PART I
Published Friday the 26th November 2019
Over the next three months, we explore the A to Z of Archway Carpets. Will be looking at the carpet and flooring brands we work with; our ever-growing box set of Carpet Guy videos; charity walks, and a Star Wars rug competition.
Without further a do, we start, funnily enough, with…
A
A is for Archway, the place we call home and the Archway in Archway Carpets. It used to be the trade entrance for the old convent that was at No.2 Church St. Our home is protected which means we can only paint it in Suffolk yellow - which we're more than happy to do.
The Arch in Archway Carpets
B
B is for Brockway Carpets. We've enjoyed a good relationship with Brockway over the years and like us, they are a family run business. They are based in Kidderminster in the West Midlands, and Archway Carpets' owner Darrell Smith has visited their factory which you can read about here.
Natural Tweed by Brockway Carpets
B also stands for a BBC interview. Every so often Darrell finds himself on local radio, BBC Radio Suffolk. The last time was back in June talking about, at the time, the upcoming Orwell Challenge. It was part of a broader initiative called #35for35 to celebrate our 35 years in business. In acknowledging this milestone, Darrell, along with Jo Revitt Of the Papworth Trust came up with the idea of carrying our 35 acts of kindness for five charities over a year.
Today’s special guest is…
C
C is for Carpets. It couldn't be for anything else given it, along with flooring, is central to what we do. We've been selling carpets here in Woodbridge for 35 years. In April we celebrated our 35th birthday with a party at the shop which was an opportunity to bring together suppliers, friends and family.
They Say It’s Your Birthday!
C is also for Cavalier Carpets, Cormar Carpets and Crucial Trading who we’ve enjoyed working with for a few years now.
The three C’s of Carpets: Cavalier, Cormar & Crucial
D
D is for Desso. Along with working in residential, we also work with commercial customers too. Usually, this means finding a suitable flooring solution for an office or retail space. Back in July, we asked What Colour is Your Office Carpet? Often, office or workspace carpets can be a little dull. The good thing about companies like Desso is that they challenge this misconception head-on by creating some of the most colourful carpet tiles you're ever likely to see at work.
Making an impression: Desso
E
E is for Ed Sheeran who is of course closely associated with Suffolk as he spent his formulative years growing up over in Framlingham. And it was on the night of the 24th August that Darrell, and his wife Vicki, got to see our Ed at Chantry Park.
Our Ed
F
F is for flooring. We are, of course, Archway Carpets, but we often get asked if we do other floorings too. The short answer is yes (we are looking to address this over the coming weeks so please stay tuned by signing up to our email alerts). We also sell a lot of vinyl flooring. It's a great alternative to carpets, particularly in areas of the home with a lot of traffic. It comes in a range of styles, including natural stones and woods; modern linear designs, or even as a traditional tile. For more details please visit our vinyl section of our site.
Lifestyle Floors: Baroque Lisbon
G
G is for Graham Smith and The Carpet Guy. Thirty-five years ago, Darrell's father, Graham, started Archway Carpets. He had previously worked in the carpet department at the old Co-op on Carr St in Ipswich. Feeling he could do a better job of meeting customer's needs, he set up on his own and secured the shop at 7 Church St, Woodbridge. That was 1984, and 35 years later we are still at the same address. Reflecting on his three and half decades in business, Graham said: "To carry on for that length of time, you must be doing something right". Read more about this in our blog They Say It's Your Birthday.
Darrell & Graham Smith at the shop
G is also for the Guy in Carpet Guy. In 2018, we took the decision to create a video each month to allow Darrell to get in front of the camera and talk about carpets and flooring. One of the main reasons for this was knowing that, for some customers, buying a carpet or flooring can be a daunting experience. There are literally hundreds and thousands of colours and styles to choose from even before deciding whether you need a wool or synthetic carpet. The aim of making our videos is to offer help and guidance to ensure you receive your very own flooring luxury.
Darrell Smith is The Carpet Guy
H
H is for Heavily Patterned Carpets. Remember those heavily patterned carpets your nan used to have? Well, they are back on trend, and we covered in Carpet Guy 2 back in October 2018. In this video, The Carpet Guy, also takes us through tartan carpets.
Tonka toys on your Nan’s carpet
That brings us to the end of our first instalment. We’ve hope you’ve enjoyed our very subjective run through the alphabet, We’ll be back next month for Part 2 (of 3).
