Opinions sought on my plan to paint the floorboards in my two teenage DDs bedrooms

[Sonnet]

So, the 2 DD's have attic bedrooms on the third floor of our old house (this is important). They have currently got carpet which has seen far far better days and is now covered in make up and fake tan mistakes....

I need to replace the flooring as part of a re-decorating plan for both DD's. Money for this project is not plentiful. The easiest thing to do is replace the carpet (Both rooms have got thick underlay which does not need replacing) but it is totally impractical for teenage girls. I really want something that spills can be mopped up. Carpet would have marks on it within the year even if they were "extra careful".

Laminate or laying a wood floor over the existing boards is not in our budget as the floor is uneven and all joists would have to be re-laid (done it in the rest of the house and even finding someone who wants to do it is hard!). the current floorboards are okay - not great - but not bad.

So, the idea was born of painting the floor. The girls are favouring a light grey colour and are prepared to help with the hard work.

What pitfalls are there? will it be as practical in reality as it will be in my mind?

Thanking you all....

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

It'll be very noisy...

[Sonnet]

Hmm - yes that was what DH said.
There would be a rug and we don't wear shoes in the house...Not sure if that would make a difference

[Palomb]

I painted my dds floor years ago and it looked dreadful after about 5 minutes. It's was a bugger to do as I had to clean out every single bit of fluff and stuff from between the slats and the bits i missed are welded to the floor in paint. It also highlighted how uneven the gaps were between the boards. The paint under he furniture and rug has gone all yellow.

I wouldn't do it again TBH.

[Sonnet]

thanks Palomb

Do you think a dark stain/varnish would work better?

[VertigoNun]

Do they spill drinks or do you have a pet? Spils will leak onto the ceiling below.

[HungoverLikeaSpunMoorhenChick]

What about lino as a compromise?

You can get funky colours, it'll wipe clean, and the new stuff we got for our kitchen is actually slightly warm underfoot.

[Sonnet]

No drinks/food not the issue. The issue is eyeshadow/bronzer crushed into the carpet, mascara dabs, foundation marks and fake tan marks. No major accidents just loads and loads of small marks..

I thought about Lino/Vynal but not sure if it can be fit over uneven floor.

Can't afford/find anyone willing to re-do floor joists so I keep coming back to carpet again.

[TooMuchRain]

You can get strips of wood to push in the gaps if they are wide. I have painted floors and as long as you clean really well first it should be fine. It's a good cheap solution. The alternative for your needs could be vinyl, they could choose colours and the normal stuff is cheap.

[Sonnet]

thanks Toomuchrain - not many gaps at all actually but that is a thought about the strips of wood.

Not sure if staining a dark colour would work better than painted.

we have dark oak floors in other parts of the house but they were an expensive option that I don't have the funds (or flat floor) to repeat

[Leopard12]

I think dark staining would look the nicest but I've no idea about painting wooden floors

[GingerFoxInAT0phat]

Would it be possible to do a sub floor with plyboards? Then laminate over the top?

Painting floorboards sounds like a lot of hard work.

I feel your pain with the make up - my bedroom floor is the same

[Aftershock15]

I have 2 teenage dc on 3rd floor and even with super thick underlay they are noisy at times. Foot tapping while studying drives me mad! Would be hell with just floorboards.

Personally I would take the view if they are old enough to use make up and fake tan then they are old enough to either keep their make up mess off the floor or put up with the manky carpet.

[DiggersRest]

I agree with After, surely they can not spill stuff on the carpet

You did say teenagers didn't you and not toddlers?

[Perbsy]

I have painted floors, but I do like a slightly shabby look. No need to go to too much trouble beforehand, and it's easier to give it a quick new coat occasionally. A nice rug and slightly worn areas might be something that would suit your DD's. I've had this for about fifteen years and I much prefer it to grubby carpets which I really hate. It's not to everyone's taste but it pleases me so I'm not bothered.

It's so cheap, you could just give it a go. Pale colours show the dust less and look nicer, I like to mix my own, but white, pale grey and cream are nice.

