Where to find shag carpet that you can use wall to wall in hour home? Currently there are two sources for shag that I know of.
Where to find shag rugs and wall-to-wall carpet
Sansom Shag Rugs:
Sansom Shag Rugs — For shag carpet that you can really did your toes into, check out Sansom Shag Rugs. Based in Texas and with manufacturing in Georgia, this small company specializes in deep-pile shag carpeting: “3 Inch Amazing Thick, Tufted, Luxurious True Shag Rug,” they say. They also have some shorter shags.
Sansom has dozens of colors to choose from — including retro classics like burnt orange, gold, lipstick red, and groovy shades of green. And, they even have multicolors. You can order custom rug according to the size or shape you want, or you can order yardage to install wall-to-wall.
Kane Carpet:
Kane Carpet’s Shagtacular collection has 30 different designs/patterns of shag carpet. Most of the colors are neutral, but there are few colors in there, like the Candy Cane line with its Passion Pink, Green Apple, Orange Slice, and Peppermint. I also really dig the Canpana, with its striped Rust, Olive, Plum, Denim, and Tray colorways.
Searching around the internet, it seems that the pile depths from Kane varies from 1.5′ to 2″; check specs with Kane or your local retailer. Looks like you can buy this as yardage for wall-to-wall installations, or you can ask your local retailer to bind you a rug.
Anyone else suddenly feeling the need to find a room for some flower power shag carpeting?
Brian T says
I wish the pendulum would swing back toward SOME color choice. Last year I wanted bright carpet for a dark room with only one tiny window, and it was impossible to find anything worth having. I did see the Disney book at one store, but then they said “Oh, we don’t carry that anymore.” I ended up going with a color called “beach glass.” In the store I was able to convince myself that the aqua flecks would really show up, but in reality it might as well be just another gray. It’s fine, and I like it, but it’s far from what I was hoping for.
Unfortunately, since the last color-crazed era of the 60s and 70s, the economy has changed thoroughly in a way that doesn’t bode well for choosing interesting colors in duarable goods. In 1965, it wasn’t outlandish to hear of people retiring after working somewhere for 40 years. I think people stayed married longer and stayed in their jobs longer. which means staying in houses longer. With today’s increased mobility (whether desired or obliged by job seeking), people are far more skeptical about the thought of staying in the same home forever, and they are so hypnotized by “resale value” and the myth that nobody will buy a home if it contains colors. At the same time, I think people are less likely to commit to picking a modest home they can afford and then sticking with it. There’s a lot of pressure to trade up and buy something bigger and fancier even if you don’t “need” it.
That said, it wouldn’t kill manufacturers to make colorful products more easily available for special order, for those of us who want them.
Laura M. says
I DIE reading this! Sign me up for some Outrageous Orange shag!
JKaye says
My only experience with shag carpeting was when I moved into an apartment in 1979, and it had wall-to-wall dark brown shag in the living room and bedrooms which attracted lint. My roommate’s boyfriend hogged the couch (mine) and ate all the food (mine), so I moved out after a year into my own apartment with hardwood floors. No more vacuuming and unwillingly sharing food. I think I could enjoy the orange shag, but in someone else’s house.
tammyCA says
It’s funny how I think these bold shag carpets are cool now…having lived with rooms in shag wall to wall carpeting I wasn’t too thrilled with it (I lost stuff in it…sewing pins/needles the worst!).
Our home has original hardwood floors throughout, which I love (dh never has..he loves carpet). I actually like both but with messy kids & dogs hardwood is better. I do miss that feeling of sitting/lying on carpeted floors and I remember how ceramic knick-knacks didn’t break falling down on soft carpet…guess there’s pros and cons for everything. 🙂
Mollye says
I grew up in the 1970’s in houses that had shag carpet and I’ve always liked it. Our first house had bright orange with brown and yellow shag in the den. The second house my family lived in had brown shag in the den and on the stairs and hallway. My bedroom had yellow shag and my sister’s bedroom had purple shag. My husband would never let me put shag in our house now, but I’m so glad it is still being made.
Allison says
I’m with you Mollye–
Thats the one place my husband refuses to go– colored carpet. What a shame, I would love to put in some of that poisoned apple!
flyingethan says
Three years ago I had a very hard time finding shag carpet. I was re-carpeting my entire house which I had recently bought. When I would ask employees at different carpet stores if they could get shag carpet only the older folks new what I was talking about. Even then I would get the raised eyebrows look and was told that went out with the 70’s. Finally I did find the shaggiest shag that I could find at the time. I was trying to find avocado green carpet and I found something that was pretty close. I also used brown in one room. Over three years later I am still very happy with it. Who would’ve thought that three years later it’s getting easier to find. Not to mention that most people are seemingly becoming aware of the term shag carpet.
Another observation. Three years ago this was being called frieze carpet. Now I am noticing that the term shag is being used more and more.
Lynne says
I have two shag area rugs in what we have named “the triangle room”, whis is a fairly recent remodel of a laundry room into a breakfast room. I got them from a little shop in the mall called The Rug Rack.
