In an ideal world, children would be surrounded by fluffy loveliness at all times. Everything would be white and sumptuous, like clouds. This is how we quite often begin our room decorating as parents, when we are imagining that cute little bundle of joy that will occupy the pastel coloured nursery. However, that is before we discover that our little bundle of joy has a mind of its own and is usually sticky. By the time they are crawling, we are starting to wish we had plastic wrapped everything.
Gone are the pastels and in comes any colour that doesn't show the dirt! Which is tricky, because child-generated dirt isn't one colour. One day, it could be ice cream, the next chocolate and don't get me started on crayons. I have actually rearranged furniture to hide the etchings of a three year old!
So, when it comes to flooring, it's well worth considering the post-baby years, of which there are many. There's 'Toddling-with-Sippycup' and 'Getting Arty with Crayons', followed by, 'Bringing in the Outdoor Sports', 'Discovering Make-Up' and various other stain-wielding phases of childhood. If you are careful, your flooring choice may last all the way through childhood and right into; 'Lounging on the Bed Scoffing Contraband Snacks' and 'Falling Asleep Clutching a Coffee'. IF you choose carefully. Which is why I am seriously considering not-carpet for L's room. I will admit, I have never been a fan of laminate, though. It often looks artificial and just... so... boring! The Husband started it, when he compared a recently laminated floor to a 1970's Social Club. Not out loud, obviously, that would be rude. But times have moved on and there seems to be a lot more choice of wooden floor these days, many offering more of the fabulous than the fakery.
Oak flooring is something I could definitely warm to. Perhaps because it's a darker colour and not unnecessarily shiny. This example of engineered wood flooring looks so much more natural and warmer than traditional laminate.
It is also ridiculously easy to keep clean. If you have a steam mop, a quick whizz round is all it needs and you don't even have to establish who smooshed face paints into the floor or, indeed, why. They just glide away, no scrubbing, chemicals, or cursing required! Which is the main reason why I have really started considering it. It occurred to me that the main reason I wasn't keen was because there is something infinitely comforting about having somewhere soft and warm to plonk your bare feet when you get out of bed of a morning. However, surely a couple of strategically placed rugs could do the trick? Our bedrooms aren't huge, so if you had one by the bed and another near the door, I reckon you could make it from one end to the other, lilypad style, without toes ever meeting chilly floor. I found some lovely examples of rugs suitable for a small boy's room (my current obsession) but wouldn't it be brilliant, if you decided to change the use of a room, you could just get a totally different floor covering? And, should an unfortunate stain occur, you would never have to worry about replacing the whole carpet. This idea is growing on me, the more I write this. Check out some of my favourite rugs I've found and let me know what you think!
Tiger Felt Rug from Aspace |
Burton Rug by Delightfull |
Gumball Rug from Nubie Modern Kids Boutique |
Produced in association with Luxury Flooring and Furnishings Ltd
I love the look of these gumball rugs but I can imagine they are a nightmare to hoover and keep clean x
ReplyDeleteI think rugs are a great idea - and the fact that the floor is so easy to clean makes it rather appealing too....
ReplyDeleteMy son's bedroom carpet has no underlay and I've been thinking of a rug as a softer landing!
ReplyDeleteWe have laminate flooring apart from the upstairs bedrooms because my husband thinks it would be too noisey - I wish I could convince him otherwise.
ReplyDeleteWhen we have the money we are going to have wood flooring upstairs. We already have it down stairs
ReplyDeleteI really want to replace our carpets with wood - it looks so much nicer and i love the idea of having rugs around...
ReplyDeleteIf the kids room is upstairs steer clear of wood or laminate - it is soooooo noisy!! (lesson learned)
ReplyDeleteThat burton rug would look great in my sons room.
ReplyDeleteWe do have pastel carpets in Emma's room and yes, some patches have had to be covered by little girly rugs indeed, lol.xx
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't know where to start when it comes to childs flooring. I have to admit I'm glad we had most of ours hard floored though so much easier to clean. x
ReplyDeletewe adore wooden flooring in our house, yet we dont have any currently as our house is super cold
ReplyDelete