70s shag carpet: Get cozy with this deep & plush vintage decor trend - Click Americana (2024)

• Categories:1960s, 1970s, Featured stories, Vintage advertisem*nts,

• By The Click Americana Team
• Added or last updatedMay 15, 2024

Bounce shag carpet. When you step on it, it won’t lay down and die. (1969)

Some shags have a very short life expectancy. You see, that thick pile of theirs makes them extremely vulnerable. And after a while, the crush of feet and couches and piano legs and coffee tables finally does them in.

But that’s why we made Bounce. To bounce back. This carpet is made with Du Pont 100% continuous filament nylon. Now nylon has long been famous for its toughness and resiliency. But this nylon is especially tough.

Even Junior’s lead foot won’t get it down. What’s more, it’s easy to clean, it’s moth-proof, it’s non-allergenic, and it won’t mildew. Bounce comes in your choice of 21 different colors and patterns. So if you want a shag that won’t lay down and die, visit a dealer and ask to see Bounce. The carpet that’s almost immortal.

Home decorating report from 1970: Shag carpet growing in popularity

By Josephine Novak, The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland) June 23, 1970

Chicago — The carpet story at the Summer 1970 Home Furnishings Market was shag, shag, shag in a multitude of forms, but with bouncier colors and more interesting textures and originality in designs than ever before.

Among the new offerings were long and lush shags, shorties, printed shags, shag squares, two-height shags, some with tri-color or four-color looks, and even one in a 4-inch pile with the texture of corded wire.

There were many dramatic variations. As for new introductions in general, the word was that the floor covering industry showed more innovative products at this market than at any other midyear showing in history.

Novelties noted

These included printed carpets designed for kitchens and baths, and a carpet designed to run up walls and cover the ceilings. Nylon continues to be the manufacturer’s favorite fiber, with acrylics following closely.

The new colors are dazzling. Carpet stylist Milo Winter has a word for them. He says they have “good vibrations.” Mr. Winter was responsible for coloring an accent rug’ called “I Am Curious, Dorian,” an addition to the Lees signature collection. The hues in this rug are brilliant tones of orange, hot pink, lime, lemon and purple.

“We are seeing fresh, exciting and stimulating colors in new carpets today,” the stylist said. “And this is true to a greater extent than at any time I can remember.

Brighter color

“Solid colors are brighter and lighter, but the colors that really sing are the combinations of hues you find in the new shags.”

Nylon plushes abounded at the market in fashion colors such as olive, avocado, antique gold, tangerine, royal blue, ivory, pink, ebony, sunflower and scarlet.

Aware that the high cost of professional carpet installation makes do-it-yourself popular with the consumer, manufacturers brought out a rash of new shag carpet tiles.

One company introduced a complete line of do-it-yourself carpet and rug items, including 12-inch square shag tiles, 8-foot by 10-foot shag carpet with built-in cushion pad, and 8-foot by 10-foot kitchen carpet with an installation kit in the package.

Name gamut

The shag rug, in vivid colors, is called Somethin’ Shaggy and the nylon tiles, Sha-gees. Other firms are calling their new nylon shag tiles of various types Shageze, Shagettes, Shag Pack, Modushag and Shag Floor 12.

Some are 18-inch squares, others 12 — with self-adhesive backing in a choice of colors. They sell for under $1 a square foot.

Introducing the romantic shag rug. Sears calls it Kismet.

Now Sears teaches the bold shag rug the art of romance. A secret blend of four tones creates a haunting new color you’ve never seen before.

There’s Kismet in moss. Glints of olive, gold, green and brown. Or Kismet in a rich rouge of gold tones. Discover your Kismet in any of ten never-before colors.

You can order Kismet in any size, any shape. Oval, round, rectangular, or to the exact dimensions of your own room. And every rug bordered with lush hand-knotted fringe.

With all its beauty, Kismet is amazingly practical, because Sears, Roebuck and Co. has it made of one hundred percent nylon pile. Deep, thick and furiously resistant to soil and stains.

Come in or call us for shop-at-home service. But let us warn you: one look of what this fascinating beauty does for your room, and you will never settle for a plain old rug again. Because this is more than a rug. It’s Kismet.

14 colors of vintage 70s Sun King shag carpets by Lees

Color-splashed and interestingly textured, Sun King gives you the look you want today. Sophisticated yet practical. Lees makes Sun King of tough, stain-resistant 100% nylon pile.

So it can take the kids, pets, parties, spills — and bounce back for more. Like all Lees Body Shags, Sun King’s lush, dense pile firmly resists crushing. Lees heat sets the twist

This is one time you should put your foot down! (1970)

For a wonderful feeling! The soft feel of World’s Golden Touch. Feet love to get lost in a shag this luxurious.

