
Have you got fitted carpets? We’ve got fitted carpets.” Along with geometric wallpaper and paying for your motor outright, fitted carpets were a symbol of social status in 1970s suburbia, as referenced in Mike Leigh’s classic dark comedy Abigail’s Party almost 50 years ago.
The popularity of carpets, typically made of nylon, acrylic and polyester (for durability), faded when Scandi chic swept across Britain. They were ripped up and tossed out as we sanded and restored original floorboards or splashed out on the engineered version.
But those who love mid-century interiors can rejoice because the fitted carpet is back.
Rebranded as wall-to-wall carpet, it isn’t demure or greige. It is loud, proud and maximalist — a rebellion against the rustic led by designers in London and New York.

For Henry Holland — creator of the fashion label House of Holland and now a ceramicist — the floor is another blank canvas on which to experiment with colour, pattern and texture.
He has swapped a beige stair in his Hackney home for a custom-made swirly brown patterned stair carpet inspired by 1990s rave culture. In the guest bedrooms he has sisal carpets (like seagrass but softer) and oversized rugs in his own.
Holland’s latest collaboration is with east London rug company Floor_Story producing a collection called L’art de la Sol (art for the floor) featuring reimagined, and eccentric, gingham designs.
“After a long period of minimalism, we are moving beyond that and into an era of real individualism,” says Holland.

Creative consultant Max Hurd’s Victorian terraced townhouse in north-west London is a celebration of colour. He pairs a luxurious lavender carpet with berry red walls in a bedroom in the eaves.
As showcased in Homes & Property this spring, DJ Mary Charteris has leopard print carpet in her dressing room in Kensal Rise, as does beauty editor Tish Weinstock in her country residence in Wiltshire.
Heritage carpet company Brintons reports that bold colours have risen in popularity this year, with more customers choosing red, jade and cobalt, with geometric patterns, linear designs and floral motifs.
“After decades in exile, fitted carpets are creeping back into people’s affections,” says interior designer Ed O’Donnell of studio Angel O’Donnell, who is currently designing a carpet from scratch for a client – it is ivory with a double raised border of sage and gold.
“But not the staticky, nylon nightmares of the 1970s and 1980s. People today want wool, jute and bamboo silk. And if the fibres are synthetic, then they must be made from recycled ocean plastics,” he says.

The latest celeb designer to carpet her home is Rose Hanson, who is married to comedian Josh Widdicombe. The couple have just finished renovating their grand Georgian pile in the Cornish village of Mullion, now available to let for holidays through Boutique Retreats.
Hanson, a TV presenter and co-founder of interiors studio Penrose Tilbury, has even freed the carpet from the confines of the bedroom and put a stripy number in the snug.
"I am a big fan of using carpets in rooms where you want to feel cosy. The carpet scene in the UK is definitely on the up and we are getting more and more designs from the US. I have my eye on some gorgeous velvet carpets,” she says.
Wall-to-wall carpets in the main living spaces were never entirely ditched in the very high-end residential enclaves of central London.

Peter Wetherell, founder of estate agent Wetherell, is selling a pad in Eaton Place once owned by Sir Winston Churchill’s daughter Lady Mary Soames. The £4.3 million duplex has a cream carpet running from the living room into the bedrooms.
Another Belgravia property, listed with Beauchamp Estates, has fitted carpets in the bedrooms.
The former home of Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie, with a price tag of £6.95 million, has (again) a cream carpet in the main bedroom suite with a luxurious gold rug piled on top.
According to Wetherell, there is more to it than taste. “If you are living in an apartment or penthouse having fitted carpets is seen as good manners for your neighbours as it helps to reduce noise,” he says.
Of course, children and pets are a big factor in deciding whether to carpet or not, but interior designer Rebecca Hughes believes there are practical pros. She has recently put carpet in the bedrooms of one of the townhouses at Chelsea Barracks.
“Carpets are absolutely having a moment right now. I like to use natural materials like wool. It’s soft, eco-friendly, stain-resistant and flame-retardant,” she explains.
“I love a medium or low pile. They provide softness without the hassle of spending hours trying to clean up spills.”
Carpets are now even being used as headboards and on walls (see fashion designer Harris Reed’s London home for inspiration).
Singer Lily Allen and her actor husband David Harbour shocked the internet after their Brooklyn townhouse was featured in Architectural Digest revealing a carpet surrounding the bath and the basin. Could they make their way back into our bathrooms too?
Holland thinks so. “Why would people want a hard, cold floor in the bathroom?” he asks. “I just saw a renovation in upstate New York with a red carpet in the bathroom. It shouldn’t work ... but it does.”