Nursery- Wood floor or Carpet?

[ambula704]

Hi all!

I am not pregnant, (or even close really!) but we are thinking about what to do with our guest bedrooms for the future. Right now our living room, hallway, and ONE bedroom has neutral carpet. But for some reason, the opposite bedroom has horrible blue carpet! That is the room I want to use for our future nursery/child's room, but I dont know if we should replace that carpet with the neutral carpet in the rest of the house (if we can find it and match it) or wood floors (that we have in our library and I love.)

I have always invisioned my nursery to have beautiful wood floors and a large area rug...but my question is, which do you prefer & WHY, wood or carpet??

My husband wants carpet...but I want wood! Help!

Either way we are going to replace the flooring...but this is not our forever home, so I have to think about resell...would wood floors in a bedroom be ok?

Thanks in advance!!

[Marisa]

We have wood floors in every room of the house, except one, and I love it. It's very easy to care for -- mostly just sweeping, and then the very occasional wash with Murphy's Oil Soap or something similar.

My biggest concern about carpet in a little one's room would be allergies. Even if you vacuum daily (almost impossible with a tiny baby), if your baby has any kind of sensitivity to dust, etc. they will not be able to spend any time in their room without becoming sick. This happened to a family I knew when I was a librarian; the mom told me of the expense they went through ripping out carpet in all the bedrooms when they discovered her daughter had allergies. (She also had to toss all stuffed animals and the like, but at least those aren't tacked down.)

Wood floors are great for resale too, esp. if they're hardwood and not laminate. (I watch a lot of HGTV. :))

[jennylou]

We have wood floors and I like them.

[ambula704]

Marisa-
Thanks for your input! When I was a child the doctor told my parents the same thing...tear up carpet, get rid of canopy bed, stuffed animals, etc because of my allergies. Thankfully, we had wood floors so that was already done. I had forgotten about that! Great point. And I am definitely not someone that vacuums every day...I know that wont change when I have a baby! Haha!

Jennylou-
Good to know you like your wood floors, thanks for posting!!

[mommydearest]

We have carpet almost everywhere. I can't imagine DD crawling on wood! She is unsteady and falls frequently. We don't let her crawl on the kitchen floor because she still "tips over." Carpet is softer and warmer. I'd trip over a rug.

I vote carpet.

[hub1176]

I like carpet (neutral) for bedrooms. As much as I love my hardwood floors downstairs I wouldn't want my bare feet touching them first thing in the AM.

[betsyboop]

If you're thinking about resale, definitely go with hardwood. That is always mentioned in MLS listings as a feature.

We have hardwood in every room of our house and we love it. In the nursery, we have a 5x8 area rug that covers a fair amount of the floor. I like the look of that a lot better than wall to wall carpet personally. I think of wall to wall as the cheaper/not as nice option for flooring.

Also, I don't know about most people, but we don't actually spend that much time playing in the nursery. She sleeps in there and I'll sometimes feed her in the rocking chair that's in there, but 90% of her play time is in the living room.

[alisong]

We would never have carpet, because of allergy concerns. Our house is all hardwood (actually, the upstairs is softwood, but similar). Also, DS was a super spitter upper until he was 8 months old, and I can't imagine trying to get those stains out of carpet.

[lml41981]

We have carpet in our living areas and I'd prefer wood. Yeah, the crawling can be an issue...but it is healthier, easier to keep clean and more attractive. Also, I don't know if there's any real correlation, but when we were trying to help Natalie learn to walk on our carpet, she struggled for a couple of months. Then, she and I went on a trip to visit family who have stone and wood floors. As soon as I put her down on their floors, she took off and by the end of the two weeks, you couldn't really tell that she had just learned to walk. I think it was possibly due to the firm flooring...

[miaclear]

We have carpet in the nursery and play in there daily. I also have hardwoods in our family room where we play a lot as well. Both have their pros and cons in regards to a baby. The rug in our family room needs more vaccuming than the carpet in the nursery...it sheds so bad. I was less concerned with him pulling up on things in his nursery since there was carpet in there and slipping was not much of an issue. But he's pretty steady now. I'd say just go with what you like, it'll work either way.

[MrsBeckyLP]

And I am definitely not someone that vacuums every day...I know that wont change when I have a baby!

Are you a sweeper then? I've noticed a lot of dust bunnies on our hardwood floors, and it's annoying! But I still love the hardwoods in the hallways, kitchen and dining room. (Don't you have hardwoods elsewhere in your house -- foyer, office? I'm sure you know what I'm talking about regarding dust bunnies.)

