believed hardwood was neutral, luxurious and would add to their home’s value at resale.
Then, there’s always the pendulum-swinging factor.
“Oftentimes the next generation has a little contempt for what was in their parents’ house. They want something better and also different,” Emily says, explaining another of the reasons why kids who grew up in homes with wall-to-wall carpet went for hardwood with area rugs, instead. As our lives got ever more complicated, homeowners also wanted to do less maintenance. “For homeowners who chose carpeting, berbers were the thing. We call this ‘trackless’ carpeting. You never see the vacuum cleaner marks.”
Yikes. I bought my first house in the mid-80s. It’s all coming back to me now — everything that Emily is saying is true!
Carpet trends today
Fast forward to today and like hardwood floors, the mass market color preferences in carpeting remain in favor of neutral underfoot. Emily says that buyers are comfortable with beiges, chocolate, and two forms of what I always call greige – “taupe” (brownish grey) and what Emily calls “true taupe” (which I guess would be a grayish brownish gray.) “No pink in it very little yellow,” she says. Bedroom areas, meanwhile, get lighter off-white. “This is a sanctuary space, with not a lot of high traffic.”
Consumers also are buying pattern – medium-to-smaller scale designs such as blocks and diamonds. Also, they get a “little bit of a fleck, like a tweed,” Emily said. The whole effect is smooth and tailored, but not solid. She says that this style looks good with all the midcentury modern furniture going into homes today, but that it is neutral and flexible enough for buyers still skittish about the economy and the need to make improvements with future resale in mind. “Homeowners still are thinking they may ultimately sell. Choices are conservative, but they still want an element of style that’s attractive and which they can appreciate.
She also mentions that midcentury modern is a “standout trend” influencing interior design today. “Mad Men is in its fourth year, and now we have [other tv shows] like Pan Am.”
Carpeting trends for the 2010s
Between now and the next five years, what colors might be coming our way? Emily says to expect: Color! “When the pendulum swings it always swings the other way.” She also says to expect more carpet per square footage, with hard surfaces used in strategic areas. A backlash against all that granite and stone? Methinks, yes. “Consumers that have been living with hard surfaces realize they miss the comfort of carpet, especially in family and playrooms,” Emily said.
Regarding pattern, she says to expect an evolution toward both tighter, and looser looks – pointing to natural seagrass and sisal as inspiration in both color and pattern. Chevron, herringbone or very simple loops in a limited array of flaxen neutrals are simple yet sophisticated looks for floors. For those who crave softness in broader color options, then casual textures and modified shags fill the need. “I call it ‘toe appeal,’ — it’s that wonderful feeling you get when you step into that soft and luxurious pile of carpet… barefoot,” said Emily.
Teal? Yes, Emily says this color is ascendant. “It’s one of those great colors that bridges well with other colors… grays, taupe, plums, magentas and other vibrant colors.” She even mentions mauve…well, a new version of the color formerly known as mauve. “That’s the fun part of how colors come back around, there’s always something new and exciting about them,” said Emily. ”Maybe it’s the other colors that they are paired with, or maybe they look wonderful simply because they are from a very happy time in our past.”
I was very alive and kicking (and kickin’ back quite often in fern bars) all throughout the 1980s. Are there others like me who remember all the – teal? I can get my head around it!
Jason Moreland says
I love a good area rug but I’ve always thought wall to wall carpet was unhygienic.
Tikimama says
It is – have you ever seen the water they suck out after shampooing?? And that’s not to mention the damp stuff that gets left behind. Maybe the “dry” chemical methods do a better job? I’m sure someone here knows…
Katie says
Hi Jason! I handle the public relations for Shaw Floors and wanted to let you know that as long as it is properly maintained, carpet contributes to a healthy indoor environment by trapping allergens and preventing them from circulating in the air until they can be removed with a vacuum. (Our recommendation is to use a Carpet and Rug Institute-approved vacuum with a HEPA-filter for best results.) Carpets should be vacuumed regularly and cleaned via “hot water extraction” (also known as steam cleaning) every 12-18 months. For more information on carpet maintenance, visit http://shawfloors.com/Tips-Trends/Carpet-Care.
