FYI, SmartStrand Silk is a premium soft carpet. SmartStrand carpet will not be AS soft as SmartStrand Silk carpet, but is still incredibly soft. Just a disclaimer lol Serenity and Contentment are similar base, difference is that one has a heavier spec weight. I would try looking up fleck carpets like Longboat Key, Appalachian Trail &or Roswell Station, I think they will be similar to what you're looking for. Worth a shot! This post was edited by DIYguy_FL on Wed, Feb 6, 13 at 12:51

Shaw frieze's can be of different fibers other than Nylon. If you purchase a Shaw Frieze..I would recommend either an Anso Nylon or HGTV Brand from Shaw. The dealer may not have HGTV as it is wildly selective to who they allow and invite to sell it. HGTV by Shaw has some beautiful friezes available and Anso also has some gorgeous frieze's. The warranty will be better with Shaw Anso or HGTv than the Smartstrand. You can place triple touch cushion under the Anso product or HGTV and that doubles the warranty to 40 years. To confuse you more, Tuftex of California which is made by Shaw has Anso Friezes that are the latest in style and fashion. Again Tuftex is a discriminating product and not available to all dealers...but very nice. I really like Anso, they are soft, wear extremely well and have the best manufacturer warranties that are offered. Smartstrand and Shaw are both green products. Both very earth friendly. Shaw has a recycling program in place..Mohawk does not. Smarstrand performs well though. Anso will give you more style choice in a frieze. Especially the HGTV and the Tuftex. Anso will have some lower price options for you with the same warranty..but you'll need to find a Shaw aligned dealer more than likely. All of this can be viewed and found at Shaws website. I will link you to it. Good Luck and if you have other questions, please post. Tuftex has its own site..but is a Shaw Product..It is Shaws designer collection (Higher End) Here is a link that might be useful: Shaw floors

Finding carpet is a pretty horrible and confusing process. Here is what I've learned about the two: What carpet you get should depend on what type of wear and staining you typically experience in your house. For instance, Triexta (the stuff SmartStrand is made of) will stand up to water-based stains and bleach better than nylon, but is more susceptible to oil and grease stains. This has to do with the chemical nature of the fibers. So, if food stains are an issue for you, Triexta might not be a good choice, but if your teenager is clumsy with his acne cream you might not want nylon. Carpets usually get some kind of stain resistant coating that helps them in this area but since moat carpets get this, I think it's a moot point. As far as wear, crush and abrasive wear resistance is what you need to consider, especially in high traffic areas. Often people say carpet doesn't 'wear out' it 'uglies out' which means it gets matted and scratched up by dirt being ground into it making it looking like wet dog fur. Nylon is generally considered the hardiest of fibers with the best crush resistance and is tried and true because it has been around for so long. Triexta is a relatively new fiber that gets a lot of flack because it is chemically similar to a very crappy fiber: polyester, which had terrible crush resistance and is largely no longer used. The thing is, Triexta is supposed to be new and improved with better durability because of its structure (something to do with kinked strands or whatever which help keep its shape.) Still, there is a lot of trepidation about Triexta because it hasn't been time tested like nylon. Of course, wear is also down to how the carpet is designed: how densely the fibers are packed together; how twisted the fibers are; how short the pile is, and whether you're buying bulked continuous fiber (longer strands for less shedding.) More dense, more twist, shorter pile, BCF = better wear. Getting the appropriate carpet padding in the right thickness will also mean less wear. The saying generally goes: If you're trying to save money, skimp on the carpet but get good pad. And, vacuum the hell out of it at least weekly or that dirt will act like sandpaper on your carpet every time you walk on it. As far as professional carpet cleaning goes (which you need to do it every 12 or 18 months to maintain your warranty) more people know how to clean nylon than they do Triexta. I've read that there is some debate over whether we should clean Triexta like polyester or something altogether different. Some cleaners do not know what they're doing and clean it like nylon, which is bad because Triexta requires different detergents. Using the wrong one means residue and makes the carpet feel nasty. As an aside, you may have heard you can clean Triexta using only hot water extraction, but that is not true of oily stains since they bond to the fiber. Oh and speaking of warranties, they're all ridiculous. I invite you to read all the terms and exclusions listed in them and tell me whether you think carpet sales people aren't con artists. Don't buy a carpet based on warranty, because it's likely only applicable during a blue moon when a virgin's tear makes a rare Norwegian truffle bloom. There's also some impractical, luxury points to consider, like hand-feel. In my opinion, Triexta feels nicer to touch. I have touched a lot of different nylons and I think it's softer and less abrasive. Of course, I've read some reviewers who say you shouldn't touch it or walk on it barefoot because the oils in your skin stick to it and attract dirt. Make of that what you will, it sounds like an exaggeration to me. Style and color is also important to some. Nylon wins there because it's been produced longer and has more variety. That doesn't mean to say that your perfect Triexta carpet isn't out there, but if you want an unusual color or pattern they might not make it yet. Disclaimer: I picked carpet months ago so small details may be incorrect but the general gist of things should be true. We ended up with nylon because we needed our carpet to last. The current carpet we have has been here since the 80s and looks like roadkill -- that's how cheap we are! But we believe in quality so we picked carpet that was $5~6 per square foot so hopefully it'll hold up until we're dead.

I work for Mohawk and Karastan is a division of Mohawk. Some of Everstrand fiber is made from recycled bottles and some of it isn't. The recycled version has the recycled logo on it, the other type doesn't. Smartstrand has no content from recycled anything. Many styles of carpet made from Smartstrand featuring Dupont Sorona polymer are made partially from corn sugar. Carpet performace varies by construction. Karastan is Mohawk's premier product line, so I am sure you will get good performance from either fiber type, but the Smartstrand is a better fiber for foot traffic and is just about the most stain resistant fiber that exists today. I have only seen one Karastan product with Everstrand fiber, there may be more though. I have a Smartstrand carpet in my home and it has exceeded my expectations after three years of use (including stairs).