PART II
Published Friday the 10th January 2020
I
I is for in-home consultation. At Archway Carpets, they are completely free and come with absolutely no obligation. Whether you are a young family, a business or looking to carpet a rental property, we make it easy for you. By visiting the home or workplace, and by asking questions, we can understand how the carpet or flooring is to be used. We bring a range of samples and can more often than not give you an idea of cost on the day. We know buying a carpet or flooring is a big decision and one that most people like to mull over. So we leave the information with you to decide in your own time with no pushy follow-ups.
In-home, in-work consultations
J
J is for JHS. Joseph, Hamilton and Seaton Carpets are just one of the commercial flooring brands we work with. JHS Carpets provide flooring for hotels, restaurants and the medical/nursing home sector. Now, you would expect your workplace carpet, or flooring, to be some shade of grey (we tackled this in What Colour is Your Office Carpet).
Making a statement at reception
JHS however, have very different thoughts on the subject. Their Tretford carpet tiles come in 50 colours – half of which are in a range of vibrant colours. It means you can let your creativity loose and create whatever pattern, or colour scheme in your workplace. Do you want to create different areas in an open-plan office by laying down different coloured tiles, or do you want to make a bold statement in the reception area? Archway Carpets and JHS Carpets are here to make that happen.
K
K is for Kingsmead Carpets. They have been making carpets for over 40 years. They manufacture all types and qualities of tufted products produced in wool, wool mix and man-made fibres. Late last summer (2019), The Carpet Guy covered Kingsmead, while on location (up the road). In the video, he takes us through their Berber Trio "which is a fantastic wool loop mixed carpet."
Darrell, up the road
L
Now L is for Lego. Yes, Lego; the Danish interlocking plastic brick company. It is a departure from flooring, of course; however, both Darrell and Jason from Marketing are big fans. You will from time to time see some reference to it pop up like here on Archway’s Twitter. They each played with Lego when younger and have experienced a renaissance of sorts by buying Lego for their sons. It is up for debate who is enjoying it more? Then there are the films: Lego Movie; Lego Movie 2 and the rather excellent Batman Lego Movie which are well worth a watch. Everything is well and truly awesome when it comes to Lego. It's the gift that keeps on giving, generation after generation.
WARNING: This song will stay in your head for a long time
M
M is for monochrome, which is a design consisting of or displaying images in black and white or in varying tones of only one colour. It was the subject of the Carpet Guy's third video back in 2018 (The Return of Carpet Guy). In the video, Darrell looks through a range of carpets that utilises this colour scheme. There are tartans, patterns and bold designs for all areas of the house.
It's black, it's white
N
N is for Namgrass who make artificial grass. In 2019, Darrell a client enquired if we could supply artificial grass to go on a cruise ship. Researching the market, Darrell found this company who, like any good flooring company, provides a diverse range of coverings. These include putting green grass to luxuriously thick grass for families and pets to play on. So if you're sick and tired of cutting the grass, join the No Mow revolution and call us now!
The No Mow Revolution
O
O is for the Orwell Challenge. It's a walk arranged by the Rotary Club of Ipswich East and is an annual event open to walkers and runners, and has three principal routes for walkers and trail runners of 13, 19 or 25 miles. Darrell, was joined his good friends David Burke, Charlotte Bullard, and Jason from Marketing. It was part of the previously mentioned #35for35, the initiative to carry out 35 acts of kindness over 2019 and 2020 to celebrate Archway's 35 years in business.
More images of the day are available here
On a warm June day, our intrepid team set off on a walk which turned out to be over 14 miles! It was a lot of fun, with no injuries except for a few achy muscles over the following day or two. In total, the Archway Carpets team managed to raise £575.00 for the Papworth Trust.
P
This brings us nicely on to P for the Papworth Trust who support disabled people with a range of high-quality services to help them lead independent lives. Jo Revitt is the Corporate Partnership Fundraiser at the charity. Over the last seven years, Jo has worked tirelessly building relationships with individuals and organisations throughout Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire.
Jo Revitt (in front of Darrell) with the Orwell Challenge Team
Q
Q is for Quality. Quality in all areas of the business, particularly when it comes to our customer service and the products we work with. We take great pride in how we look after our customers throughout the whole carpet and flooring purchasing process. It does not end when we fit the carpet. We are on hand afterwards to offer help and guidance and deal with any issues.
Darrell & Graham Smith
R
R is for red wine: the nemesis of carpets along with the three other horseman blood, coffee, and tea. Each can wreak havoc on a carpet, and together they apocalyptic. Back in October 2019, we published Seven Carpet Care Tips You Can't Do Without. In it, we considered how best to deal the above while also sharing tips on keeping your carpet heavenly.
$#?T!