People love to find out it’s so practical. That’s because World really cares what’s going on underfoot. So we make this wild and wooly texture of Kodel polyester! In the widest range of colors. All as exciting as this Reef Blue!

It’s time you put your foot down in this World! It’ll make your world a lot softer.

… Ten thrilling steps for womankind!

You have to see …touch and walk on this luxuriously different shag carpet by Patcraft in order to enjoy its beauty and the delight of the deep, deep permanently textured nylon pile.

Beautiful, glowing “soul” colors and textural beauty are locked in to stay through the modern miracles of heat and chemistry.

The long staple yarns make it look clean and stay clean longer. Silky hard finishes lessen annoying fuzzing and pilling, and the built-in resiliency, like a tempered spring, prevents matting.

“DASHING TIMES” — the shag carpet that boasts nylon for strength … modern engineering for long life … and Patcraft for fashion and beauty. Patcraft Mills, Inc., Dalton, Georgia.

Dan River announces carpet

Gorgeous carpet… of DuPont nylon. In every texture, every color, every sensible price. Just as you’d expect.

Some carpets just aren’t made for butterfingers. (1970)

“Butterfinger” is a term of endearment used to describe those among us whose fingers are not, in any meaningful sense, connected to their brain. They drop things. And if anything small enough is dropped on our carpet, forget it. It’s lost.

On the other hand, where a rich, thick carpet might be bad for fumbling fingers, it’s not bad for the feet. A Jorges carpet made of Encron polyester by American Enka, is so thickly piled, rich, soft, warm, and plushy, its scandalous.

Which, by the way, is the name. Scandalous. And to make decorating a pleasure, it comes in a beautiful array of House & Garden colors.

All in all, because a Jorges Scandalous carpet of Encron polyester is probably the plushiest around for the money, it’s a pleasure to have, to look at, and to walk on.

But if you happen to be one of the lovable people whose fingers we referred to earlier, beware. You may be spending an immoderate amount of time on your hand and knees, searching for the escapee of the moment. It’s like looking for a tie tack in a carpet.

The Shag of any color. (1970)

The name is Sears Matchmate. The pile is Celanese Fortrer polyester. The price, under $10 a square yard. And the color — any color you want!

You need new carpeting. You have your heart set on a lush, thick shag. But you’re on a budget, and besides, you can’t even find exactly the right color for your room.

Well, now you can have the carpeting you want. Sears Matchmate Shags are here. The largest collection of colors ever offered in one shag carpeting. Fifty decorator colors… dyed deep into a specially dense Celanese Fortrel polyester fiber that wears well, cleans beautifully.

But those fifty colors are just the start. Because, if one of our fifty Matchmate colors still isn’t just what you need, bring in the color you want. And we’ll dye your shade at no extra cost. That’s right — your color or ours — Sears, Roebuck and Co. will charge under $10 a square yard. For the shag of any color!

Bigelow creates “Serena” in a new thickness for nylon

You’d swear it was customed-colored shag for half the price.

Out: Blah colors. In: Bold, exciting colors. (1972)

Better still, two or three exciting colors mixed together. Mixed, here, in a carpet Lees calls “Bewitching.”

Lees has taken DuPont’s lush Dacron polyester fiber and made it into a Body Shag. What’s a Body Shag? Not one of those old, long, limp shags. But a thick, healthy, plushy one.

Now, if you’re still a bit scared of those glorious color mixtures, consider this: They’re more practical — show dirt less — than the old, drab, “safe” colors…There are 20 “Bewitching” colors. Plunge in.

Out: Grandma’s carpet patterns. In: Never-before carpet designs like this one.

… Because more than tastes have changed since your Grandma’s day. Lifestyles have changed.

Armstrong Utmost: The luscious shag carpet in 20 delicious flavors

ALSO SEE:

Fair & warmer nylon carpet from Berven (1972)

FAIR AND WARMER is carpet richly deserving its name! We could fashion the same premium nylon into carpet for a bit less, but, then, it wouldn’t be FAIR AND WARMER!

Unique styling and quality details would be missing. The provocative combination of plump and slender yarns with twists that stay twisted and bouncy… colors spiced by Varidye… Each represents the extra steps Berven takes to make highly serviceable carpet richly beautiful. Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be?

Next dance carpet from Berven (1972)

Amtico Vynon shag carpeting (1970)

Vynon shag carpet in smashing colors possible only in this deep, dense polyester. Now you see why only one carpet can touch our vinyl…

This is the jungle: Side view of high-pile shag rug

Platform bed with a bright yellow thick shag carpet (1976)

Unique low seating for a dining area, with mottled shag carpet (1970)

• Categories: 1960s, 1970s, Featured stories, Vintage advertisem*nts,
• Tags: 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, carpet, colors, flooring, home decor, home improvement, interior design, rugs, sears
• Added or last updatedMay 15, 2024
• Comments: 5 Comments