Tikimama says
Don’t worry, Wendy, I’m right there with you on your feelings about mauve 😉
I think many (most?) people who grew up in the 80s might not have much love for mauve and teal. Now aqua and pink – LOVE! I think it’s all about the tint of the base color. Teal, to me, is much more saturated green-blue, while aqua and seafoam green are lighter and purer.
When we moved into our family home, (built 1955) in 1977, my parents put in very practical wall-to-wall sculptured tone-on-tone brown carpet. The hardwood floors were too damaged for them to bother with, and they had four kids (eventually five) to clean up after. I’m sure the dirt-hiding properties of that carpet had lots of appeal. Unfortunately, I lived with that carpet my whole childhood into adulthood. When they sold at the height of the market (bless them!), the next owners promptly refinished the floors and they sure looked gorgeous. Of course, the new owners eventually went into foreclosure, but that’s an old, sad story by now.
The light beige wall-to-wall in my current home was installed about 6 years ago by the previous owners. I would love to get rid of it, solely because it is so hard to keep it looking clean with pets and kids.
Ann-Marie Meyers says
One last thing about mid century homes and carpeting, and then I will shut up (a first for me, eh, Pam?) It used to be fairly inexpensive to put hardwood flooring in a home, and wall-to-wall carpeting was, as Emily said, a sign of having made it.
So people would have carpeting installed right over brand new oak flooring in a newly built home if they could afford it, which is why people of our bent will sometimes pull up nasty old carpet to find a beautiful hardwood floor that just needs a little cleaning and polishing.
After this happened to my husband and me twice, we did a little research, and learned the reason.
Patty says
I would have thought back in the day homeowners expected a new house to have a real floor (tile, wood, linoleum) — then later the contractors decided to increase their profits and started throwing carpet over an unfinished subfloor.
pam kueber says
I would tend to agree however… my 1951 house was custom-built and I know for a fact the owner was very picky and willing to spend. The big, step-down living room was carpet over subfloor… The foyer and two bedrooms had cork, linoleum in the hall, kitchen, bathrooms. The dining room has parquet – real parquet: real pieces of oak cut in parquet style. It’s awesome.
Mary Elizabeth says
Ditto with my 1959 house. The owner/builder originally installed linoleum in the kitchen, bath, and kids’ rooms, but carpet in the master bedroom and living room, right over the sub-floor. There wasn’t a stick of wood flooring in the whole house until we got here.
Having lived with both hardwood and carpet in the main living areas, I see the advantages of each at different times in the life of a family or an individual. It’s not only a matter of your aesthetic–it depends whether you have crawling babies or sprawling teens (carpet is nice then) or whether you have dogs and an elderly family member with a walker or wheelchair (hardwoods and vinyl flooring might work best). It also depends on the climate and how cold your rooms are. But if I have learned nothing from the discussions on this site, it’s that people need to feel confident in installing the things in their homes that they love and that work for them. The nice thing about the mid-twentieth century is that people did that, so you can use any type of floor surface and make it fit in with the design era of your house.
Ann-Marie Meyers says
I would love to work for a company like this, archiving products from their past. I sometimes wonder if getting a degree in interior design would be what I needed to have this kind of career.
Dulcie says
I still remember the day my mother decided to get rid of the brown and gold patterned carpeting in the kitchen. She’d just had the carpet shampooed a week earlier. I was setting the table for dinner, grabbed a gallon of milk out of the fridge and it slipped out of my hand and spilled, soaking into the sponge-back carpet right under the fridge. The kitchen remodel money miraculously appeared and we soon had linoleum.
Elaine says
That shag carpet she has under the other samples! That’s what I took out of this time capsule house, except mine had black accents as well. It was in all the rooms except the kitchen and bathroom. I am sure it was put in when the house was built in 1963, laid straight over the cement slab. The carpet was actually in pretty solid shape, just loose and wrinkled. A good cleaning and re-stretching would probably have done wonders, but I was not as in love with the mottled shag as I was in the early 70s. Interestingly, when I was shopping for tile, one of the stores had this same carpeting available brand new. “Some of the older ladies still love it,” said the saleslady.
Jay Cruz says
What store was it? I would love to find out about there inventory!
