For any of you who don’t have carpet on your stairs, what do you have? The stairs are the only carpet we have in the house and no matter how often I clean them they are not very clean or fresh looking.

I need something that is not slippy due to the dogs using them but we live in the countryside where there are no pavements and life is permanently muddy. We have an upstairs living room so not letting the dogs upstairs isn’t possible. It is a new build house so there are no nice floorboards hiding under the carpet.  Thanks.

No, but you should choose a mud-coloured/dog hair coloured carpet

I knew I'd bookmarked this thread which came up in this forum in 2013 (!) https://forum.champdogs.co.uk/topic_show.pl?tid=140179.  I hope it helps.

I have carpet and chose a cream one and great as it is the dogs who don't go up very often has still got stains on it and isnt easy to clean, hoover yes but not clean.

I cant see lino looking good, i would prefer wood. Not sure karndean would work on stairs?  Wood could be slippery too. Ive seen a client of mine paint her wooden floors and it took less than a month to be worn down and looking like it would need repainting again

You can lay laminate on  stairs but I guess it would need a professional to do unless u are very clever.
Something like a non slip vinyl runner if u can still buy the right width for stairs. Using rods to hold it down

I went as close as I could gundogs  .two black dogs so went for a dark charcoal grey carpet and light coloured decor.tiled in the kitchen one row above biggest dog in areas dogs rub against .works brilliantly. Except I can still see the ginger cat :)

Our stair carpet is a sort of tan colour with a fleck in it. It’s not far off the same colour as mud crossed with GR hair colour. It’s been a good colour to have as it doesn’t show mucky paws too much so we have the same colour in the hall and dining area of the kitchen diner

Looks like no real viable options to carpet that will look ok and not potentially be dangerous for the dogs. Sue, I shudder at the thought of cream carpets in this house as there are no pavements anywhere and we live in year round mud. It’s a textured beige nondescript carpet at the moment but the youngest dog has eaten chunks of it when he was teething.

With one Black and Tan dog and one blue roan and tan I’m not sure if there’s any colour of carpet that would hide the horrors it would be exposed to.

Im rural too and surrounded by fields its constant mud and dust.. cream started off a good idea but a few years now and it needs changing. Dogs never went upstairs really but hair still travels and im not the best at always removing muddy boots

Lol, I never remember I have dirty shoes on until I get to the top of the stairs. I had cream carpets upstairs in my old house and one my my dogs would only vomit on carpet and used to belt upstairs to be sick on my Bonny cream carpets.  I was thinking of a tweed effect carpet but really hoped there was a viable alternative to carpet. Would you replace them with more cream?

No i wouldn't have cream again.
They are wooden stairs so would need someone in to sand and stain them or replace them with new wooden steps, finances permitting.
Or it would have to be a dark flecked carpet. I have a nice deep purple carpet in my hallway would do ok i think, i want that removed and vinyl put down. Karndean is too much hassle with lifting everything ip woodwork

Ali-t grey clothing is about the only thing I can wear that doesn't show the dog hair too badly (2 red/white dogs, 1 black/white, 1 cream/gold) so grey carpets might be possible?

Might have to be grey veering towards charcoal.

Mine is charcol and is very forgiving. I know it must be grubby but doesn't appear so a family 3 dogs and two cats does that
even if we mostly remove shoes
.i have it professionally cleaned every so often

Live in a bungalow(single storey) - perfect answer.

As for carpet colour - with my tricolours you takes your pick although for sure, the white hairs show up more than the black or brown.    I found a mottled 'honey-colour' worked best.   Or of course a good old 60s type pattern which aren't in vogue these days.   We had a kitchen with greyish blue lino-tiles (or similar) which was soooo good with the general traffic.   I'd have that colour again in the heart-beat.

Went carpet shopping today and am going for a mid grey charcoal shade which is cheap enough to change regularly if it ends up destroyed by the dogs. Thanks for everyone’s input.

> Might have to be grey veering towards charcoal.

In my bedroom I have a colour called burnt chocolate and it hides everything.

Very much like this: https://www.onlinecarpets.co.uk/carpets/colour/brown-carpets/noble-steed-saxon-king-carpet.html or this https://www.onlinecarpets.co.uk/carpets/colour/brown-carpets/coffee-brown-97-quality-saxony-shag-pile.html

I have to do stairs and landing and will try and find something similar.

Barbara, we are getting similar to a charcoal version of that one fitted on Friday. Thanks everyone for the suggestions.