gracie, only the upstairs balcony/landing hallway can be seen from below, but that area has hardwood like the stairs. so the bedrooms are separate. i am wondering though if all of the finishes should "relate" to each other? i plan to do beige carpet in the bedrooms, should the runner also be a beige? i am shying away from beige on the stairs due to high traffic, but don't want whatever i choose to feel random, kwim? chispa, do you know of any good carpet brands that would offer the oriental style runners? the couple of stores that I went to did not seem to have machine made runners, but told me they could bind whatever carpet I chose for the stairs. great idea to extend the runner down the halls. thanks!

Neverbedone, you could do a variety of things. You could upholster the stairs only, both runs, and purchase shorter size runner to lay on a thin pad on the landing. I like this option best be use it allows you to pick up the rug no clen the floor underneath. Or, the installers could attach another piece of the runner on the landing. Do the stairs turn 180 degrees or 90 degrees ? If the latter you have a third option. From either direction ( bottom stairs up or top stirs down, depending on who Mose the most sense in your co figuration) let the runner continue onto the landing and stop it short of the next run. Have it bound or have them I still it so the fringed edge if there is one is on that end. Then just start upholstering the next run from under the stair tread.

The smaller pattern should be on the stairs. When you consider how much of the repeat will show on the stair, the Chateau will look better. Here's some examples of smaller pattern vs. larger pattern Here's the Damask on stairs. It actually gets kind of lost on the stairs as you can't see the pattern repeat well Here's the Chateau, it really pops. But maybe you want it to be more subtle. If so, pick the Damask.

I prefer non-matching rugs, too, in most circumstances. I think it looks more interesting and collected, as well as sort of visually defining the rooms (exception being ultra-modern monochromatic homes).