I've never heard the expression "a carpet of flags", is it a direct translation from another language? We have the expression "a blanket of snow", for example, you might go to bed in the winter, it snows overnight, you wake up in the morning, look out the window and see everything covered in a blanket of snow. In my mind, "a blanket of snow" brings a beautiful, tranquil feeling. https://freshmoonpie.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/blanket-of-snow.jpg