PART III
Published Friday the 17th February 2020
S
“Never, I’ll never turn to the Dark Side”
S is for Star Wars: the film phenomenon that started in 1977, which continues to this day. It has outlived childhoods, and now as adults, we are older than Luke Skywalker and Han Solo – who appeared so old back then. Along with Lego, Star Wars is another favourite in the Smith household. In fact, Darrell has brought his love of Star Wars and Lego together with a very special collection:
The Millennium Falcon
Imperial Star Destroyer
Tie Fighter
X-Wing
AT-AT (the four-legged vehicle introduced in Empire Strikes Back)
ATST (the two-legged version from Return of the Jedi)
Speeder Bike from the same film.
Clone Trooper Transporter Slave One (Bobba Fett's ship)
Jabba's Sail Barge
Tantive IV
If that wasn't enough, Darrell also owns two apparently rare Star Wars Lego items. They are a TS16 which is Luke's training ship on Tatooine and a Tie Fighter Tank. The latter is exactly as it sounds: a Tie Fighter with tank tracks - which has yet to be seen on film!
But where is the connection to carpet and flooring you ask?
A rug competition it is
A good question, it is. In the summer of last year (2019) we ran the Star Wars rug competition A Rug Competition It Is. We asked how many parsecs it took the Millennium Falcon to complete the Kessel run. The answer is 12. A Mandi Cox-Osborne got the correct answer and came into collect said rug in September.
T
T is for Textfelt. If you haven't heard of this company it is very important that you do. Over the decades, the carpet industry has not been the most environmentally focused when producing its carpets and underlay. Both require a lot of synthetic materials and oils for production. However, any waste produced making a carpet in the past was offset mainly by carpet and underlay lasting a long time – 10, 15 or even 20 years.
What’s under your carpet?
Still, as the world became more conscious of environmental concerns, so did the flooring industry. One such company is Textfelt who make green underlay. They do so, without getting too technical, by using PET bottles (bottles made of polythene terephthalate) and other single-use plastics. Not only does it do a sterling job, but it is also 100% recyclable too. For more information on this, please read our blog Green Flooring.
U
U is for Unnatural Flooring. The Unnatural Flooring Company is the UK's leading supplier of beautiful, practical and cleanable sisal-look flooring made from woven vinyl and synthetic fibres. It looks natural, but it isn't, and it's completely water-proof. It means this flooring can go where other flooring fears to tread like bathrooms, kitchens and even outside. Not only that, it got the Smith Seal of Approval with Darrell ordering a rug for his outside seating area last summer (last image in gallery).
V
V is for Darrell's wheels: The Archway Carpets van - our trustee VW Caddy TSi. Residents of Woodbridge and its surrounding towns will no doubt see Darrell driving his many thousands of miles each year. Darrell does not travel alone. He has Yoda and a Storm Trooper on top of his dashboard for company. If you see Darrell, do please give him a friendly toot or wave.
Darrell Smith and the Archway Carpets van
W
W is for our home in Woodbridge. It was Graham, Darrell's father, who found our shop on Church Street and we've been there ever since – an incredible 35 years! In our blog, They Say It's Your Birthday; we asked Graham his reasons for choosing Woodbridge.
I went to an accountant to see what needed to be set up and then we had a look around for premises. At the time, there was only Barratts in Woodbridge, and one other company I forget that has since closed down, but I thought there was enough room for another flooring company.
We are glad he chose Woodbridge. We love the community of shops and businesses that occupy this small market town, and we have some great customers and friends here too.
The Suffolk sky over Woodbridge
X
X is a tricky one. What begins with X while being connected to carpets and flooring? As far as we know, neither Darrell or Graham possess a xylophone or engage in any xylograph like pastimes (woodcutting). After brainstorming - although not for the most considerable amount of time granted - Darrell came up with 'xciting' new designs. Given the lack of any credible alternatives, we might just have to go with this. At Archway, we are continually on the look for the most 'xciting' and new designs!
Y
Y is for yachts. Why? Well, we do not have one although that would be nice. We receive some rather unusual requests for carpeting, with one of the most bizarre to provide flooring for a treehouse. Given the opportunities for boats and yachts to moor in Woodbridge and Ipswich, it is not too surprising then to be asked to provide flooring for them. We can, and we do. So give us a call if you and your vessel need help.
Ipswich Marina
Z
Z is for zig-zags! Along with its cousin, the stripe, zig-zags regularly make their way onto carpets as illustrated here by Crucial Trading. They are great at incorporating them, utilising several colour themes, into their wool coverings and rugs. So there you go the A to Z of Archway Carpets. We hope you have enjoyed our meander through the alphabet and further hope you have learned something new about us. If you do have any carpet and flooring requirements do please get in touch.
