What kind of flooring should I put in my children’s rooms? This is a question that comes up a lot with busy families that we work with. While the same flooring is not right for every family, we can at least offer some guidelines to consider when looking to replace flooring in your children’s bedroom.
Top Choices for Children’s Room Flooring
Carpet
Carpet is an excellent choice of flooring for kids rooms for a variety of reasons, and particularly carpet made from fibers that are specifically pet and kid friendly. Typically that means looking at carpet with solution dyed fibers. What that means is a fiber that starts off the color it’s going to be such as a tan or gray color, rather than a white fiber that gets dyed tan or gray. This kind of fiber naturally repels stains such as nail polish or crayon and allows for relatively easy clean up when spills happen. Coupled with a moisture barrier pad and you have a great option for a child’s room.
If you’re looking for a pop of color, you can always introduce a green, blue or lilac carpet. Carpets that have a shorter, denser height and thickness or a looped or patterned carpet allow for less matting and crushing when kids are putting a lot of wear on a carpet.
Carpet makes a room warmer and cozier, and softer for playing on the floor and is far less expensive than any other type of flooring. Finally, when hard surface is already in a kids room or you really just want to have a wood or tile look, a nice custom area rug can add many of the benefits of a full room of Carpet.
The Cons:
- It can mat more easily
- Some carpets are less easy to clean
The key in new carpet is to pay attention to the kind of fiber you are selecting.
Laminate Flooring
Laminate is an excellent choice when you would rather have a hard surface for your child’s bedroom. It is very scratch resistant, typically water resistant and extremely easy to clean. Any spills made can be easily wiped up. Laminate floors have a great wood look and as noted above a nice custom rug can add the warmth and pop of color that you may want for your kids.
The Cons:
- It can be hard underfoot
- Depending on the finish can be more slippery
- It is not as nice to sit on without a rug and not as warm underfoot in the cooler months
Wood Flooring
Wood is always a great choice in any home. It is beautiful and natural and can pull together a kids room with the rest of the home. Wood floors tend to be extremely long lasting and will stay timeless as your children grow and mature. It is nearly as easy to clean as the laminate flooring and should be resistant to most short term spills. And coupled with a nice rug can be an excellent choice for any kids room.
The Cons:
- It can and does scratch more easily than other hard surfaces and
- It is not as friendly with water so spills have to be cleaned up in a more timely manner
- Hardwood also tends to be the most expensive of the options listed
Vinyl Plank Flooring
Vinyl flooring has many of the same benefits of laminate flooring in its look, resistance to water and ease of cleaning. There are a variety of kinds of vinyl flooring but a glue down vinyl flooring would allow for some more creativity in layout such as a herringbone or other pattern.
The Cons:
- It tends to be less resistant to scratches
- It is harder and cooler underfoot
Selecting the Right Flooring
Selecting flooring for your home and particularly your children’s room is not a one size fits all decision. Hopefully, this information is helpful while taking into account your lifestyle and budget as well. And we are always happy to help determine what might be the best fit for your particular situation!
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