We put in carpet, but obviously I can't really say from experience yet what I'd prefer. I just like having carpet in bedrooms. I figure that as our child(ren) get older, they will play in their rooms from time to time, and the carpet will be nice for that. We put in a darker neutral frieze with a few speckles, and I imagine it will hide any stains quite nicely.

FWIW, my brother and Mandi had wood floors in their bedroom for about a year, but when they had all the wood floors in the house refinished this fall, they covered the bedroom up with carpet. They hated the wood floor in their bedroom.

eta: The carpet in the nursery wouldn't have to match the hallway carpet. You can go darker, and it won't look bad.

[Renrel]

We have hardwood with a large area rug in the nursury, now big boy bedroom. The problem we had is we live in a large drafty house/apartment. Because of drafts we ended up covering most of the floor with carpet padding and/or remenants to make it warmer and to cover drafts. Not pretty but comfort and warmth were more important than looks to us. (A side beneift was DS decided that the blue strip of carpet was water and this became a fun part of pretend play.) As a kid my room was the first one carpeted in the house since it was over the garage and thus colder then the other rooms. So while I do love hardwood there are places and reasons for carpet if you don't have allergy issues.

[isign]

I have carpet throughout and I have a dog. I hate lying DS on the floor anywhere except in his room since the dog isn't in there often due to dog fur all over. I can vaccum every day (which I don't) and the livingroom/dog areas still have the fur. I'd love to have wood.

[jh124]

I would go for carpet. My little boy gets banged and bruised.

[Mrs. M.]

Definitely wood. We have all wood floors due to DH's allergies. You can always put down a washable rug for crawling and play. Wood is so much easier to keep clean.

[Chimichanga]

We have carpet throughout our 2 story house.

i've only had carpet in my room growing up, so I never really thought much about having hard wood floors. I would think it would be chilly - but I am in the midwest.

We used to have hardwood stairs and those were dangerous! My sister and I would slip down them in our socks constantly!

[hub1176]

For those of you who have hardwood and say it's easier to keep clean, what do you use? Mine always look streaky and dirty - even after a damp mop.

[gardenmommy]

We have carpet in our living areas and I'd prefer wood. Yeah, the crawling can be an issue...but it is healthier, easier to keep clean and more attractive. Also, I don't know if there's any real correlation, but when we were trying to help Natalie learn to walk on our carpet, she struggled for a couple of months. Then, she and I went on a trip to visit family who have stone and wood floors. As soon as I put her down on their floors, she took off and by the end of the two weeks, you couldn't really tell that she had just learned to walk. I think it was possibly due to the firm flooring...

ITA, completely! Especially about the walking.

We would never have carpet, because of allergy concerns. Our house is all hardwood (actually, the upstairs is softwood, but similar). Also, DS was a super spitter upper until he was 8 months old, and I can't imagine trying to get those stains out of carpet.

I agree again, you never know if you're going to have a super spitter, but any thing even pee or poop from a dropped diaper are easy to clean up.

Here's a pic of our nursery...
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb228/gardenmommy_photos/journal%20photos/P9140022.jpg

We have wood and put in an area rug. I love that we have both, play on the rug with books and puzzles and the wood is still easy to clean. The way I look at it is you can always put a rug over wood, and have the best of both worlds.

[Marisa]

LOL, the great wood vs. carpet controversy! Who knew? :)

We do have a large area rug in Joey's room, I was looking for a good picture and this is the best I've got so far (from 2005):

http://www.treglio.net/album/2005/oct/images/121_2138.jpg

You can see the toys behind him, they're up against the wall. There's only about 2 feet of wood visible around the perimeter of the room, and the rest is the soft carpet (with a foam pad that makes it even softer and keeps it from slipping).

We have a similar large area rug in our living room, and in our basement play area as well. Sweeping is not a huge issue -- I didn't do it as much as I should have at first, I'm sure, but once Joey started walking he wanted to help, and then it became something 'fun'. :) Swiffers are awesome for the dust bunnies (and you can shorten the handle to make it toddler-sized -- Joey has his own!).

[LRL]

I vote for wood/solid surface floors- we have them because DH has terrible allergies. You can always get an area rug for play if it gets drafty or you like rugs under your feet sometimes. The thing that is nice about an area rug is that you can lift it up and clean under it, something you can't do with carpets.

Also, like others have said, the resale value for hardwood floors is much greater than for carpets. Plus, my personal opinion is that wood floors are WAY less upkeep.

[ambula704]

Wow, so many great replies!! Thank you so much, I love hearing different opinions on this! So many things I havent considered yet...so Im still undecided but look forward to hearing more!

