Hallway Runner Options

Kimberly

I think the Flor tiles look great! At the very least, they’re a good placeholder until you find something that really “clicks” for you.

WES

I have wondered about buying remnants and having them bound for area rugs and runners but never looked into pricing it out. I have to wonder is that an option for you? Maybe you could get the remnant cut for that angle and then bound? It maybe cost prohibitive though, I have never looked into the cost, but I know you can buy and bound remnants.

I think the FLOR tiles can work especially once trimmed for the space. Maybe as another poster suggested get some new to create a border. I thought that they had some rectangular pieces in addition to the square that could work for the border but I cannot find them on their site.

Mary

I dont like the look of the Flor. Go to a carpet store and buy a remnant or some brand new carpet and have it cut and bound. It costs about $1/foot to bind here in Alaska. You’ll be able to get pretty much exactly the look you want, with no seams.

Peaches

I’m digging the pink, but I always dig pink. The FLOR tiles are awesome in their own right but I can’t imagine how they’d hold up after a year. Mine got pretty dogearred after a few months, and I live alone.

If you go down the wall-to-wall route, Olympic carpets (or is it Olympia? –It’s at Division and the Kennedy) will make custom shaped area rugs by cutting and seaming the edges of the regular stuff. Pretty good prices too. I had a rhombus shaped rug made there for a couple hundred a few years ago. No fancy colors or patterns, but they carried some overrun from a casino that had leopard spots and roccocco swirls that was super fierce!

Ashlea Walter

I like the narrower look because then you can actually see the beautiful floors. I don’t like the scale of the FLOR tiles in that space.

And wait a minute, I have been reading this blog for several years and I don’t know anything about Murray!!!??? Do tell.

Jo

I’d use the flor tiles until you find what you love. I would look for two crazy (but complementary) persian/iranian runners on eBay (they have some great, not hugely expensive options).

jkshdjkah

I would leave it uncarpeted and have my children wear house slippers.

Sarah

I think these FLOR tiles would work well. http://www.flor.com/suit-yourself-pumice.html

OR get a runner from Company C. I love their designs.

http://www.companyc.com/handmade-area-rugs-size/runners-area-rugs.htm

Jane

I love the idea of a oil cloth floor covering (http://www.thekitchn.com/ugly-kitchen-floor-change-it-w-94617) with some gorgeous graphic stencil
(This website has some really pretty ones!)
http://www.royaldesignstudio.com/products/skylars-lace-floral-stencil
Would definitely be a “project” but you could customize to fit the size of your space.

Emily

I think the gray is great for the hall. It will hold up
To heavy traffic without showing wear and stains. What about just layering a pattern on top. Or a fabulous wall
Color or awesome lighting /artwork to draw the eye up. Perhaps, since its either here or nowhere, what about taking a risj and stenciling on a border? love working with what you’ve got.

Virginia (The Heartographer)

I’m struggling with the exact same query for my hallway, although mine has slightly less awkward juts than yours does in terms of being able to buy standard-sized rugs.

I’ve heard people say it’s both cheaper and more effective to just get a carpet company to custom bind something to the right fit for your hallway (not an exact fit but like a custom-shaped runner that works for your space). But I have to be honest, the idea of a runner with a jig like that sort of puts me off.

I think you can get away with a single longer runner for the non-jigged space, and I think that will make you happiest design-wise. Overstock has such cheap ones that I’m sure you’ll find something adorable that works for you!

Tamara

Those Flor tiles are giving me the sads. They look like some kind of school/government carpet in that space. I like the idea of doing a custom runner from a carpet place.

karin

I’m a huge fan of FLOR (and am known to periodically drool over the catalog!), but I must say, those grey ones aren’t helping your hall one bit. Unless you absolutely must throw something down for the no-slid and toe warming features for now, I’d send them on. I’ve had good luck both buying and selling old FLOR on CL in Chicago. Maybe try that?

Also, I can speak to the FlOR In the hallway question, since we do have a collection of brightly colored Feeling Groovy tiles down the long meandering hall our vintage Chicago apartment (the hall so big it is actually a room, I call it. And thus it needed it’s own special rug!). After 3 years of floor in a very high traffic and long space, it’s a MEH. They do look cute from a distance, and the funky bright mixture added a modern edge to what would otherwise be a long, dark hall. And it has been nice to be able to clean up the occasional big hallway mess relatively easily. But they quickly started to look frayed along the edges, and they shift around with just the floor dots ( I resorted to duct-taping a few for added strength). More than half of ours were re-purposed from our last home, and another chunk were a CL purchase, so I only ordered 8 new tiles to do our long hall, so it was worth it in the end. But I would not recommend going out of one’s way to put FLOR in a high-traffic hallway. Or at least not unless you are using the higher traffic tiles and fixing them to the floor.

I’d love to see thick, bright wool runners in here. Mis-matched but coordinating long area rugs could be cute too.

Love seeing your project updates! Have fun.

meta

No to the FLOR tiles! Get something much prettier since you’ll be looking at it too much :)

Christine

Paint the Flor carpet tiles!Personally, I really like the greek key, or spiral pattern or anything that you think will fit in the space, the gray-yellow, or gray-white-light gray sounds nice combination!

Some ideas: http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=Stenciled%20%26%20Painted%20carpets

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/496733033872132993/

p.s. Sorry for my english!

jenw

New Flor tiles, in a pattern that will both nicely hide any accidents and camo the seams a bit more. I definitley do NOT like the idea of two runners and patching them together somehow.

Deborah

If you’re going to consider cutting and finishing a remnant, I would also suggest looking at NaturalAreaRugs.com (this isn’t a plug — I don’t work for them). I had a similarly quirky area in need of a non-standard size runner. I ordered samples of various sisals, jutes, even some wools, selected one and had it edged. Looks fabulous, just the right size, and was less expensive than it would have cost to cut and finish a remnant. Also free shipping.

Becca

Any wall to wall rug can be cut and installed as a runner – think about how they install carpet on stairs… you could do the same thing on a flat run of floor keeping a wood floor reveal on the sides which would look great. An added benefit is if installed rather than laid over a chintzy carpet pad, the rug won’t move as kids, dogs and husbands run all over it. Just think of the options!! Any carpet at a carpet store would do!

judy

You might look at an upscale carpet store for a remnant-and have them either bind it for a wide runner that leaves a small margin on the sides-or just cut it yourself. These are usually highly negotiable price wise as they just want to get rid of them. We did this and didn’t even have to have it bound it was so expensive(originally) and thick that the sides just vacuumed flat and looked finished. It served our purpose because at the time we were renting.

Allison

I have flor tiles in two high traffic spots in my house, and the seams do look much more obvious when you first rearrange. You definitely need new flor dots – reset the tiles on new dots with tight seams. Then give it a week or two and the carpet backing will level back out and the seams will be less noticeable.

I love the gray tiles, but think the current 2 tile wide consideration might be too wide. Maybe get a contrasting pretty color (or even just a few shades lighter gray?) cut into 1/3s and make a border to a single gray tile width. Then you’ll have enough gray to do the full hallway. Love how it is coming along!