This is a beautiful carpet. As others have mentioned, it has an extremely low pile, but it is incredibly soft to the touch. Definitely needs a pad underneath if you are looking to add a "squishy" feel under your feet. The colours are pretty close to what is shown, but the background is darker than appears on the website. Rather than a light ivory, it's more of a light to mid-oatmeal colour. The reds are a bit more on the rusty side. Overall, the colours work very well together, and it's vibrant without being bright. It's going to be an excellent addition to warm up our recently renovated basement!