Shag carpeting is back in style -- with an update

There's not a room in your home that couldn't be made a little more delicious by a retro style that's making an explosive comeback: that deep-pile, hairy-looking carpeting known as shag.

"It started slow, and then all of a sudden, boom," says Roberta Sussman, a designer with Country Carpet & Rug in Syosset.

In today's hottest interiors, shag is the whipped cream on the cocoa -- it's fluffy, fun, decadent and a little messy.

A number of converging factors have led to the bushy carpet's newfound popularity. "I think that people are looking for comfort because we've been knocked in so many directions in this country," Sussman says. "Shag is thick and inviting and welcoming, and psychologically, that has something to do with it.

"The second thing is, it is a much-improved product," says Sussman, referring to the unruly rugs of the 1960s and '70s. "The much older people, when you say shag, they laugh, because many years ago you had to use a rake" to release trapped dirt and groom the carpet to retain its fluffy appeal "and they matted," she says. "Now they are thick and heavy and well-made -- and you don't need a rake."

In today's encore appearance, shag has been reborn in an eye-popping array of colors, patterns, lengths and lower-maintenance materials, lending dimension, texture and a bit of humor to interiors of every stripe, and in every price range.

Also, home interior trends have a habit of following fashion design, says Roslyn designer Ellen Baron-Goldstein. "In fashion, we're having a look back into the '60s, '70s and '80s. A lot of interior design is reflecting that, as well." The carpets also reflect another fashion trend -- shaggy touches on apparel such as faux fur trim and accents.

And, as with fashion, the young are leading the way: Kids, teens and young adults, free of preconceived notions about shag, were the first to go gaga over today's colorful, easy-care rugs.

"It started with the young kids, and little by little, it crept," Sussman says. "The concept is new to them, it's not old."

Now, shag is equally at home in grown-up spaces, as seen by this year's spate of designer show houses across Long Island.

Here are five ways designers are making the most of the shag sensation.

SUMPTUOUS SHAG

When Southampton interior design firm owner Elsa Soyars was looking for ways to cozy up this expansive living room in North Haven, a sprawling shag was the obvious choice. She picked the cheekily named "My, My My," a thick and luxurious Tuftex rug in an off-white shade called 121 Moonlight. "I chose this for the living room, because it's a great quality nylon and very easy to maintain. . . . It's very plush. It's the best nylon shag you can buy," Soyars says. "It's a modern-retro room with a little bit of Hollywood Regency, a little bit of glamour -- but not too much, because it's still the Hamptons."

SWEET SHAG

These cuddly rugs are equal parts adorable and practical for the nursery, says Aurelia McAleese, a co-owner of The Frog and the Princess in Holbrook, which sells the rugs and other children's decor. "Hardwood floors are really big in the last five to 10 years, so people are looking for accent rugs," she says. Unlike its often-itchy predecessors, this modern take is soft enough for little ones to play on in comfort. "They're jersey cotton -- like a T-shirt -- cut into strips and sewn in. So they're great for nurseries because you can shake them out and throw them in the wash. . . . And they have the nonskid back, so that's great, too."

SASSY SHAG

Designer Ellen Baron-Goldstein covered two tiers of flooring with hot pink nylon shag for this 13-year-old girl's bedroom in Roslyn. "She wanted it very current and fun and sophisticated," says Baron-Goldstein. "We did the bed and part of the room on one level and the dressing area on the lower level. It's like a less constructed, playful flooring." The shag "gives it a little edge without having to also spend a lot of money on carpeting." The designer carried the feisty color into the walls with a graduated painting technique known as ombre. "The hot pink rises off the shag like a sunset. It fades as it gets to the ceiling line," Baron-Goldstein says.

SOPHISTICATED SHAG

Home decor often takes cues from the runways, says Merrick designer Marlaina Teich. "The fashion the last couple of years is to interject pieces from the '70s in your wardrobe . . . and then you can mix that in with modern elements," she says. "It's the same thing in the home, using the shag to bring in a little fun and a nod to the past while bringing modern elements with it." In this Sea Cliff living room, current looks such as the fresh color scheme and animal print ottoman mingle with the soft, nylon shag area rug for a look Teich calls "sophisticated but livable -- it's for a family, so we wanted it to have a warm, approachable, cozy, inviting feel."

SENSUAL SHAG

Sensual shag is a natural fit in intimate parts of the home, such as this boudoir designed by Patti Johnston in the 2011 Mansions and Millionaires Designer Showcase now under way in Upper Brookville. Matching runners of nylon shag make for pleasurable padding through the hallway to the closet. "They're very elegant and sexy," says the Centerport designer. "Plus it feels so good, the yumminess and coziness on bare feet. Especially in the closet area, where you're putting shoes on and taking them off." Having a 12-foot nylon shag carpet cut and bound into two runners was an inexpensive way to create continuity between the two spaces without overdoing it. "You don't have to go retro all the way. I put classic furniture with this little funky '60s shag rug and it just balances," she says.

All about shag, then and now

"All design is cyclical, but cyclical with a change," says Arlene Travis, who runs the Glen Cove-based Mansions and Millionaires designer showcases for charity. "When something comes back, if it's a classic, it comes back in a new form."

The current shag craze is in at least its third incarnation: The look originated with the Flokati rugs of Greece, a woolly ancestor that's still around. Those eventually spawned a mid-20th-century Western fondness for the untidy appeal of extra-long looping.

One might say today's shag has had a haircut -- it's shorter but more stylish. "It's still a shag, but it doesn't have that long looping. That low shag is what's fashionable now," Travis says. "The shag rug is a new rug."

And the variations are just about endless. Bruce Solomon of Country Carpet & Rug in Syosset offers a sampling of today's shags.