Carpet vs hard flooring

AFF8879

I'm halfway through renovating the flat I've just bought in London (my first home :beer: ) and almost finished with the bedroom and living room. As part of that I ripped up horrible, poorly laid, uneven laminate flooring and replaced it with lovely thick quality carpet and a thick underlay.

However going 90% of Rightmove ads, it seems vast majority of people prefer a laminate or wooden floor in these rooms. I know I'm in the minority but I just REALLY cannot understand why. The only excuse in my opinion for hard flooring in these rooms is if you have young children or particularly dirty pets, as obviously it's easier to clean.

I prefer carpet because;
- it's lovely and cosy, walking around barefoot especially is much nicer
- it insulates sound and makes the home much more peaceful
- it looks more luxurious (unless you pay top dollar for a quality engineered wood/parquet floor) - case in point: when have you ever seen a 5 star hotel room with hard flooring?
- it's more comfortable to sit/kneel on if you're cleaning, playing with kids etc

Plus carpet cleaning is so easy and high quality these days, I hear "but it's so dirty" a lot which probably was true 10 years ago but really isn't today. Many of the high quality ones are also stain resistant.

I just feel like it makes a place so much more homely, though I know I'm in the minority - so am just interested to hear why (most) people disagree with me

EssexExile

I'm with you 100%. But I'm old & have never followed fashion.

Carrot007

I agree with you, house we have moved into has extensive laminate and it annoys me greatly!

Am making extensive use of large rugs until I can afford to replace it. At which point it is carpet for most rooms!

JuzaMum

I have hard floors downstairs and carpet upstairs. Carpets are nice but with a large household (8) I found carpets impractical. Dirty shoes, spilled drinks and other mess mean I like something I can easily clean. However if you have a smaller/better trained household carpets are lovely and homely.

Grenage

Carpets harbour untold levels of filth, dust, and other horrid things.

Worth it though.

pioneer22

I prefer laminate, easier to clean looks better, better for people with allergies.

I find carpets are a nightmare to keep clean.

Waterlily24

Carpets for me too. Had hard floors once - never again!!

Kim_kim

I have carpet in my bedroom, the stairs & landing. That's it, the rest is all hard floors, everywhere.

I'm not a fan of carpets at all, I find my hard floors fine for walking barefoot in, but I could wear slippers if it bothered me.

I like knowing there is a minimum of dirt harbouring carpet in my home. I have all pale beige carpet, as I like to see everything & know there is no dirt in there.

bouncydog1

Carpet everywhere except the bathrooms! Kitchen floor being replaced and will go for amtico as a compromise as carpet is really impractical in the kitchen and tiles are hard if you drop something!

Gastines3

Hard flooring doesn't absorb any sound,that's why in many restaurants,cafe's and private houses,you are bombarded with noise.

adandem

Having pets and doors from the back of the house straight onto our garden, there's no way we could have carpet downstairs. I dread to think what state it would be in.
We have carpet on the stairs and our bedroom.
I think that carpet varies vastly in quality and loses it's looks far quicker than a wood or laminate floor.