I used the Miliken legato, which are a lower grade then the Tesserae, if I remember correctly. I love them. They definitely keep the floor warmer, and the pad is great. They are easy to install. I had a drain back up and got the carpet wet in my computer room, I pulled it all up and set it outside to dry. After it dried, it only took about 10 minutes to lay it back down. I did approximately 800 sq. feet in my basement. Computer room, rec room, and family room.

I don't think there is anyway to use them on stairs.

Hi. We used Milliken Tesserae carpet tiles (panels) in our basement. Our situation sounds a lot like yours--we put them down over bare concrete in a basement that is half children's playroom half media room. We've had them down for 1 1/2years and have been thrilled so far. They keep the floor warn; they are very comfortable (surprisingly soft and padded--we went with the highest end ones--I believe they are called "Tesserae Spectrum". We wanted the thickest possible pad, so we were willing to pay a little more. We orderedl them from fastfloors.com. They carpet tiles are fabulous when we (about once a year) get a slow leak from under our basement stairs. This happens during torrential rains, and we just pull up the relevant panels, let the concrete dry out, and then replace.

We used wall to wall frieze on our stairs--there's no real way to use the panels. We took a panel into a carpet store and matched it as close as possible. It's not perfect, but if you weren't looking for a difference, you wouldn't notice it.

Laying them out is pretty easy, although trimming the edge tiles is a bit of a task. But slightly raggedy cuts don't show at all, thank goodness, as long as the tile is cut to the correct size.

Let me know if you have any more questions. Menards never used to carry these--that's great that they now do! Home Depot sells the Legato, but the Tesserae is usually only carried by carpet stores or on-line places.

Picture of frieze on stairs meeting Tesserae tiles:

Picture of playroom:

(You can see the lines where they meet more IRL--it's not unattractive, but that could be a negative if you don't want a "grid" pattern.)