What started out as a couple of small upgrades to the family and dining room in my home has crept upstairs to the shower and dressing areas, bedroom and landing at the top of the stairs. So far, all the tile work and plumbing are done; glass enclosure and new vanity in the dressing area should both be completed within the next 10 days and floor tile is down everywhere it's supposed to go. All that's left is the painting and maybe French doors to replace the current slider leading to the balcony.

BUT I'M STUCK at the next step, with no one whose opinion I value more than members of this forum!

The problem: Choosing a product and color for carpeting in the bedroom— which is a bigger challenge than it might sound. As one who never seems to march in step with the band, I just pulled down the gorgeous, still serviceable foil wallpaper we had hung when the upstairs floor of our home was added approx. 12-15 year ago. (Foil wasn't quite in vogue then and has just made a comeback, which is why I describe myself as out-of-step.) Painter is scheduled to replace it with gray and silver venetian plaster next week.

Since our bedroom is pretty large by comparison, instincts tell me painting it gray as well would make it more dreary than restful, so I've decided to keep it white (like all the other walls on both floors— except a small sage green wall, in our family room, downstairs) . . . High, open beam bedroom ceiling is already stained brown (to match wall-to-wall cupboards and vanity cabinet in the dressing area) and wall behind the headboard is still the same suede-like brown wallpaper we started out with.

To unify all of the above areas plus the stair-top landing leading into the bedroom, I replaced all the existing tile and carpeting with new medium gray 12" x 24" floor tiles — tiling only the perimeter of the bedroom, in order to carpet the rest of the room.

Finding a carpet style was relatively easy. I loved our shag carpeting in the 70s, and it seemed the perfect choice for the bedroom now. My dilemma: Which one?

At the moment I have at least 1/2 dozen samples of Shaw's Tuftex Bling . . . and only a few less of Swag. Of those, I think I've also narrowed down my choice (at least for today) to Bling (Micro Gray/ top photo) and Swag (Silver Charm). Difference between the two products is a thicker yarn for Bling (which, especially in other colors reminds me of the tousled hair of my sons in the morning, when they were young — and a thinner, slightly shorter pile for Swag, which feels more plush and looks a little more conservative to me.

Except for thickness, the main fiber in both samples seems to be the identical gray. But Bling's complimentary colors (silver and almost pewter gray) make it look a little less "tousled" than the thread combinations of other samples. Complimentary colors in Swag (copper, gold and darker brown) give it a slightly richer appearance. . . . Sorry. Looks like I just used up my allotted space.