How is a bedroom carpet an investment?

[LynetteScavo]

I've been carpet shopping - first store (well known chain) had a wide range of plain carpets, no fancy patterns. It's for DDs bedroom, to replace the carpet DS totally trashed when it was his room (think putting a soldering iron on the carpet etc) and the cats have scratched at the door when DDs fallen asleep with them in there. So my logic is to get a cheapie replacement that I won't weep over if it gets trashed. We chose a few possibilities, all under £20

I then went to an independent local carpet shop, who had some beautiful carpets on display - really lovely patterns, and obviously very high quality.

When I said I'd seen some carpets for around £20 the sales assistant acted completely shocked told me she had no idea what the other shop had showed me, told me their cheapest carpet was £24 and carpet is an investment. She kept insisting carpet is an investment.

How is it an investment?

I don't even like carpet the other bedrooms have painted floorboards

She means you won't need to replace for 20 years unlike a cheap one.
However fir a child I'd get a cheapie especially if your cats scratch it

£500 for everything is very reasonable- it would be difficult to find one cheaper that wasn't scratchy.

We have cheap carpet in the bedroom where no one else sees and doesn't get walked over in outdoor shoes and more expensive carpet in hall way and living room . Living room carpet has been in since we married 25 years ago, although there's now a rug over worn areas .

I bought one for £24 a metre for the stairs and 2 years later it still looks new, I wouldn’t call it an investment though

Can you smooth the floor out with hardboard and lay decent lino on that, you can get some really nice designs that look like real wood now.

That's what I'm going to do in our spare room cum foster kitten nursery when I get round to it.

I dread to think what combination of feline bodily fluids is soaked into the raggedy carpet that's in there now.

I agree with you on the overuse of the word invest.

They just want to make shopping and buying stuff and possibly spending more than you intended to sound more worthy.

Something like this would be more than fine for a teenagers room for a few years, with a thick underlay underneath. Probably can clean with bleach if you need to too, do good for make up stains.
www.onlinecarpets.co.uk/rich-grey-liberty-carpet.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw3_KIBhA2EiwAaAAlirWpRvL1zdC0hkhLlZZE2V49o9svL_oAs2sVoJD2F__l6xm-NJvqbxoCfn0QAvD_BwE

After the horror of clothes moths I am never paying for investment wool carpets again! Decent underlay makes all the difference with carpets

It's nice and comfy. Worth paying a bit more for lovely carpet, imo.

@millenialblush

I think people use the word 'investment' incorrectly quite a bit. To invest in something means it will increase in value. I'm always hearing things like 'invest in a good pair of shoes' - generally shoes wouldn't increase in value the longer you wore them...

Well, the word "invest" has several meanings, one of which is: "buy (something) whose usefulness will repay the cost."

I spent a fair bit on a gorgeous carpet for my bedroom because I'll look after it. My kids and husband have laminate with a rug because they wouldn't.

I don't know how it's am investment though, unless you're planning on selling.

@kittenkipping

I agree with her. I've bought cheap carpet and expensive carpet and carpet in between. Cheap carpet is very much buy cheap buy twice, whereas decent carpet (not necessarily the most expensive) lasts and lasts and stays comfortable, unworn, and soft fir years. In the way that a decent mattress is an investment - it's worth getting the best you can afford because it will last longer. Of course the underlay is at least 50% of the story too though.

It's for a young person's bedroom and will be relatively short-lived because of that. My just 20 dd's bedroom carpet is only about 7 or 8 years old and has hair straightener burn marks on it, bits missing where the cat has scratched it up by the door and the occasional blob of nail varnish. not to mention the Southern Comfort spillage We didn't pay a lot to carpet the room as we knew it would get ruined. Plenty of time to buy a good carpet for that room after she's left home

Why don’t you look into the remnants, I carpeted my daughters bedroom in a good quality carpet that should have been £700 but got it for the bargain price of £100.

I wouldn't bother with a shop. Buy cheap carpet online, save money on underlay by buying it online too. Get a local fitter.

Work out cheaper

My parents always had Axminster or similar carpets and you can tell the quality is much better than the carpets in our house. The previous owners put something.l cheap and crappy in and because we had small children potty training etc we haven’t replaced them yet.

I have the standard carpet they put in new builds. I assume it's not high quality, it's definitely synthetic but it's great, everything just wipes off, the cats had a go at the stairs and you can't really tell. I even spray it with just kitchen spray to get dropped food, cat vomit etc out. Best carpet I ever had!

In my last house I "invested" in a wool mix was lovely but got wrecked and even a professional carpet clean didn't get any marks out of it.

IMO decent underlay is very important and a colour that doesn't show marks easily. (That mistake I did make with my park greige carpet 🤦🏽‍♀️ good job it's wipe clean!)

Recently bought DS carpets for 2 bedrooms. Excellent underlay thick and robust and fairly cheap carpet which is man made and can be bleached if necessary. Heavy duty wear. Tapi which is near me and had good customer service compared to the booted teen serving in the other chain carpet store.

** bored
DB had nice Wilton carpet 80% wool. Carpet moth or beetle has eaten a massive hole in it underneath his wardrobe.

I think people use the word 'investment' incorrectly quite a bit. To invest in something means it will increase in value. I'm always hearing things like 'invest in a good pair of shoes' - generally shoes wouldn't increase in value the longer you wore them...

This is very dull of me, but this isn't true in economics. An "investment good" is anything that will continue to give value over time. A " consumption good" is something that is used up straight away eg food. Though, when it comes to drawing up the national accounts, that's too fiddly, so all goods that households buy other than new houses are put in the consumption category. It has nothing to do with increasing in value over time. Could increase or decrease but still be an investment in the sense that it has some value over time.

I recently took a chance on buying a carpet online from flooring superstore. Not sure how I found it, may have been searching old mumsnet threads. It's for 6 year old daughters bedroom and she's very messy, so I didn't want to spend loads. I chose royal saxony for £14.99 per m2, plus decent underlay.
It's fab, really deep pile, scrubbable and looks lovely a few months down the line.

DH fitted the bedroom carpet and took him all day, so when we did the stairs and landing we went to a local carpet fitter instead. He brought samples and I checked the price on the big carpet websites where it was about £27 per metre. I was expecting a huge quote but the fitter just quoted his trade price with fitting, so it was more like £15. Again it looks and feels great.

So it may be worth contacting a local fitter or trying the flooring superstore website for to get a better carpet for your budget.

I’ve found local independent carpet shops (I only went to two) hugely expensive, slightly patronising, and with no concern to budget or suitability. A bedroom carpet won’t get the wear of hallway or living room, and for most people a high proportion of it will be under furniture anyway. A teenager might easily spill makeup on it, want to hang out with friends in her room (with drinks), maybe fo art or whatever. Polypropylene (?) carpets will clean with bleach, wool won’t. In the same way that someone might “invest” in a handbag for themselves (to last a few years) you’d not expect a child’s school bag to be an investment (sadly... ).