Carpet or wood flooring?

gayleygoo

I would love wooden floors in my house - they don't feel too cold, and can be covered with rugs for warmth in winter, or to reduce noise.

Whatever you do, don't go for tiles! The previous owners of our house were clearly mad, they tiled most floors of the house with no thought to how cold they are in an Irish winter. They chip when you drop a plate or bottle of beer on them, and the grouting turns a horrible colour. Remind me to never again rent a house with tiles!

Serendipitious

I spent over a year in a house with beautifully tiled marble-like floors downstairs and they were so very cold underfoot. Even with rugs to help, the cold just seemed to seep through, so any prolonged sitting down resulted in coldness creeping up through the feet. It was horrible! Also the room temperature seemed to plummet as soon as it got dark.

Laminate can look nice if it's properly fitted, but needs cleaning almost every day to keep the dust bunnies from building up. I found this cold as well, and very hard for tiny children who like to play on the floor.

Currently I have wood effect vinyl which looks nice, is easy to maintain, and feels warm even when barefoot. Dust is still a problem though, and builds up quickly.

As for carpet, I dream of carpet! In previous homes, I've had wool-rich carpets which always wore well, were warm and cosy, and easy to clean. So now I'm planning to fit new carpets just as soon as I can!

sweetilemon

I love my solid oak floors, expensive outlay but cost effective in the long run as no need to replace them in our time in the flat. They are easy to clean and I think they are more hygienic than carpets. I have rugs that I clean and replace every so often. When the wood scratches it just gives it character unlike laminate. If I moved house I would definately save and gradually put wooden floors throughout with small carpeted areas (like a stair runner, rug etc). I don't allow shoes in the house and vaccume often so always feel clean walking around.

On the contrast I used to have cream carpets in every room apart from bathroom and kitchen. It was a nightmare, I stressed out if a guest brought mud in, I panicked if I spilt something - far too clumsy for carpets!

chelseablue

My cream carpets are the bane of my life with a 14 month old!

AngelOfTheNorth

We also have young children, and have experience of both hard surface and carpet in the living room. For practical purposes, I'd say hard. Just so much easier to clean spills. At 14 months, you've got plenty of those ahead. One of the main advantages of carpet with babies is that when they're learning to move around and at the stage where they fall and bash their heads constantly, nutting a carpet floor won't hurt quite as much as a bare floor. However you're probably past that point now.

In terms of keeping clean, obviously you can clean more off wood, particularly if you were to get something like laminate or lino on top. However carpet doesn't show the little mess as much. I have to sweep every day now, or it just looks an absolute mess. Glad we moved away from carpet, but we only had to vac once a week then!