Jocelyn W. says
I was surprised to read in this story that Emily and her team have been buying up examples of vintage carpet. I would have thought that Shaw would have had an archive assembled as each new line was developed. I know that when I was working at Kellogg’s HQ, the archive full of ads dating back many decades was the most fascinating place in the building!
Katie says
Hi Jocelyn! I handle the public relations for Shaw Floors, and I wanted to clarify that Shaw does not purchase historic carpet samples — the pieces that Emily’s design team has collected are serendipitously found and shared among friends who share an interest in our rich and ever-changing “flooring history.”
Olga Plant says
Good reading! My father worked at Chemstrand turned Monsanto…turned Solutia. He and all of his cohorts have died of cancers. Men and women in their 50’s and 60’s. I believe the chemicals they were exposed to did it. Back in the 1960’s, no one knew the chemicals they touched and breathed could hurt them. A high price gets paid for advances in modern living and most never hear of it. The same thing happened with asbestos and insulation and lead in paint. Thankfully, we have truly advanced and know more!
Ann-Marie Meyers says
Yes, that is sad. People had no idea. They were all so excited about the modern world they were creating, and never dreamed what it was doing to them.
I am truly sorry about your dad, Olga.
We are still learning lessons, and I pray we someday are wise enough not to kill ourselves and our children with our “advances.”
But that is for another website!
Janet in GA says
I sympathize Olga. My Dad worked in the steel industry helping produce all that steel for automobiles, ships, toasters, stoves, other appliances, etc. All those chemicals probably were part of the reason for all the cancers he suffered from. That and cigarettes from a time before they all knew better.
wendy says
AAAAAHHHH!!!! PLEEEAAASSEEEE…NO MAUVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gads I hate that color! 🙂
Now that I have that out of my system……
1. My best friend’s mom had dark pink, red and orange geometric/floral (yeah, hard to picture) carpet in their kitchen. It kinda grossed me out – *carpet* in the *kitchen* ?!! How do you really keep that clean?
2. I found bright yellow shag carpeting in a couple closets of my first house, built in 1969.
3. I found some excellent retro looking carpet at some stores near me made by Dixie Home. They have subtle patterns, and a handful of them would work well as wall to wall or as an area rug. You can buy the size you need and have the edges bound for about $2.00 per linear foot. An 8.5 x 10 rug at Carpet Traders using the patterns listed below was $500 – $600 with their 20% off deal. Non-chain carpet stores will also typically carry this line.
The samples shown on the link below are not the greatest – you need to see them in person to appreciate their texture and retroness. It’s definitely worth a trip to your local carpet store to see them. Patterns I like are:
artessa, balletto, benovia, bernini, pedemonte, solena, and tropea.
http://www.dixie-home.com/web/forms/Products.aspx
wendy says
BTW, the link above might not work if you use Firefox. IE appears fine.
Ann-Marie Meyers says
It works for me. Are you on a Mac or a PC? I am on a Mac.
They do have some stunning patterns that would work well with an earlier mid century to early 60’s home. I see some that I would like in my 1962 living/dining room.
I do have to give credit to Shaw, too, since this is their link. They have some nice ones. I have actually looked at a couple that I would consider.
I like the leafy/floral cut pile patterns, if that is what they are called.
wendy says
Yep – Shaw has some nice ones in their Tuftex and HGTV lines.
pam kueber says
okay but be careful of using the H-word here!
wendy says
You’re right, sorry. I know there are others who might like it.
Joe Felice says
Could we maybe do a little PR work on HGTV? Or perhaps, an intervention? I can imagine a show dedicated entirely to retro renovation!
Jeanne says
I’ve always loved teal and still do – in all it’s aqua, turquoise, seafoam, form. Great interview and insight – thanks Pam! I also did the Berber thing in the 80s!
In the early 90s, I wanted vintage patterned carpet for a bedroom and rug in the living room. I ended up getting commercial carpeting. It was expensive but VERY durable. I bought a large tropical fern pattern for my bedroom and a multi-grey vintage looking floral for the living room and had the edges bound to make a rug (It was probably cheaper than actually buying an area rug). Later I saw my tropical fern carpet (in other colors) in a restaurant and a high-end clothing store, lol. Needless to say that carpet would probably NEVER wear out in the bedroom – the new owners of my home tore it up because they wanted the hardwood.