[StepAwayFromTheThesaurus]

Buy carpet that you can clean with bleach and (this is the important bit) warn them that there will be serious consequences for ruining their carpets.

Makeup and fake tan stains of the carpet isn't just a 'oh, well teenagers!' thing. It's them being careless and not bothering to take care of their carpets. It would be easier to simply ban make up and fake tan (etc) from their rooms than to put up with the noise from bare floorboards upstairs. There's no reason why they can't keep their messy activities to the bathroom (and clean up after themselves).

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

I have a carpet you can bleach/scrub, had it 9 years and looks new still. Can't remember the name, it was from a local shop.

[TheLesserSpottedBee]

Another vote for bleach cleanable carpet. It feels amazingly soft like a wool blend but is 100% polyprop. It has to be felt to be believed.

It has been raved about on here before. It is what we are having in the children's playroom and our lounge this summer.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Is there room for a dressing table, so it's all contained?

[Sonnet]

Ginger - thank you. Yes that is a possibility but I was hoping to keep costs down. We would have to remove/replace skirting as well.

Thank you Dame and Step. I had heard about carpet that can be scrubbed with bleach and will look further into it. My understanding is that it will work for fake tan, mascara etc (which hydrogen peroxide does a fab job on by the way) but not with anything oil based like foundation. But I will look into this again.

I am not going to go into the raised eyebrows about teenagers and make up and not being toddlers DiggersRest . Suffice it to say I am not rolling over and just replacing carpet - they have been living with it for a long long time and yes we refused to replace it until things improved. I am very houseproud and a bit of a clean freak and my teenagers bedrooms are very tidy and clean and certainly not the "rooms of doom" that have occasionally been described as teenagers bedrooms on here. Most of the damage was done a while ago and much of it also by friends round for a sleepover.

They have a dressing table Dame but also both have a full length mirror they tend to use on an opposite wall - most of the damage is there!

I like your take on it Persby - we actually live in a 350 year old cottage and as they are attic bedrooms "shabby chic" would look okay

Thank you for your input everyone.

[Deux]

We have poly prop carpets upstairs and there hasn't been anything yet that I haven't been able to clean off.

That includes stains from stretchy putty and black oil based model paint and vomitting episodes. I don't see why makeup wouldn't clean off.

Most times I just use baby wipes or fairy liquid.

So if it were me I'd go for polypropylene carpets. They're also really cheap.

Ours look great 5 years on.

[Artistic]

Have you considered a dark colour patterned carpet? I've seen ones with stripes etc that look pretty good. Would that work?

[Sonnet]

Deux That is great to know! Thank you!
Artistic - fab to hide the stains eh?! Unfortunately plain and light coloured would be their choice! (Not mine though under any circumstances!) in fact, DD2 expressed a wish for a white carpet!!! She can dream on...

[TudorLady]

No, no, no, no, no. The noise. Oh god the noise.

We have floorboards in our bedroom (DH has allergies so is the best flooring for him). But Oh. My. God. The noise. It is great in some ways as you can hear if the DCs even tiptoe into our room from downstairs. But apart from that positive (and the fact that as it is our room people are rarely in there when we are downstairs iyswim) the noise is a major pain. I shudder to think of 2 teenagers with wooden floors.

Friends of our had laminate in their DD's room when she was little - that was fucking horrendous too.

I would stick with carpet and get a couple of cheap-o Ikea £5 rugs to put over the most at-risk areas. Seriously.

[minipie]

I would be worried about the noise. It will sound like a herd of elephants even with shoes off tbh.

Is your bedroom underneath theirs? When I was a teenager my bedroom was above my parents', I had bare floorboards and they could hear me walking around - it kept my mum awake. Oh and I could hear them talking to each other as well - not what you want!! Of course if your room is not under theirs this is less of a problem.

Personally I would replace the carpets, then put a washable rug down in one area of the bedroom (somewhere you can put a mirror and shelf/table) and insist that is the only area for makeup.

[BigGreenOlives]

I have teen daughters and they are on the floor above us. Dd1 stands at her full length mirror to put on make up. Her carpet could have been replaced in 2002 when we moved in, still haven't as it saves an argument. Can you just put up with it till they leave home?