dark wood laminate floor grhhhh!!!! scratchs everywhere help!!!!!

[missylea]

I have a dark walnut colour laminate floor in my living room and i ripped up a maple real wood floor to put this down, as the real wood floor dents and scrapes easily! Little did i know that this floor is a nightmare!!! It is so hard to keep looking clean as it is so dark and when the sun shines on the floor you can see scratchs and dent marks all over the floor
I want to rip it up and put something else down. my home is quite contempory, dark wood furniture and white leather settees (i know mad with 3 boys in the house, but had to have it) I was looking at maybe tiling the floor with those extra large white floor tiles but dont know if it would be too cold with the baby and would it be harder to keep?
Does anyone have any suggestions as this is doing my head in
I could wash and wash my wood floor all day and it would still never look the way i want it as you can see the mop and smear marks all over it and now there are scratchs on it with the children (to be expected i know!) it look horrible.

oh no, can't believe you took up a real wood floor lol. it looks best with scratches and dents in!

why not go for carpet? you could do something with a very short pile, in a dark colour? be much nicer for the baby and easier for you to keep clean/nice looking

oh meant to say, I hate tiles. we had them in an apartment we stayed in when we were in Spain and the amount of times ds2 slipped over and bashed his head was ridiculous.

I think you need old fashioned varnish and polish. This would protect the wood surface.
You need to find out how to take the varnish off when it wears out. Do you remember the old school hall floors that kind of stuff.
My mum used to spend a day taking it off and then another re-applying. Don't know the pro and cons I'll ask her.

I know that is the only thing with certain tiles when they get wet they are really slippy! I lifted the maple floor cause it didnt match my colour scheme anymore (i know!) I wanted dark wood furniture and white sofas!
I dont really like carpet, i know it is warm and cosy but my living and dining is all one and it would be a nightmare too to keep clean with the boys eating dinner at the table.
Do you think i would be mad to lift this laminate and put down a dark real wood floor. You would think i was rolling in money the way im talking!!!!

Agree with carpet. There is so much choice out there.

Hi starbear you can only do this on a real wood floor. i have put down a laminate floor now.

Oh! really. I'm glad you brought this up as we are going to put laminate flooring down soon. I suppose it has to be a no shoe policy but I can't see that working in this house too cold.

In your shoes, I would delay doing anything major until the boys are older and the worst of the damage from toys etc is over. I wouldn't opt for ceramic tiles - they're treacherous when wet and very unforgiving if you fall over on them.

As a temporary thing, how about a large rug or carpet (not wall to wall) for the sitting room? There are some beautiful contemporary designs around and I'm sure you can find one to fit your colour scheme.

we have used amtico flooring, guaranteed not to scratch or dent for 25 years!! its a type of vinyl flooring but we have got it in dark parquet wood block style so it looks great