Gardenmommy-
I adore your nursery! May I keep your photo for inspiration? Thats what I had invisioned for our someday nursery...wood floor with a nice coordinating floor rug. Beautiful!

[LeslieR]

One thing that I don't think anyone has mentioned is warmth. A carpeted room will always be warmer than a room with wood floors. DS' room has carpet and it's the warmest room in the house (he also gets most of the sun which I'm sure is a big factor in why his room is so warm). Our room has wood floors and is FREEZING all the time. If you live somewhere cold, this is definitely something to consider.

[Jenyfer9]

Wood floors all the way. They have better resale value and are easier and cheaper to maintain.

[mimieliza]

Well, I would have said carpet, but we moved into a house with all wood floors when DD was four months old. Ten months later, I'm all about wood floors! I haven't even bothered to put a rug down in her room like I thought I would.

We put a nice, thick rug in the living room where she did most of her learning to crawl. The phase where she actually tipped over and hit her head from time to time was very short - mostly when she was learning to sit up, about a month, and we just kept her on the rug in the LR or in her crib or on a couple of blankets in her bedroom.

I dislike carpet with pets, and I feel that it is hard to keep clean. I do have to sweep a lot, but at least all that dirt and pet hair gets swept up, rather than just getting down into the carpet where it's impossible to get out.

If you're planning a nursery, I would say wood floors with a nice, soft rug is perfect. :) Oh, and wool rugs are amazingly stain resistant - our LR rug has had all sorts of crap (not literally) spill on it and doesn't have a single stain.

[MrsBeckyLP]

For those of you who have hardwood and say it's easier to keep clean, what do you use? Mine always look streaky and dirty - even after a damp mop.

Mine never look streaky; I just have dust bunnies because I don't sweep enough! I use a microfiber swivel mop -- and use the same thing for "sweeping" or "dusting" the floors -- with a water/vinegar combo in a mist bottle. Mix one part vinegar with about 10 parts water. Spray it on the area you're mopping, but make sure not to get the wood too wet, and go over it with the mop. You just have to be really careful and make sure to absorb all the water you've sprayed down. I often fling a towel over my shoulder and dry or "buff" any streaky areas left behind as I go. It's kind of a PITA and takes me about 90 minutes to do my house, which is why I probably don't do it too often.

[gardenmommy]

Gardenmommy-
I adore your nursery! May I keep your photo for inspiration? Thats what I had invisioned for our someday nursery...wood floor with a nice coordinating floor rug. Beautiful!

Thanks, and by all means go ahead!:D

[aprilshowers]

We love our hardwood floors. DD was a super-spitter-upper when she was little and we always had to avoid walking in the one room that had a carpet when we carried her around since you never knew when it'd hit. She also had a lot of diaper rashes so we let her run around without a diaper a lot of the time which I never would have been able to do with a carpet. I suspect it's going to make potty-training a lot less stressful as well!

MrsBecky - we use one of those Swiffer-type mops (maybe the Clorox one? I can't remember) and don't have streaks. I keep meaning to find something more natural but haven't gotten around to it yet. I know a lot of people use Murphy's Oil or one of the cleaners from Trader Joe's (can't remember the name but I think they only have one).

[SweetRed]

I am pro hardwood floors with area rugs, and someday I will get them!

I will say, though, that I am pretty darned happy with the carpeting that was newly installed in our house before we bought it. It's more of a berber (athough I swear it's too soft underfoot to be actual berber) and it handles wear and tear and dirt SO much better than the standard nylon carpeting we've had in previous homes.

When we first bought the house, the intention was to rip out the brand new carpets and put down hardwood as soon as we could afford it, especially because I have bad allergies. But I haven't noticed any allergy issues at all in this house, so we're putting off the switch until it's actually needed.

Just wanted to throw out there that not all carpeting is created equal :)

[kemorr]

Wood floors all the way. They have better resale value and are easier and cheaper to maintain.


See, I'm not so sure about that in bedrooms. Living areas, yes, definitely. But I live in an area of homes all over the $1M mark and it is extremely rare to find a house that has hardwood in the bedrooms. It's usually hardwood in the living areas/stairs/hallways and carpet in the bedrooms. The exception to this would be if the master bedroom was on the ground floor - the flooring then would be hardwood.

