W-News

In a couple of months

PDX carpet aficionados will be able to buy pieces to use in all kinds of ways: as coasters or wall decorations, or perhaps even to cover a floor.

The Port of Portland has named four local businesses who will receive rolls of the Portland International Airport carpet that became a phenomenon after the port announced it would be replaced.

The four vendors -- City Liquidators, Carpet Mill Outlet and Two Dogs in a Boat, all of Portland, and Nagl Floor Covering of Aurora -- will each receive 1,000 square yards of the carpet, likely in May. Some have said they'll create products with the carpet that will be sold to the public. Others will "create artistic avenues for the public to experience the carpet," the port said.

When news broke, PDX carpet fans flooded the businesses with inquiries. Emma Pelett of City Liquidators said she had received 500 emails in an hour about the carpet.

"I love to snap a picture of my feet on that carpet when I fly home," she said. "To make that available to my customers feels great."

The furniture warehouse, based in Portland's Central Eastside, plans to clean the carpet and sell it in cuts for framing, floor mats and area rugs. It also plans to reupholster a couch with the carpet to make a "PDX Carpet Selfie Sofa" that will remain as a public display at the store.

The phone was also ringing off the hook at Carpet Mill Outlet in Milwaukie, which will be reconditioning the carpet pieces for use as area rugs or floor mats. Holly Harrison, an owner of the business, said it would be taking custom orders.

"We're kind of open, because we have so many Pad printer," Harrison said. "Really, a lot of it depends on what it's like when we get our hands on it."

Nagl Floor Covering similarly has plans for PDX carpet coasters, floor mats and wall hangings, said Pad printer Randy Schultze, and the company has other ideas it's not making public yet. By Wednesday at midday, 60 people had registered for email updates at mypdxcarpet.com, where the carpet products will be sold online.

The company has also had inquiries about buying the carpet in bulk -- to re-use in an office, for example. Schultze says he's turning those would-be buyers away.

"We've got a limited supply," he said. "Part of the intent during the (bidding process) was to get it into as many hands as possible. That wouldn't suit the intent the port was trying to accomplish."

The fourth vendor, Two Dogs in a Boat, didn't answer a phone call or email message Wednesday, and a website provided by the port wasn't active. The company has been registered with the state since 2009 and describes itself in filings as a Screen printer.

The port picked among 32 bids from businesses, nonprofits and even other airports. Port spokeswoman Kama Simonds said it picked organizations that "had a proven track record of handling Screen printer ... and distributing it widely."

"If you think about 1,000 yards of carpet, you can't just throw that in the back of your pickup truck," Simonds said. "You have to have, if not the infrastructure, a plan to process that volume."

Work crews continue to remove and replace sections of carpet during the overnight hours to avoid disrupting travel. So far, three of 13 acres of carpet have been replaced.