Aw, Cahill, what a disappointment ... I'm so sorry. I'm relatively new here, but for what it's worth, here are my thoughts.

I can't see the actual color, of course, what colors your walls are, and you don't mention any other considerations such as whether this darkens the rooms to an undesirable degree, but I'd try to work with it. At least it sounds like it won't show the first speck of dirt or lint. Depending on the brown, it might work beautifully with many colors (I love blue and brown together, so soothing) ... take a look at soft materials - curtains, bed coverings, pillows, wallpaper - and pictures to get ideas and see if you can find something to pull the colors together. Take a close look around and you might find subtle browns that you previously or otherwise might overlook in many patterns. Perhaps a lighter-colored area rug somewhere in the room that complements both the brown and the wall color.

Maybe (I'm being really optimistic here) if your husband sees how hard you're trying and how well you're doing with most of the rooms, he'll be more amenable to repainting one that really just isn't working, rather than replacing the carpet ... I surely would. Paint is a lot less expensive than carpet, and not such a long-term investment as carpet.

Good luck!

Diane

We had the same thing happen with what appeared to be a light beige looking much darker when it was installed. Fortunately for us, our carpet installer offered to buy the carpet from us for about half what we paid for it and not to charge us for removal and the new installation. We sold it to him and got different carpet. So while it was a "loss" we were able to minimize it. Maybe your installer or the carpet store would be willing to make you a deal (they resell it as a remnant).

Large area rugs?

Just out of curiosity, is there a reason you can't paint?

I would also talk to the carpet people. If you're horribly unhappy, you're never going to learn to like it. What you'll recall, whether you speak with them or not, is where you got it...

For your next carpet, try going to a store like Home Depot or other places that sell inexpensive area rugs. Find one that matches your sample, buy it, take it home and spread it out. It's going to change colors under your lighting conditions, too. You can always return the area rug....

Of course, before you do this, you could ask the carpet people if they've installed your (new) chosen piece and if they have a remnant you could look at in your own home.

Drag. Truly, at least with paint you can just redo it. But in your case, would your curtains, bedding or furniture, etc., now look icky? Don't try to match your home to something you just plain don't like.

I'm lucky. I pick a paint or something and my general contractor husband says, "That's gonna look like xxxx." And darn him and bless his soul, he's always right.
Christine

There's no way I'd replace a carpet rather than re-painting.

We are in an apartment awaiting our remodeled house. It has brownish carpet; we just threw oriental rugs down.
In your case pastel walls wouldn't have gone with the lighter brown carpets either. Repaint, or wallpaper over. Good luck.

I had the exact opposite happen. Looked at a carpet that looked to be a mediumish beige color (yes, in the 3x3 sample), had it installed and it was a very light beige/gold color. I was horrified having with 2 kids and carpet in the heavily used family room and up the steps and in the hallway. I knew the carpet would be a mess in no time. We moved 1 1/2 years later and the carpet still looked great, but everyone took their shoes off. The people that bought the house have 2 dogs...I often wonder what that carpet looks like now. I'd be thankful the carpet was a little darker than light!!! When I shopped for carpet for my new house, I took the sample of the carpet from my old house as a "don't buy this color" sample. It would be a shame to replace such nice carpet with cheap stuff. I'd try to live with it at least for a few years. Just my opinion.

I had the same experience.

I needed carpet for the guest room and picked a color that wouldn't show dirt, but I've ended up with DIRT-colored carpet. Waah. I should have gone with the expensive leopard-spotted pattern I really wanted.

If it still bothers you after a month or two, I'd go ahead and repaint the rooms, with or without hubby's okay.

Have you checked into dyeing the carpet? I've never had it done myself, but have discussed with people who have. It may be cheaper than ripping out and replacing it with a lesser quality carpet. Worth checking on I would think in your situation.

Ditto, busymom2006. Duing our remodal there have been several choices I lost sleep over only to find that after I lived with it and decorated around it, it all looked pretty good. My latest was the outside house color. I thought it was a sage green but it turned out to be MUCH lighter and yellower. I was sooooo mad at myself. I hated it. But now, after hanging black shutters and living with it for a month, I like the color. It looks bright and cheery.
I hope you'll end up liking your carpet. Give it a chance.

Dyeing carpet is pretty ropey and at best last resort - don't do it to perfectly good carpet - and your choices are limited. Darker colours - blue, anyone? That seems the most popular or 'successful' - if you hate your carpet now, wait til you see it dyed.

Paint the rooms - easy peasy, problem solved.

This sounds familiar. I spent months selecting new carpet, endless samples narrowing to exactly the right color, and finally came to a decision. When it was installed in the entire house to my horror instead of the lovely flesh tone I'd thought it was, it looked pink. Ack! I hate pink. I sat right down and cried. About an hour later my mom walked in the door and said- Oh! this is beautiful. She assured me it wasn't as pink as I thought and I started to feel better and then when the furniture went in, it looked great, in fact I actually loved it. Color intensifies color, so large expanses look much more dramatic, when you break it up with your furniture much of the color will be covered, bringing it closer to the smaller sample you had, and you may find it's really just fine.