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Home decoration

Will I regret putting hard floors down throughout the downstairs?

62 replies

IHeartKingThistle · 06/08/2013 18:29

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?

OP posts:

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OhYouBadBadKitten · 07/08/2013 08:05

If you have joined up neighbours then please consider putting sound proofing stuff down before you lay a hard floor. The noise difference coming from our neighbours house when they went over to laminate was unbelievable. We can now hear their conversations, lights being turned on etc.

tanukiton · 07/08/2013 08:08

Look into floor heating it is fab!! It has moved on and can be quite easy to get installed

Rooners · 07/08/2013 08:09

My mother put vinyl flooring in her living room and tbh it was terribly ugly imo.

Not sure what Karndean is like, but I do prefer wood and tiles to carpet generally with rugs of course.

We have a large ground floor flat (well it was large before I had 3 children!!) and the only room with proper carpet is the big bedroom, because it has very wonky and gappy floorboards all stained with paint, and we had so little time to put anything down that I bought a huge cheap roll from the local crap carpets R us shop, and 5 years on it is horrid. But thankfully we can't see it most of the time!

Ds1's little room has carpet tiles, same reason, no time to choose anything. They are hard wearing though ugly.

In fact the first thing we did was rip up all the filthy carpets. The hall still needs a proper floor but it's boards with a large rug over most of it - the living room is lovely floorboards with a massive cheap old Indian rug, I oiled the boards first, they are dark wood. One day I'll take up the rug but ds3 is crawling right now. (or trying to)

Dining room is now slate tiles, with rug, the kitchen is ceramic tiles I laid myself (LOVE it for cleaning purposes) and one bathroom has heavy duty vinyl, the other one ceramic tiles again.

You can't go very wrong with natural materials. Carpets are often very hard to keep looking nice.

DwellsUndertheSink · 07/08/2013 08:19

we only have carpet in the hall, and in DHs study- and I am desperate to change the hall carpet to hardwood as the carpet just will never get over the puppy peeing on it.

IHeartKingThistle · 07/08/2013 10:09

Ok you've convinced me! OYBK it's ok, we're not attached. Just got to save up now...and choose a huge rug!

OP posts:

cardoon · 09/08/2013 16:03

So pleased to see this thread! We are going for Karndean, van gogh, in aged kauri throughout - what 'wood' do you have?

MadAboutHotChoc · 09/08/2013 16:22

Have always had hard flooring downstairs ever since we bought our first home - we usually go for wooden though. Practical, full of character and easy to clean.

IHeartKingThistle · 09/08/2013 17:06

I think it's French oak - light colour anyway. We were set on dark flooring but got samples in and the light colour was just perfect for the house.

OP posts:

cardoon · 10/08/2013 08:19

Did you have any issues with the fitting - kick boards in kitchen no longer fitting/having to shave doors, for example? We're having to have 9mm ply unfortunately.

IHeartKingThistle · 10/08/2013 08:27

No, but I think they just put latex straight onto the concrete.

OP posts:

mamapants · 10/08/2013 08:44

Focusing on the important point of your OP, why is your DD worried she won't be able to do cartwheels without carpet? That's confused me.

Also agree I much prefer no carpet downstairs. Me and DP are both very good at spilling wine. I've never found it cold, although my sister has complained she finds the kitchen and bathroom floor cold. But we will still be having hard floors in our new house. Wood in livingroom and study, slate in kitchen and bathroom.

doglover · 10/08/2013 08:45

I'm not convinced! We've just moved into a house with tiles in the kitchen and (cheap) laminate in the bedroom (?) and the clickety-clack noise of our dogs' claws is driving my dh mad!! It's a bungalow so we can hear the noise a lot and it is irritating.

How do the rest of you who have dogs find this issue?

I'd prefer to have a hard floor in the lounge when our renovations are done but there's no way this will happen with our current dilemma.

TIA

Notonaschoolnight · 10/08/2013 08:49

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

shockers · 10/08/2013 08:54

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!

aftermay · 10/08/2013 09:04

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.

aftermay · 10/08/2013 09:04

Karndean

chickabilla · 10/08/2013 12:22

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!

youcantplayonbrokenstrings · 10/08/2013 12:26

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.

Jaynebxl · 13/08/2013 07:54

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.

FieryChipotle · 13/08/2013 07:58

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.

Reastie · 13/08/2013 08:04

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

JazzAnnNonMouse · 17/08/2013 14:14

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

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TwoStepsBeyond · 17/08/2013 14:35

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.

Jaynebxl · 18/08/2013 09:19

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!

MadeOfStarDust · 18/08/2013 09:28

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.....

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