Flooring & Carpets - What's been popular this year?

As 2023 comes to an end, we look back over the installations we have done and share what types of flooring and carpet installations have been popular this year. There are always styles and features which are trending in home interiors, and it’s great to be able to see a growing emergence with such trends in the work we do. Plus, we get to show you some of our best and favourite work done this year! Take a look…

Bespoke stair runners
This year has probably seen us make and fit the most stair runners ever! They have been very popular in Cheshire homes this year and that’s no surprise seeing as they are one of the interior trends of the moment.
Here’s a snapshot of some our favourite stair runners made and fitted over 2023. From the stair runner’s main material to the type of border, even the finishing details like stair rods - we put everything together to help you make a stunning stair runner for your home. Like these…


This stylish stair runner which we supplied and installed in Didsbury has been made from a look-a-like sisal material from Unnatural Flooring. It’s the Woodstock floorcovering in their New England collection which we have paired with the Stripes thick black border from Alternative. While this fantastic runner gives the look of on-trend sisal, Woodstock is in fact  made from 100% polypropylene, making it exceptionally hardwearing and easy to clean and look after.
In fact, this floorcovering is so tough, it is perfect for using outdoors and having made into an outdoor rug!
 

Another popular floorcovering for the stair runners we have made this year, has come from the Fibre collection with their wool flatweave herringbone collection. We made this one in colour Chalk and the customer chose a green linen border to complement its neutral tones. To finish the runner which has been installed at a home in Timperley, Homepride stair rods in gold were added, which we are sure you agree give it an extra touch of luxury.
 

This isn’t your everyday stair runner, but for us, this job goes to show the extent of our knowledge and experience when it comes to installing runners. This Cheshire home’s luxury staircase features steps which get slightly wider each time, from the top of landing, down to the bottom. This being the case, we had to expertly cut and fit each piece of carpet runner to size. The runner is made from the luxurious faux silk Elements London Manhattan collection, in colour Broadway and features a black cotton border edge. After making sure there is a seamless finish to the runner, we put in place the brushed chrome stair rods.
 

Sisal floor coverings
Another big trend this year and something we have installed a lot of in homes across Cheshire again, is natural sisal. Whether it’s a growing choice from a sustainable, carbon footprint perspective or the fact the natural material brings a wealth of health benefits to the home, we are unsure. But what we do know is that natural floorcoverings like sisal really do look sensational when down, whether across a small or large space. Here's some more of what we’ve done with sisal this year.


Yes, this is another stair runner we supplied and fitted. This time at a home in Cranage, Cheshire and this time, in 100% natural sisal to the runner’s main area. This stair runner has been made from the Sisal Malay Chen floorcovering from Alternative, which is a lovely stylish, versatile sisal. The border we had made, is a cotton one in colour lichen, we we sourced through our sister company talkrugs. And our customer chose nickel Homepride stair rods to finish the look. The runner makes a lovely contrast against the dark colouring of the staircase and balustrade.
 

As well as making sisal stair runners, we’ve also fitted sisal as a full width carpet as we did with this double stairs and landing. This is also the Sisal Malay Chen floorcovering from Alternative, which you can see brings a lovely rustic texture to this beautifully decorated space. Sisal is perfect for the stairs in terms of how hardwearing it is. In this particular job we used antique brass finishing profiles to secure the edges along the landing, as sometimes sisal can be prone to fraying. It’s for the reason we highly recommend you use carpet fitters with solid sisal carpet fitting experience, if you are looking to have a sisal carpet in your home. Our carpet fitters attend sisal fitting courses, the most recent one with Alternative, to make sure our skills are up to date when it comes to fitting sisal carpets.
 

One of the sisal carpet fitting jobs we did this year was this wonderful chunky loop 100% sisal seen above. It is the Oriental Sisal in colour Aluminium from Crucial Trading. And we spent a lot of time at the lovely cottage in Cheshire, installing it across many rooms in the home, including several bedrooms. A lot of our time was spent getting the subfloor absolutely perfect in readiness for the sisal. Because sisal can and does shrink, we took steps to prep the floor beneath the carpet to counteract any shrinkage. We also used a double stick gluing method to ensure the sisal would not budge. It took a while, but the result across the many rooms, was well worth it. Check out our Reels on Instagram to see the steps we took and the finished sisal in the bedrooms.
 

Herringbone
Whether it’s carpet or hard floor, the herringbone pattern remains as popular as ever in flooring. We did a wealth of herringbone installations throughout 2023. With our LVT floor jobs, a high percentage of them were laid to a herringbone pattern. Amtico LVT was popular in both large and small parquet herringbone formats. Likewise, the herringbone laying pattern proved popular with our engineered wood Ted Todd floors.
And there was a lot of herringbone with the carpet jobs we did too. We saw the most interest for herringbone carpets on the stairs, as well as in bedrooms. Carpets brands such as fibre with their fibre wool herringbone collection was popular, as much as Alternative iconic wool herringbone. There was a lot of interest in herringbone in faux sisal too, with the Unnatural Flooring products. And it was a real pleasure, towards the end of the year, to lay the beautiful Jacaranda Natural Weave Herringbone carpet in cottage bedrooms in Cheshire.
From floors to carpets, there were so many herringbone jobs to share. Take a look at our Instagram to see more. Meanwhile, here’s a snapshot of some of our favourites…
 

Here is that Jacaranda Natural Weave Herringbone carpet which we installed in bedrooms at a cottage in Nantwich. This beautiful carpet with its herringbone pattern is made from over 99% natural materials, including 100% pure NZ wool. Being a wool based carpet, as well as being hardwearing, it’s incredibly soft and comfortable to walk on – the perfect bedroom carpet.
 

