I used to do the exact same thing with MY Grandparents’ plastic runner! In fact, we had recently found an old one my parents used to have and I couldn’t help but to keep poking the little spikes. Call it nostalgia, call it the need for a specific tactile sensation, whatever it is, it’s oddly satisfying. :)
Man, poking those things?! I was always afraid of them. I’m surprised someone never made a scene in a horror movie where someone gets wrapped up in that thing and dies!
Well, my parents live in a super-old house, and guess what’s happened to the carpets in the areas most traveled? They’re literally threadbare. Gabe’s grandparents likely figured that the hallway, since it led to all the bedrooms, would be heavily traveled and the carpet there would degrade to nothing much quicker than the carpet in the rest of the house. Personally, since the plastic thing is so ugly I would rather just replace the carpet in a decade or two… My parents did a similar thing: They spent a lot to refinish their big dining room table, then covered the top in a plastic sheet and covered that in a tablecloth, to protect it. I asked them why they spent $1000+ to get it redone when they were just going to hide it under plastic and cloth anyway. They got my point though, and half the time now it’s uncovered and quite pretty. Hasn’t been damaged or anything haha
Now, the decades-old plastic furniture skirts in my great-aunt’s house? Pretty sure that was just the plastic craze taking hold of her decorating sensibilities.
Agreed. It’s like you can’t enjoy the thing you are protecting! Carpet isn’t even that expensive either. My grandparents must have been on to something though because that carpet in that hallway lasted 35 years..
man, they had a HALLWAY-lentgh one? yowza.. my grampa only had the small one under the desk in the computer room, it looks positively calcified these days. those thorns are awesome though, feels nice against the skin
I always thought it was funny that people put all this plastic stuff over their carpets or chairs, then you never get to fully embrace your furniture experience, forever separated by plastic! !
My buddy’s mom has her couches coated in plastic. My question is what protects the plastic cover!? It’s been there for about… 15 years. It’s yellow and noisy and cracking all over the place.
Oh yeah we have one of those in our house. Your not kidding about that spiky side, I can’t count the times I’ve always kept accidentally stepping on it barefoot. Yeesh.
One of my grandmothers had plastic on a few of her things, but I never wondered why. She and my grandfather (never met him) lost all of their money in the Depression and after he passed away she had to make do as a single mother. Plastic coating was always cheaper than a new carpet or couch. She wasn’t cheap overall, but if she could take care of things so that they lasted longer, she would.
Of course, my friend’s well-to-do mother basically laminated their living room. I never figured that one out.
For me, I always liked poking the indentations the little spikes made in the carpet. I didn’t have one that went down the hall but I did have one at the computer desk.
I used to do the exact same thing with MY Grandparents’ plastic runner! In fact, we had recently found an old one my parents used to have and I couldn’t help but to keep poking the little spikes. Call it nostalgia, call it the need for a specific tactile sensation, whatever it is, it’s oddly satisfying. :)
Great post!
Man, poking those things?! I was always afraid of them. I’m surprised someone never made a scene in a horror movie where someone gets wrapped up in that thing and dies!
Never coaxed your lil’ brother to play fakir? ;)
LOL, I picked on him, but never did that! :)
I don’t understand the point of those things.
By logic of “to protect the carpet”, why do people have it in the hallway and not the rest of the house too?
What are you protecting the hallway carpet from?
Do you just not want to vacuum the hallway?
(Ranting because I have to put up with one of these in the hallway and my feet stick to it when it’s hot in the house)
Well, my parents live in a super-old house, and guess what’s happened to the carpets in the areas most traveled? They’re literally threadbare. Gabe’s grandparents likely figured that the hallway, since it led to all the bedrooms, would be heavily traveled and the carpet there would degrade to nothing much quicker than the carpet in the rest of the house. Personally, since the plastic thing is so ugly I would rather just replace the carpet in a decade or two… My parents did a similar thing: They spent a lot to refinish their big dining room table, then covered the top in a plastic sheet and covered that in a tablecloth, to protect it. I asked them why they spent $1000+ to get it redone when they were just going to hide it under plastic and cloth anyway. They got my point though, and half the time now it’s uncovered and quite pretty. Hasn’t been damaged or anything haha
Now, the decades-old plastic furniture skirts in my great-aunt’s house? Pretty sure that was just the plastic craze taking hold of her decorating sensibilities.
Agreed. It’s like you can’t enjoy the thing you are protecting! Carpet isn’t even that expensive either. My grandparents must have been on to something though because that carpet in that hallway lasted 35 years..
Maybe they thought the runner’s padding would prevent falls and slips? Those are quite dangerous for senior folks.
I never really understood it either. It’s one of those old people oddities like plastic on the furniture and weird smelling soap.
Yep, or doilies everywhere!
bwahahahahah!
man, they had a HALLWAY-lentgh one? yowza.. my grampa only had the small one under the desk in the computer room, it looks positively calcified these days. those thorns are awesome though, feels nice against the skin
You are a strange person :)
I always thought it was funny that people put all this plastic stuff over their carpets or chairs, then you never get to fully embrace your furniture experience, forever separated by plastic! !
…and it would stick to you!
My buddy’s mom has her couches coated in plastic. My question is what protects the plastic cover!? It’s been there for about… 15 years. It’s yellow and noisy and cracking all over the place.
this shit is like Proust
Thanks!
I used to flip them over as a prank on my cousins when I was a kid
Ouch!
Oh yeah we have one of those in our house. Your not kidding about that spiky side, I can’t count the times I’ve always kept accidentally stepping on it barefoot. Yeesh.
hahaha awesome! the lethal side!!!!
My grandparent’s delightful crimson shag carpeting lives on to this day because of that stuff!
LOL! Long live shag carpeting!
One of my grandmothers had plastic on a few of her things, but I never wondered why. She and my grandfather (never met him) lost all of their money in the Depression and after he passed away she had to make do as a single mother. Plastic coating was always cheaper than a new carpet or couch. She wasn’t cheap overall, but if she could take care of things so that they lasted longer, she would.
Of course, my friend’s well-to-do mother basically laminated their living room. I never figured that one out.
For me, I always liked poking the indentations the little spikes made in the carpet. I didn’t have one that went down the hall but I did have one at the computer desk.