A Stairway to Heaven: Local Harrisons Carpet Solution to A Tricky Staircase
How finding a great solution to a tricky flight of stairs helped create an amazing home transformation.
Every so often our team at Harrisons Carpet comes across a project that really shows off the range of expertise we have at our disposal.
As these before and after photographs of the renovation at a home in Mellons Bay, Auckland, show – both the choice of carpet and the skills required to lay the product in the trickiest of situations can lead to a complete transformation.
Here the option of a dark, heavy, solution-dyed nylon carpet (Inverness, colour 21 from Jacobsens) produces the perfect chic, modern look while our experts’ professional prowess to be able to wrap each stair individually, creates continuity through the home and a finesse to the overall enterprise.
Mat Barker, our Ellerslie/Pakuranga franchise owner, first went to visit the home in February to measure up and present a range of options in terms of styles and colours.
The homeowners were in the process of a complete renovation that was intended to bring the home out of its deep-pile, 70s glamour and create a more modern, artistic look.
“They had started on the project some years ago, but it was obviously a large and daunting task because of the size of the house and difficult elements such as the staircase,” Mat says.
After a second visit, the homeowners refined their decision on the carpet and, because of the size of the project, Mat was able to get the manufacturers to send a cutting of the carpet to give them a better understanding of what it would look like when laid.
“They had already renovated the kitchen, bringing it out of the 70s right up to 2018 with some wonderful light grey marble floor tiles so we were looking to find a carpet that was sympathetic to that look,” Mat says.
“The final choice is so close to black that it gives quite a dramatic look – certainly the choice of an adventurous couple. It’s not a widely sold product, but it always gives a fantastic result and was the perfect choice for this home.”
At the same time as choosing the carpet, Mat was able to show the couple potential Resene colour matches for the walls. The couple then spent a number of weeks pulling up the previous pale, inch-deep shagpile carpets and decorating to have everything in place for Mat to lay the carpet.
The whole project was large: around 60 linear metres or 160-70 square metres of carpeting from the entrance hall and downstairs rumpus room, up the staircase and throughout the main storey’s landing, lounge, dining room and five bedrooms.
But Mat says it was certainly the staircase that proved the biggest challenge.
“Even to someone that’s experienced, a floating staircase like that is going to be a test and its success will depend on what your laying team is capable of doing,” he says.
“Those stairs are a work of art so the team worked slowly but professionally. In the end, we had to take each individual block of wood out to cover it. It was as much an upholstery job as carpet laying.”
Mat says the staircase was the project’s crowning glory.
The whole flight of stairs took five visits, with each stair then having to be taken away to have the carpet overlocked before it could be replaced.
“It certainly took some of our best expertise to make this project work – especially when it came to the staircase,” Mat says. “But when you look at the overall project with that heavy, dark carpet running through the house – what a transformation.”
For more information about how Harrisons can help provide a great finish to your home build or renovation project, or to book a free in-home consultation, call us on 0800 421 001 or contact us via the website.
