Do you want cheap carpet that you can easily install yourself? Well, I once carpeted a large bedroom for a total cost of about $12. You read that right, and no, the carpet was not used carpet. I did it with carpet samples.
I bought them for 25 cent apiece at a closeout sale, and it took 36 squares of carpet to finish the room. The only other supplies I used were the staples, which cost about a dollar. Normally, you might pay a dollar each for squares of carpet. I found them available for half that just a few weeks ago, but in any case, this is cheap carpet.
This is an unusual style, though, and you may have to consider the resale value of your home. The bedroom I carpeted this way was in a rental mobile home, where cheap and unusual styles are the norm. Ordinarily, you will want to save this trick for areas like basements, playrooms, and maybe a children's clubhouse. Still, it doesn't look so bad - actually it looks just fine if you mix the various colored squares of carpet well.
In a children's playroom, the multi-colored floor is perfect. It is cheerful and colorful, and if a spill stains one of the carpet squares, you can easily pull it up and install a new one in its place. This is a nice advantage of carpeting a room this way.
Installing Cheap Carpet
The only things you will need to carpet a room with carpet samples or squares is a carpet knife and a staple gun. 5/8-inch staples have worked best for me. Begin at any corner. Just put the piece in place and staple it in two or three places along each side. Wiggle the stapler head down between the fibers, or between the border and the fibers, and the staples will usually be well-hidden.
When carpeting a basement floor, you can use carpet tape instead of staples. In either case, this is best done where padding isn't too important. Of course, you can use padding too, if you don't mind the complications, but without it, this is pure simplicity.
You might want to lay out the pieces first, to decide where each will go. When you come to walls, heating registers, and other obstacles, you can easily cut the pieces to fit. If you make a mistake, it cost you perhaps a dollar. Just start over with a new piece.
Before you start, estimate how many pieces you'll need, and call around to find a carpet store that has enough samples for sale. The carpet samples at different stores range in size, but are usually at least 18 by 18 inches. Using pieces that are all the same size is the easiest way to go. Even at a dollar, this makes it less than 50 cents per square foot to carpet a room. That's cheap carpet!