Will I regret putting hard floors down throughout the downstairs?

[IHeartKingThistle]

We put down wood-look Karndean in the hallway and kitchen last year. We absolutely love it and it looks fab. The carpet in the lounge/diner (quite a large area) however is KNACKERED and it was new 3 years ago when we moved in. I'm so sick of trying to get raisins, play-doh and felt tip out of it and it never looks clean. We're thinking of continuing the Karndean throughout and putting a big squishy rug in the sofa area.

But I've never lived in a house with hard floors in the living room. Will I really regret it? Will it be freezing? DD is concerned she won't be able to do cartwheels . DC are 6 and nearly 4, so no toddlers learning to walk or anything.

Anyone got rid of carpet and regretted it?

[FranklymydearIdontgiveadamn]

We only have carpet in our bedroom. Most downstairs is tiled apart from 2 reception rooms and rest of bedrooms, landing etc is wooden floors. I have a big rug down in the room where the dc watch tv

[cardoon]

TFFT! I've just ordered mine

[valiumredhead]

Oh sorry, that'll teach me to skim read

[IHeartKingThistle]

The karndean isn't knackered - the carpet is!

[valiumredhead]

I don't like laminate,I agree feels a bit dated unless you get the really good stuff. Wood is a whole different ball game though imo.

[Jaynebxl]

I guess it is all down to what you're used to really... when I go in a house with carpet everywhere it feels a bit wrong and kind of dated. Personal taste and all that.

[valiumredhead]

I wouldn't use steam on real wood, you need to clean it very little actually, just a wrung out micro fibre cloth/mop after hoovering.

[hedwig2001]

Can you use a steam mop on any of these wood or laminate floors?

[stubbornstains]

But baby puke is white satsuma!

Tell me, is wood/ laminate actually more expensive than carpet? Is this why rental landlords will carpet the whole place as a matter of course? We have disgusting carpets in our downstairs- particularly the dining room. There has also just been some kind of complex leak that has left a big stain on part of the carpet, and the dining room now smells of damp. Nice. So, it's time to start working on the LL about new flooring, but I'm sure he won't shell out for hard flooring if it's more expensive....I'm also considering suggesting the old Changing Rooms option of varnished ply...

[satsumagirl]

We have wood floors on whole of ground floor (open plan kitchen/ dining/ living area). Love it and so much easier to keep clean! We have a rug in the living area bit for cosiness. I chose a dark pattern for that to hide vom stains from my baby!

[Meglet]

My entire house has hard floors, except the stairs. I'd never go back to carpets.

Hard floors in the bedroom doesn't bother me either. It doesn't matter if the dc's are sick or I drop a tub of moisturiser everywhere.

[valiumredhead]

Why go for kardean if it's knackered after only a couple of years?

Oak flooring is the way to go imo, it's fantastic,I would never have carpet downstairs. You need need rugs though imo, and slippers!

[MadeOfStarDust]

Every house I've visited without carpets in the living room has felt "wrong" to me (just me I guess...) the sound echoes, doors sound loud when closing them, they are cold or expensive to heat, and most people with hard floors seem to do the "showhouse" thing of pale painted walls - so no paper to muffle the noise either....

I have sight issues and rugs are bloody awful for tripping on... as are spills for slipping on with a solid floor.

Sometimes seems a bit sterile to me... sorry... just my opinion.....

[Jaynebxl]

I have to add a disclaimer here. We moved house less than a month ago and the kitchen floor is driving me bonkers. Actually not because it is a hard floor but because they put white tiles down and it never looks clean! Will be covering it in Lino once we are settled!

[TwoStepsBeyond]

Given the state of my hard floors (only laminate here ) I dread to think what sort of state a carpet would be in by now!

DCs (& their mates) wheel their bikes through the house to the garden, nobody ever takes their shoes off and I'm a slatternly housewife, so there is generally a dustpan full of dirt and fluff every other day. This would all be lurking in a carpet!

I put a fluffy rug down in the sitting room for the winter (sometimes remove it in summer to make it feel more open) and don't have to worry about spills, dropped food or people traipsing in and out. I'd never go back to carpet in the hall/dining room and certainly don't regret having hard floors in the sitting room either.

[JazzAnnNonMouse]

I only have a runner on my stairs, I like the feel of carpet but not the look or maintenance.
Hard wood and tiles throughout my house I love it

[Reastie]

Interesting thread. We've just had Kardean put down in our dining room, kitchen and hall and so far it's great. I'd love to do the whole house . My main concern though if you have floorboards underneath (like we do) it would be problematic if you need to get to any pipework etc under the floor

[FieryChipotle]

Hard floors are the way forward! The only place we have carpet is on the stairs. I have oak wood flooring and it has never been cold and looks great, plus it's easy to clean.

[Jaynebxl]

Another fan of hard floors everywhere. We have only had carpet in the bedrooms in our last two houses. The one before that had a lounge carpet and it was hideously dirty whatever we did. The worst would be carpet in the kitchen I think. I really feel the cold but have never suffered because of a lack of carpets and as others have said a decent rug deals with the cartwheel issue.

[youcantplayonbrokenstrings]

We've got wood flooring throughout the ground floor.

I love it as we have a dog and 2 messy DC.

Our dogs claws don't click clack on the wood floor, though they do on laminate and I agree that that is very annoying!

Our house is draughty in winter though.

[chickabilla]

We had stripped wood floors downstairs inour old house and a mixture of wood, tiles and laminate downstairs in our new house and would never choose carpet downstairs.

The boys (6 and 3) manage to roll around the floor together with no problems and both learnt to crawl and walk on wood.

We never used slippers in the old house but had a rug. I suspect we might need slippers for the new tiled kitchen floor in winter but that's ok, hopefully it will discourage the boys from playing in the kitchen!

[aftermay]

Karndean

[aftermay]

Jar dean is softer than laminate, warmer and quieter. We had this in our last place and we chose it for the noise aspect. We have carpets now which I'm itching to change.

[shockers]

doglover, we have wooden floors downstairs in every room except our sitting room. The noise of claws on floor gets on my nerves, but I am quite intolerant when it comes to repetitive noise (eating noises drive me insane). Nobody else in the house seems to mind, so I think maybe I'm just a bit unreasonable!

[Notonaschoolnight]

When I go to someone's house with carpet its the first thing I notice and I always say "how" in my head when I think about what's been split over my hard floor over the years that's gone on seconds but soaks into carpet, carpet people must have to be so strict with kids and visitors to prevent spilages