VERY affordable, and there were several different color choices. I got the orange and brown mix. Oriental Weavers, Sphinx Loft is on the back label. I don’t know if they are available anymore or not. I’ve had mine less than a year.
Jeanne says
Here’s an idea that I’ve done in the past. If you don’t want to commit to having the carpet installed (and have hardwood floors), you can purchase a piece (9 x 12 for example) and have the edges bound and use it as an area rug (put a rug pad underneath). I’ve done this with a commercial floral pattern carpet/rug for my home.
I love the colors! Home Depot had the line when I was there recently. Amazing that sample-after-sample at the store was all neutrals and I found this one sample card with actual colors.
Douglas Camin @ House on Rynkus Hill says
I second the area rug idea – our house has all hard surface flooring throughout (wood, tile) which we love. There are always some areas where you need or want a carpet, and getting a bound rug is a great way to accent without installing permanently. Additionally you can use the area rug to delineate a space or area in a larger room, making it a design element instead of simply the flooring.
In recent work renovating our downstairs family room, I did exactly this – I picked up a remnant in 12×14, had it bound and used that. It cost about $225…really a steal: http://www.houseonrynkushill.com/2013/10/16/family-room-before-and-after/
In the picture there is a blue and green shag carpet…back in the early 90s I lived with my parents in an apartment that had that carpeting. Coincidentally it also had metallic wallpaper, too. 🙂
Robin, NV says
That looks great Doug! I also like your metal desk. I want one for our den and the local thrift store had one for $3 but I realized that it would never fit through the door to the den. Darnit!
Douglas Camin @ House on Rynkus Hill says
That desk is a half-finished project on it’s own. I originally was going to remove the powder coat and take it to bare metal (and then protect it)…but it was at the time a more difficult of a task than I anticipated so I only got partway finished. The desk was free – it was left outside of an office down the street when I lived in a downtown loft apartment, and one night with a bunch of friends over drinking they decided they would carry it back from where it was sitting to my house (about three blocks.) No small feat since the desk weighs about 300 pounds and is very unwieldy.
It will eventually go away at my current house, though. When I re-do that downstairs floor (it isn’t level) I am going to investigate having a larger built-in wood desk\work area fit into the space. I guess it would be up for grabs then! 😀
Robin, NV says
Yes, ulimately it was the size and weight of the desk that made me decide against it, despite the $3 price tag. My husband and I weren’t even sure how to get it into a pickup to bring it home. 300 pounds is a fair estimate of the weight of the thing. But I think they’re just so darn cool looking.
Jay says
Looks great!
Jay says
Yes, i just did just this. I didn’t want to have the wall to wall in the dining room as well as the living room. Had an area rug bound that was the same as the living room. Had I put more thought into it, I might have chosen an all over pattern. Anyway, I am satisfied with the effect. I worried about what the hardwood was like underneith so I started ripping the old carpet up in front of the kitchen door an the corners of the dining room. Didn’t want any surprises the day of install.
Janet in CT says
When I got out of college, I redid my bedroom at home and had an avocado green, orange, gold and brown shag rug put in, with yellow bedspreads, golden yellow pin-up lamps and mushroom pictures. I am sad I don’t have one single picture of it; it was quite stunning and so cheerful. My mother didn’t like it and redid the room ten years later but I still have the gold pin-up lamps, the yellow twin bedspreads and the mushroom pictures. The multi-colored brownish rug in the picture above underneath all the samples is the exact same rug in the master bedroom of the 1957 ranch we just bought. Sorry to say I am not a fan and it is going to be removed. It doesn’t look that worn and seems to have lasted well, but just isn’t what I want in there as I am going with pastels. That shag came in all different lengths and some were ridiculously long and tangly. I do recall back when they were popular hearing how in California and the southwest, you “raked” the rugs, not the leaves. For years we had the carpet samples in the basement at the store, and the one I had came in about eight different and wonderful color combinations, like various pinks and purples or greens. Sure wish I had saved them.
Jay says
I had the same color shag carpeting in my basement when I moved into my 57 ranch. A prior owner finished the basement in the 70s. I moved into the house in 2002 and kept it a few years before tearing it out. Already 30 years old it hadn’t worn well and if you have pets (me) well ewh! I just had carpet laid in my living room and hall, I was surprised at all the colors available, albeit toned down.
lynda says
Oh my! Such memories! I bought a 9 x 12 area rug by Karastan with the green/blue combination shown in the first picture in 1966. It was nylon and of course went with our blue, green and turquoise floral sofa and chair!
We sold the “look” and moved on to a burnt orange/beige/brown look in 1973 for our new house. (no shag) I can see how some would like this for teen or kids bedrooms. In 1977 moved again and opted for all hardwood, and no carpet.
Robin, NV says
Your story mirrors the history of flooring as described in the interview with Emily Morrow. The design pendulum tends two swing from one extreme to the other – wall-to-wall shag to hardwood floors. I wonder how the pendulum will swing next? Drab, neutral interiors to exuberant and colorful? I hope so.
lynda says
I hadn’t read that article before. She described the trends well!