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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think laminate floor is not naff?

219 replies

Laquitar · 14/03/2011 07:03

This snobbery about laminate floor and leather sofas gets on my nerves.

They are not naff, they are PRACTICAL. You can keep the floor clean, really clean.

Carpets are filthy and they smell.

We had a lovely -and clean- decade when laminate floor was 'trendy'. Now someone has decided that it is 'naf' Hmm and i fear we are going back to smelly carpets.

AIBU to think they are ok and should stay?

OP posts:
pointydog · 14/03/2011 19:21

Laminate and wood flooring is noisy. That's my main bug bear.

myredcardigan · 14/03/2011 19:23

My wood flooring isn't really that noisy at all because we went for the most expensive underlay we could buy. It actually sounds quite solid rather than tap tappy.

pointydog · 14/03/2011 19:28

good for you

Mrswhiskerson · 14/03/2011 19:37

I have a leather sofa lami ate flooring and two billy bookcases from ikea ! My sitting room must be the height of naffness (it's not it is lovely)
I also like those twigs in jars and I'm not afraid to admit it : )

GettinganIcyGrip · 14/03/2011 19:47

Well there is an alternative to laminate or carpet, the future is here ladies.

It's stunning and warm and easy to clean and green (as in sustainable, not the colour).

I completely refurbished my new house (typical 60s build) last year and put bamboo through the whole house. Entrance hall, kitchen-diner, sitting room, up the stairs, bedrooms. It is so easy to clean with three dogs and a million teenagers.

It costs the same or less than laminate, and I love it. I would never go back to carpet.

I also have a brown leather sofa-bed ...sorry!

expatinscotland · 14/03/2011 20:02

'Not sure what you mean about a house not being worth wood.'

I know this will come as a shock, but some plebs here rent, some even rent social housing, and don't have the money to install wood or the best underlay money can buy.

They do not live in period properties.

They don't want carpets, for purposes of hygiene, or lino in a living room, so install laminate as an alternative.

Have pity on their impoverished, naff souls.

thepoweroflunch · 14/03/2011 20:03

Ooh yes gettinganicygrip - DH put bamboo down in the hall of our old house because of his aversion to laminate.

expatinscotland · 14/03/2011 20:03

Sorry, Getting, it is lovely, but it is nearly twice the cost per square metre of IKEA laminate.

expatinscotland · 14/03/2011 20:05

FWIW, we have wood. It's just bare floorboards, unfilled, with big gaps in between the boards and no varnish.

Funds don't extend to fixing them so I hoover the gaps and mop every other day.

I'd much rather have laminate.

thepoweroflunch · 14/03/2011 20:05

Pointydog - we've got solid wood flooring throughout the ground floor and it's not tap tappy at all, I have no idea what is under there though as we didn't lay it. The laminate in our old bedrooms was very click clacky though.

usualsuspect · 14/03/2011 20:14

My dog tip taps all bloody day long on my naff laminate but I'm a poor pleb, so might buy him these Grin

pointydog · 14/03/2011 20:19

It is the noise below the rooms with laminate and wood that can be loud. I've heard this in tenement flats and modern houses with laminate.

myredcardigan · 14/03/2011 20:20

Oh Expat, I spent the w/e with family in Easterhouse. I'm as far removed from a snob as you can imagine! Unless you can be a mirror snob-those wavy things are awful!

LisamumtoJake · 14/03/2011 20:24

i have laminate in my livingroom, bedroom and DS's bedroom, 1. Because its cleaner and easier to keep with a toddler and me being somewhat disabled and 2. It was cheaper than wood flooring which i could not afford.

Oo and i have 2 brown leather couches, again for cleaning easily and i like them Hmm and ooo a leather headboard Wink

figcake · 14/03/2011 20:25

We have engineered wood flooring - is real wood on top but with some of the practical features of laminate though NONE of the naffness of course! It cost ££ though compared to cheap lammy. I have an aversion to laminate. I had it installed in a previous property over ten years ago when it was still a novelty and a rarity even in our neck of the woods. When we sold, many of the viewers were bowled over by it ("Wow, we have only ever seen those floors on TV". If only they had known......

thepoweroflunch · 14/03/2011 20:26

I thought you weren't allowed to put laminate in above the ground floor with most leaseholds/tenancies? I would object to that too!

LisamumtoJake · 14/03/2011 20:28

I am in a ground floor property in a housing association house, i know they told us we could put laminate down cause we were downstairs, but upstairs are only allowed it in their kitchen and bathroom if they want it :)

NotaMopsa · 14/03/2011 20:30

laminate does have its place but i think stripped boards with a lick of varnish are preferable and cheaper

dd has white laminate in her room and it is noisy

wooden floors are not noisy - my house has carpet only on four little landings - not even stairs so i HUGELY recommend wood.

We also love white cork - costly but environmentally sound and so soft and warm

Tiled rooms are nippy.

Carpets are are lovely but need replacing every two years imo but don't listen to me i am obsessed with cleaning

aPixieMomma · 14/03/2011 20:31

I hate laminate but I would never criticise others choices for it.

I love carpets in the main living area and I love hoovering so alls good.

I will be putting stone or slate in kitchen and bathroom though.

We will be getting a leather sofa though as our fabric one is fucked due to the toddler!

GettinganIcyGrip · 14/03/2011 20:32

When I rented before I got my money back from my thieving ex-H and his family I had laminate and it was great. Being snobbish about these things is ridiculous. Why does it matter?

I actually love old floorboards with all their knobbly history. They take me back to my childhood before fitted carpets were invented gimmer emoticon.

aPixieMomma · 14/03/2011 20:32

Oh, and our upstairs neighbours have real cheap laminate down with no underlay.

It looks naff and is bloody noisy but will anyone do anything about it? Will the fuck!

GettinganIcyGrip · 14/03/2011 20:34

not sure what happened there...mumsnet has a life of its own tonight...should have been [old gimmer emoticon]

expatinscotland · 14/03/2011 20:41

We don't have a wavy mirror, just a rectangular one from IKEA whose pine frame I painted white.

We cannot afford to fix up the floors, so I keep them as clean as possible and though they are wood, they have big gaps.

I don't care if they get scratched, though Wink.

Housewife2010 · 14/03/2011 20:48

Laminate flooring is tacky as hell. We have carpets, hoover regularly & most importantly NEVER wear shoes in the house & our carpets don't smell. If you dislike carpets, go for a proper wooden floor.

usualsuspect · 14/03/2011 20:55

Oh piss off with your proper wooden floors ...

some off us like tacky and naff

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