Carpels depend on room use Spring Home Living Pag* 27 By Gregg Howard Copley News Service Whether you're moving into a new home, refurbishing an older one or just redecorating, shopping for carpet can be a perplexing experience. "Consumers nave so many options in color, style and price that it's easy to get confused," says Marti Hill, fashion director at Galaxy Carpet Mills inc. "Your lifestyle and pocketbook should provide some guidelines for your purchase." "What is the room used for? Play? Entertainment? Study? Before a salesperson can assist you, you should have a good idea of your needs and your budget." It is essential that carpeting be suited to the use and wear it will get. High-use areas, such as family rooms, hallways and stairs, will get more traffic than a sitting room or bedroom. Hill suggests that families with children consider the durability of nylon carpets that have soil, stain and static resistance built into the fiber. With the proper care, these carpets will maintain their original appearance despite the wear and tear of an active family. When discussing your carpet needs with your salesperson be ready, Hill advises, to answer questions like these: -How many children will be using the room ana how often? -Will pets be allowed in the room? -Will the family be eating and drinking in the room? -Will the room or rooms be used for play, entertainment, study or sleep? -How important is elegance? Maintenance? Cleanup? -Is the room generally colder than the rest of the house? If so, urethane backing can help take the chill off the floor. Once you decide what kind of car peting is needed, the next decision is how much is needed. According to Hill, shoppers can buy more efficiently if they follow these steps: -Carefully measure the longest dimensions of the room you plan to carpet with a steel tape measure. "Pacing off" a room is never a good way to measure for carpeting. -Hallways also must be measured as well as closets and jogs in the walls. -A carpet retailer usually can provide a grid on which you can make a scale drawing of the room. Use it! It's an easy way to be accurate. -Note the size, the number and the exposure of the windows in the room. Light will affect the way the color and texture of a carpet will look in a given room. -To help select a color, bring in a paint sample or fabric swatch to make sure the carpeting will blend with your furnishings. -Determine your decorating budget in advance and decide what portion can be spent on carpeting. When asked what determines the cost differences among different styles of carpet, Hill says that density-the amount of face yarn in the carpet-is the single most important determining factor. "In tufted carpet, the general rule is the more tufts per square inch, the more dense the carpet. The denser the caipet, the better the carpet will look, feel and wear," Hill says. TASTE (Continued from page 26) together to make a bedroom seem like an old-fashioned villa. The walls, imitating the exterior plaster of a water-stained villa, are smooth and cracked, showing shades of terra-cotta and chalk. Exterior Italian ceramic tile with a granular appearance adds to the texture contrasts of the room. A French-polished birch bed framed by a mesh canopy and strings of softly lit bulbs crisscrossing the room invoke the feeling of a Mediterranean garden in the evening. In designing his teenage son's bedroom, Gerald Tomlin of the American Society of Interior Designers needed to combine the delicacies of the electronic age with the raw power of the Dallas Cowboys football team, which the 13-year-old admired. Color was the key. Clean, white tubular shelving and storage cabinets house the study area, computer, stero system and an array of rrts memorabilia. The bed and ise with electronic and computer controls are surrounded by gray carpeting. Major walls were covered in silver' vinyl perforated to simulate pigskin, while opposite walls, covered in heavy blue nylon twill fabric, provided tack- board surface for posters and pen nants. The room functions as a multipurpose study, television, com puter, sleeping and display space. FREE ATTACHMENT • NO DOWN PAYMENT • NO MONTHLY PAYMENT FOR 90 DAYS' Catcher optional During Super Value Days when you purchase a Snapper 11 or 16 HP Lawn Tractor at regular retail price, you'll receive-FREE-a rotary mower attachement. Choose from our 33" Hi-Vac mower with its powerful va cuum which sets grass up for a smooth even cut, or our 41" and 48" Side Discharge mowers to easily handle tali and heavy grass. When you take advantage of this super value ask about our conveni ent Snap-Credit Plan. Take advan tage of the offer of no down payment and no payment for 90 days. See your Snapper dealer today. HURRY! 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