Can anyone help with our carpet dilemma?

[sphil]

The carpet in our sitting room is cream. It was in good condition when we moved in, but a year later and it looks terrible, largely as a result of the DSes going around in bare feet, spilt drinks, wee etc. and partly down to me NOT being housewife superstar and hoovering it twice a day.

Dh and I were going to wait until DS2 was toilet trained before getting a new one, but it's getting to the stage where it looks so awful that we must do something about it, and Ds2's toilet training isn't exactly progressing atm anyway...

So - we need to find a carpet that is hardwearing and as stainproof as possible - preferably in dark green, which would suit the paintwork. Any recommendations - or tell me what NOT to buy!
Thanks - have posted this here because I know you lot have experience of stains but may post it in products or something as well. Daren't put it on that housework thread - too ashamed of my hoovering skills....

Well we have wooden floors - the best investment ever with 2 children and 2 cats

we have just got wood flooring as our carpet was like yours, we had just finished potty training dd1 and knowing we still had to do dd2 we thought wood would be best. I sweep it each day which is alot less work than hoovering.

Mottled patterns - not dark -not too light (with stainguard) are better at hiding marks thats what we have in ds room (with strategic washable rug for thrown nappies/ accidents!! Rest is wooden floors, with some washable rugs- but the same problem as you in the lounge - disgusting cream complete with blackened juice drips!

would agree with wood floors (or even the dreaded laminate - we have a great laminate in our dining room)

we are about to re-do our downstairs (hopefully getting downstairs loo - ready to start with the potty training) and will be getting rid of our disgusting ex-cream carpet (why oh why do people lay cream carpets in the first place?)

Sounds like my hoovering skills are the same as yours - i can recommend a Roomba!

Wood would be best, but the room is freezing and I think it would just make it too cold for comfort. Magso - I am strangely comforted to know that you have blackened juice drips too .

Have you thought about underfloor heating?

we have it under our laminate, and it works brilliantly

Would be perfect SF but probably too expensive?

hmm, maybe. Depends on room size, and what type you go for.

Both rooms we have it in 9dining room and bathroom) it was added in as just one more expense as we were rebuilding the rooms both times.

I know the stuff we have in the bathroom was a lot cheaper than the stuff we used in the dining room (could prob find links to both if you want to try pricing it up?)

Thanks SF - when you've got time! Room is 5x5m approx

We have wood but with rugs that cover most of the floor, it's a bit warmer than just the wood plus if you get cheapish rugs can be replaced more often than carpet - or taken outside to clean...plus can sweep things underneath

Hmm - we are definitely considering this now - I like the idea of sweeping stuff underneath

we have washable wool rugs - sheepskin. They come up great in the tumble dryer

We have have wood floors too and just put a big rug in the middle for a bit of cosiness. Floor is completely stain-free. No juice, food, sick, dribble etc. Or red wine!

Laminate here, with a rug.

we have real wood flooritg with off cut of carpet made to look like rug can be cleaned or chucked out and replaced

flooring

we used this type for our dining room. I think it was fairly pricey, but not sure of exact amount as was all part of a huge knock-through/re-build. They are really helpful on the phone, and the beauty of it is you can do all the laying yourself (should you want to), as they send a plan, and then just get an electrician to wire up at the end. The mats really are foolproof, and it seems efficient enough.

Have forgotten to bring the bathroom type's instructions downstairs, so will have to let you know later.

Both rooms are really cosy with the underfloor heating, and our house is usually freezing! (can't wait to get the next room done!)

Lots to think about here. Cyber - sheepskin would be very popular here - DS2 LOVES it!
SF - was the installation very disruptive? Am very drawn to the idea as the room is so cold in winter - it has three outside walls and all the radiators are under the windows.

In our cae it was, as we had major work being done.

With the dining room, we had, at the time (I was 6 months pregnant with dd2, dh was in hospital for a couple of back to back serious ops): one chimney taken down throughout the house, windows put inot our loft room, a room built for dd2, two rooms knocked through to make dining room (incorporating jackhammering out a 2ft depth of concrete over half the floor) and a couple of doors blocked up/knocked though. oh, and a new boiler and 3 radiators moved (on top of the ones taken out in the dining room).

so, relative to all that, no it wasn't very disruptive

in all seriousness, it took a day and a half to lay both underfloor and laminate. the room is about 16ftx12ft.

the bathroom took about the same, because, despite smaller area, we had to keep out while the tiling adhesive stuff dried. again, the bathroom had been out of action for 2 weeks by this point, so again, from our pov it was minimal!

marmoleum might be worth a look? We lifted our cream carpet recently (rented house) and are planning on painting the floor, we have a lovely thick rug too.

(Ooh I'm glad I'm not the only one bunging my sheepskin rug in the washer - but haven't tumbledryed it!)

SF - we did all that in our old house! Hellish while it's happening (I was pg too!) but worth it in the end. The underfloor heating doesn't take long at all -will talk to DH - he has dreams of a wood-burning stove, but honestly don't know how we're going to shoe-horn all the furniture around it!
Thanks for link Aefondkiss - have bookmarked. Not far from us either! I like the look of the "tuscan' wood floor.