Cream carpets - help me convince husband it is a bad idea

[jennifersofia]

Trouble is, we stayed somewhere for a week and we noticed that it still looked quite reasonable after 3 or 4 days, and didn't need to be hoovered every blinkin' night, like our present dark blue carpet. This one needs replacing and dp is keen on beige/cream. I just see me there with the carpet cleaner. Am I right? Suggestions for new flooring? Our dining/living room is all one room. Like the idea of wood (tho' expensive!) but it is a draughty room and kids are always on the floor. What do other people do?

i have cream carpets here from the last occupiers. they are awful. dirt marks where the main 'walkways' are, i can tell where they had their sofa as the carpet is darker where their feet would rest. dd's have soilt juice on it and already is more stained. i hate it!!
but hopefully i will be laying my wood floor this week. which is great as i find it so much easier to sweep every day and spot clean/mop a flooronce a week with a cloth than scrub at a carpet when the kids spill juice/milk. i am planning to get a rug for a play area as it does get a bit cold.

We have one red and one beige wilton rug and have noticed that dirt is easier to see over the dark colour, the red one needs hoovering everyday and it stills looks dirty; the beige one is not as 'beige' as it used to be when we bought it but hides dirt much better (coke stains disapear into it unless I am fast enough to remove the liquid before it gets absorbed) However, we try to avoid walking with shoes over the beige one. We also have a very light blue-grey carpet in the hall and... it's a disaster, it cleans wonderfully (I have removed even gloss paint from it) but it really shows shoe prints if somebody has been walking under the rain. Needs hoovering every day and washing at least twice a year.

I forgot to add, if you like wood but find it expensive (as I do), there are some great laminates in the market which had the look but not the price of real wood and which are easier to mantain as well. However they are still a bit cold, but you can place a rug in the living area for the children to play (which also has the effect of making the room cosier)

have had a cream carpet now have good quality wood laminate,Laminate is fab.My carpet always looked dirty after the first month.

We have a big rug with a pattern around the edge and its brilliant for playing,but the laminate is also great for playing with cars and anything messy as it is impenetrable.I would thoroughly recommend it.

No no no no no no no!

Ours is beige with a slight pattern running through it, fitted 4 years before ds arrived; OK it doesn't show up the 'bits' like a dark carpet does, but it gets filthy in no time, I am on my hands and knees scrubbing it within a week of getting the 'man' in to clean it. Would rather give a carpet a quick going-over with the hoover than scrub it.

well before we moved i'd have said no.

But we had a pale terracotta carpet with a small diamond grove init - it is fab only have to hoover everyother day -

As the groves on hide the bits etc - but still east enough to hoover.

So at the mo we're deciding on the cream for another room -

we just do the basic's - no shoes - drinks on table.
If dd is eating in there then big splash mat goes down and use the little hand held after.

We've had one accident and vanish spray remvoed that stright away

We got a cream carpet throughout and it now looks shabby after only 6 months I only have 1 child and were fairly tidy but still not a good idea.However the 2 rooms we coudnt afford to re do still have the green carpet I hated but they look better than the new cream ones.What about a beige/coir type colour?

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We have laminate thorughout the whole house now, but have a big cream rug in the sitting room - it does look lovely after you have spent a full afternoon cleaning it on your hands and knees (its not that big either!) but is filthy again in no time ... probably doesn't help with puppy and two cats, but after this experience I really wouldn't go anywhere near a cream carpet ever again!

I'm sorry...? Cream carpets? Children? LOL!

one word - Ribena.

Two words - ribena and puke

I'm with Soupy.

We have cream/beige carpets upstairs, which are great - scotch guard (or the substance that has replaced it) is a godsend - it takes a while for any messes to be absorbed - giving me some time to dash for a cloth.

We have all wood floors downstairs, with the idea that spills could easily be mopped up, which they can be, but the sitting just doesn't feel as cosy as it used to, despite a large WHITE rug!!

My sister goes for cream carpets and replaces them 3 years!! Lucky for some

How long do you all expect carpets to last, anyway? Ours are 3+ years old, and don't look great (but must say the cream carpet in the hallway looks esp. awful).

We have got wood. I would never dream of having carpets, at least not cream ones. Just thinking of all the little things which lives in carpets....yuk!

Well we picked beige carpet for our bedroom, thinking that it couldn't get that dirty being a bedroom. Boy were we wrong, every tiny little speck of dirt stands out a mile. We have mid blue living room carpet which looks filthy. We have had it cleaned twice but it doesn't look any better. When we eventually move I am having wooden/laminate floors everywhere.

I really wanted to leave our floorboards stripped when we took up the old carpets, but DH wouldn't have it. We are moving to a rented house that is all hardwood floors, so maybe he will get used to them and decide they're alright, after all.

Agree that carpets, while they can be more comfy & cosy, seem to get much grottier than I would let my tile floors get.

Jennifersofia

Ask your carpet shop for a sample of cream/beige carpet. Now take it home, and walk on it in your outdoor shoes. Spill some ribena on one corner.
Give carpet sample to husband and ask him to get it clean.

After that he won't want a cream carpet !!!

Tomato sauce.

Wow - soooo helpful ladies, thanks! Definitely going to read this out to dp! I like Bron's sheet suggestion...but don't think I could bear it! Oh yeah, forgot to mention that we bring the big 4 wheel pram in and out of the living room 2X day every day. You guys have convinced me anyway. It is just the cold factor with the wood/laminate option that bothers me. Maybe we should just wait and replace carpet after little bab is toilet trained...

You can get very cheap insulating stuff to put down under laminate (or for keen DIY-ers, lift floorboards, put underneath and replace boards before sanding), and then put rugs on top.

Oh, and tip a glass of red wine over casually tonight.

Felt tip pens.