Here’s another example of the Unnatural Flooring New England Woodstock look-a-like sisal floorcovering, which we featured earlier as one of the stair runners we did. Well, this is the same property in Didsbury where we laid the stair runner. We also installed the sisal effect floorcovering as a full width carpet in another of the rooms. As well as looking sensational with its herringbone pattern, this carpet is incredibly practical being strong, water resistant and easy to wet clean!
 

When it comes to the wood floors we have laid this year – we have done a lot of herringbone. This one is an example of beautiful French Oak luxury with the Ted Todd Champagney Herringbone floor in the Aged Collection. The floor has been expertly crafted, made by hand in the Ted Todd Cheshire workshops. And such luxurious floors as this require the very best expertise in wood floor fitting, which we can deliver. Making sure the room conditions are right, and the sub floor is perfect, are all crucial to ensuring a long lasting wood floor.
 

This Amtico Spacia job in Hale required a lot of small parquet tile fitting, all in a herringbone pattern! But before doing that we focused a lot of effort on the subfloor as the room has underfloor heating. It was vital we encapsulated the underfloor heating expertly and we did so using 10mm of fibre smoothing screed. You can also see the level of detail that went into this job when you look seamless bully nosing we installed to the bullnose of the raised area.
The floor you can see here is the popular Amtico Spacia Traditional Oak small parquet.
 

Faux silk
At the turn of 2023, we were installing faux silk carpets of one style or another nearly every other week! This has tailed off a little, but the demand for the softest, silk-like carpets remains popular. We are well-positioned to be able to offer customers a great choice of faux silk – we even launched a new offering with the Artisan Luxury Flooring faux silk carpet in 2023. But as well as the vast selection of faux silks we can provide, we are also very experienced at fitting these carpets. Faux silk carpets are another style of carpet which also require a little extra detail and expertise. Here are some of the faux silks we installed in 2023, from a range of different carpet brands…
 

If you’ve visited The Downs in Altrincham recently, you might have noticed that the former bank there is now a flagship showroom for the luxury interior experience that is NEÜ Projects. Well, we were selected by NEÜ to install luxury carpets and rugs throughout their stunning showroom.
The carpet you can see here which we installed across the hall, stairs, landing and dressing room within the luxury interior experience is the Elements London Symphony carpet in colour Appletini. The Symphony collection is the epitome of elegance and decadence with its TekSilk luxury cut pile. Perfect for bedrooms, lounges and areas where the absolute maximum of luxury is sought.
 

This is the velvety soft Seta faux silk carpet in colour Parma, fitted by our expert team in the luxury bedrooms and dressing room of this Bowdon property. This particular sophisticated faux silk is one of the new ranges we have available, from Artisan Luxury Carpets, who we started working with this year. Their collections feature high-quality, super soft carpets all in a selection of versatile neutral shades.
 

Traditional oak tones
We might have seen the end of the ‘grey effect’ in homes in 2023, with more customers opting for richer, natural oak tones with their floors. Whether it is with LVT or engineered wood, we are seeing a growing interest in the more traditional oak colours for open plan kitchens, hallways, and other spaces where a hard floor is wanted. The beauty of a typical oak colour is that it is so versatile, working well with both modern and classic interiors. With these oaks you can’t go wrong. Here are some examples showcasing Amtico and Ted Todd floors in rich oak tones, which we installed this year within Cheshire homes.
 

This is a recent engineered wood floor installation we did across several rooms at a home in Northwich. Once again, before installing the floor itself there lots of preparation work was needed to get the sub floor ready for a wood floor installation. This included removing the laitance from the builder’s screed before applying a DPM and our own screed. We also removed the old skirting boards and replaced them with new ones. The floor you can see here, which has been laid to a herringbone pattern is the Ted Todd Warehouse Sugar Cane parquet, a floor full of natural characteristics and with a lovely undulating natural oak.
 

A popular wood effect Amtico LVT for us this year has been the Amtico Form Rural Oak floor which comes in a choice of laying patterns from parquet to straight plank. And with the parquet, there is the option for a basketweave pattern as you can see here, which we have expertly installed across the hallway of this Cheshire home. Rural Oak has lovely golden honey tones, perfect for adding a sense of warmth to any space. And being an LVT floor, it’s incredibly practical too! 
 

Bespoke rugs
We put a stamp on another of our business offerings this year, with lots of bespoke rugs being made and delivered to our customers across Cheshire and South Manchester. You might not know but as well as carpets and floors, you can buy stocked rugs from our flooring showroom, as well as have your own made to measure rugs designed and made. For example, we have all the Louis de Poortere rugs on display in our Knutsford shop, as well as the luxurious Jacaranda rugs. We even sell our own range of rugs under our sister company name: talkrugs.
And as much as we can help our customers create a stair runner, we can also help you make any shape, size, texture or colour rug you want. We work with many suppliers to offer you the best rug centre, as well as the highest quality edge finishing of your taste. Here are some examples of the rugs we have made this year…
 

As well as laying Amtico LVT flooring at this Bowdon home, we also had some bespoke rugs made for the owners. This one has been made from the super soft Elements London Manhattan Symphony carpet in colour Mariinsky and it has been finished with a stylish with black faux leather border.
 

Our customer went big, very big, with this superb 3m x 5m bespoke rug for their cinema room at their Hale home. They chose the Alternative Plush Sheer floorcovering in colour Topaz from our Knutsford showroom to create the rug’s centre and it was kept simple with an expertly whipped edge.
 

We hope this blog article gives you some inspiration for the types and styles of floors, carpets, stair runners or even the rugs you might be looking for in 2024. We are already taking bookings for new carpets and floors into the New Year. If you are considering home improvements or a renovation project in 2024, make sure to visit us to get ideas, collect samples, and discuss what you’re looking for! You can find us at one of our Cheshire flooring showrooms here.