That being said, I have hardwood down and carpet up - so carpet in the bedrooms. When we built our house, I was adamant about having carpet in the bedrooms because at the time we were living in a rental that had hardwood in the bedrooms and there was nothing worse, in my mind, than getting out of bed and feeling grit under your feet. We used to vacuum at least 2 x weekly and we never wore shoes in the house, but my experience was that unless you vacuum daily, dirt and dust accumulate on your hardwood and you feel it on your feet and it is just gross (and yes, I know it's in the carpet too, but at least you can't feel it!).

I do, however, wish that we had bought an area rug to protect the carpet in my DDs room. We have a very upgraded, stain resistant berber in the all the rooms and it is still stained from DDs spit-up, despite several steam cleanings. So, my vote is for carpet, protected by a fairly inexpensive area rug that is easily replaceable.

Allergies, however, are probably the one situation in which I would go with hardwood. But you still have to vacuum very frequently to remove the allergens!

[artist]

I can't stand carpeted floors! The house I grew up in/my parents' house is a beautiful old turn of the century house with the nice wood floors downstairs (and pretty woodwork throughout), but the stairs and all rooms upstairs (other than the bathroom of course) are carpeted. I didn't really think about it or care obviously when I was a little kid that my room was carpeted, but as I got older and my bedroom became my bedroom/space to create artwork, often paintings as well, or drawings with messy loose charcoal, I hated having a carpeted bedroom! I had to have a big old sheet of plastic stuff under my drafting table (yes, from about age 15 or so on, in my childhood bedroom, I did have a drafting table because it was the only thing I wanted that year for Christmas and I also attended an arts high school.) Also, even though my parents tried to avoid the habit of eating or drinking in the carpeted rooms, it obviously still happened. I would just end up bringing a snack up to my room, especially if a friend was sleeping over. (FWIW, my parents weren't all that strict about following or enforcing the no snacks or meals upstairs rule.) Oh yeah, and I do happen to have allergies, but yes, my parents are pretty clean people who vacuum all the time. (And I obviously vacuumed my own room when I was old enough to.)

Anyway, my point is, I can't tell how annoying (and terrifying) it was growing up to try so hard NOT to ever spill when honestly my lifestyle is just prone to spills and stains and mess! At least with a hardwood floor when you spill, even if you spill oil paint or acrylic paint, you CAN get it all off your floor very easily if you immediately deal with the spill! And actually, I have removed wall paint I spilled on the wood floor once in my house when I was super lazy about not using a drop cloth and super lazy about not cleaning my mess until well after it dried and stuck to the floor! I still got the stain out by using my muscles and carefully scraping without scratching the floors with some random metal thing and adding some paint thinner. I know, stupid, lazy, and bad for the floors if you did that a lot, or not carefully. But my point is that at least with hardwood floors you have a CHANCE of cleaning up the scariest of spills! With carpet, good luck! It might never come out, and if it does, it's because you're one of those people who knows which stains come out of which materieals with hot water, cold water, dabbing, not dabbing, adding salt, adding sparkling water, or whatever other random magic secret cleaning tricks people know. Seriously, when I spill on clothes, often I just say, "Screw it! These are painting clothes now I guess!" If I lived in all carpeted house, I'd be scared to move or breathe or eat or do anything at all!

[AlisonCO]

We have wood in our living areas but carpet in the bedrooms and the carpet is so gross with 2 kids and 2 dogs. Last year the kids had a bad stomach flu and the night my DD got it she had spaghetti and strawberries for dinner - so you can only imagine what came out of her and on to her carpetted bedroom floor.:eek: Really that stain plus the one where DS played with orange playdoh in his room are still there despite 2 cleaning people coming to try to get them out. Yes, wood is colder but there are always cute area rugs or even a piece of carpet (that are so much cheaper to replace than a whole room of carpet.) I am SO SO much more relaxed in the wood areas when the kids are eating/painting etc. Both of my kids learned to crawl and walk on mostly wood floors and had no issues.

[catmom]

We have hardwood everywhere in our house except for our staircase. We replaced the upstairs carpeting with hardwood when DD was about 1- when she crawled on the carpet, it would make her eczema worse. I think she was reacting to all the chemicals and dust in the carpet. Plus, I just hate carpet anyway- it's impossible to really get it clean and it harbors all kinds of junk.

As for falling, DD learned to crawl on the hardwood on our main level, and she learned pretty quickly to hold her head up if she fell. That was never really a problem for us.

As an added bonus- hardwood is much easier to deal with when your kid starts potty-training. I can't imagine having to clean pee out of carpet.

Oh- just remembered my friend had carpet when her DD had rotovirus. They had to hire a company to have the carpet professionally cleaned after that since they spent days trying to get it clean unsuccessfully.