To carpet or not to carpet?

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

I hope you are having a great week.

There are usually many different reasons why we have particular flooring in our homes; design, cost, weather, preference, being just some examples. When it comes to flooring there is certainly a lot to choose from. 

Whenever I have spoken to friends/family about their homes, i've always been quite surprised about how passionate they get over whether to have carpet or not. So with this in mind, I thought I would see what your feelings are on this. 🙂

Are you a fan of carpet in your home or not? Perhaps you have gone for something different for your guests, if your listing is seperate. Why have you chosen your flooring? 

(@Marzena, recently shared about some very clever flooring she has in her listing.)

Personally, I like a mixture! I am a fan of carpet in the bedroom, I like to get out of bed and sink my toes into soft carpet. I also like floor tiles in the kitchen, this way if I spill anything whilst cooking up a masterpiece (ok, just food), then it is quick and easy to tidy up.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Evelyn0]

The horrible carpet from 2010

the laminate floorHardwood and Tiles

My 1890 home is a combination of hardwood floors, laminate, and some tiles. I had wall to wall carpet in the private apartment and no matter how well it was cleaned it never looks clean. So one year I closed down the listing for a few weeks and installed laminate. I wish I did hardwood floors has the laminate doesn't stand the wear and tear of hosting. Even though I do ask guests not to wear shoes, but does wheels on the luggage. The laminate floors do photograph well. 

[Robin-and-Mami0]

I'm a fan of travertine on all floor surfaces and bathroom walls because it's easy to keep clean, is luxurious-beautiful, semi-water proof, feels softer, is slip resistant and relatively easy to repair.  Gian Lorenzo Bernini used travertine to build the famous Colonnade of St. Peter's Square in Rome. Michaelangelo chose travertine as the material for the external ribs of the dome of St Peter's Basilica.  Typically travertine is imported from Turkey.  In the US we can get it for ~ USD$3 per sq ft excluding installation.   Pests including cockroaches and bedbugs nest in carpet. It holds dust, odors, oil and sticky substances are much more difficult to see and remove - requires expensive labor intensive frequent cleaning with large machines that can damage furnishings and deal with water.  Travertine is as easy to install as ceramic tile.  In the bathroom moisture eventually penetrates and deteriorates walls painted with latex paint.  Travertine clad walls will never peel.  If you want or need to warm up a floor clad in travertine just use area throw rugs. Travertine can have anything from a dull finish to a polished finish.  Individual tiles can be repaired or replaced without looking patchy unlike carpet, laminate and easier than wood.

[J-Renato0]

No carpet. Tiled floor is the best option for any room.

[Huma0]

Tiled floors might be ideal in some climates, but for UK, they're only really suitable for bathrooms and maybe kitchens. I agree with most of the posts here that carpet is unhygenic. I have rugs in some areas to cosy them up, but these are only put out in the winter.

@Lizzie  I can see the appeal of a cosy carpet in a bedroom, but with three cats, that's not really an option for me and I think a nice rug next to the bed does just as well...

My house was covered in very old carpet when I first bought it. It was unbelievable just how dirty and disgusting it was. It had to go. Luckily, underneath it was the original Victorian floorboards (in most of the house anyway), which were sanded and re-varnished. They are not perfect, but I like them. Here is the living room with the Victorian floorboards and the 'Winter' rug:

The ground floor was concrete and either had old carpet (in the hallway) or a very cheap, nasty looking 'laminate effect' lino in the kitchen diner. Here, I had solid oak parquet put in, which I think is in keeping with the period of the house. I also put the parquet in the family bathroom, because the floorboards there were too rotten to save. In the other bathrooms, I have used tiles on the floor and the two that I recently had redone have underfloor heating too.

Here is the parquet in the bathroom:

[Sarah977]

Very nice @Huma0.  Another flooring option in some areas of the world is smooth cement- it can be colored, looks lovely and feels great underfoot, super easy clean, but of course is cold in wintery climates and requires area rugs. Also requires specialized tradesmen.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977

Thank you! Not sure if smooth cement is the same thing as what we call polished concrete here? If so, yes, it can look really nice and I believe you can have it done in just about any colour. It is expensive and, as you say, cold, but maybe a good choice for contemporary kitchens.

I also like tadelakt, which is a Moroccan method of plastering that is waterproof. It can look great when used on bathroom or wetroom walls and floors. Like the concrete, it comes in many colours, but has a nice patina to it too. Again, you need a specialist to do this for you.

I thought about doing it in my own wet room, but I was worried about the lack of access to plumbing, should anything go wrong. At least with tiles, you can remove a few to access the pipes and then replace them. With tadelakt, I think it would be costly to repair.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  Yes, polished concrete is what I was referring to.

By the way, I love your sanded down wood floors, imperfect as they are. I much prefer things with history and character to modern perfection. My 100 year old house in Canada had a staircase that had been painted with several layers of that old lead-based paint which seemed to only come in 4 horrific colors- hospital green, putrid peach, sickly beige and dirty pink- the whole house had those colors when I bought it. The staircase also had ancient lino runner tacked to it- the embossed kind that had collected about a half century of grime (who designs these things that can't be cleaned?). We pulled up the lino, sanded down the stairs, not knowing what we'd find underneath, only to find beautiful yellow cedar. With a few coats of sealer, it still looked old and worn but beautiful. I painted the risers, which were impossible to sand, in deep turquoise, which looked great with the walls I had painted in caramel.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977

The wood has come up beautifully. I bet you're glad you went to the effort. Did you sand and seal the stairs yourself or get a contractor to do it?

My stairs are the only bit the builder didn't sand and varnish. Although he said ALL the flooring would be included in his quote, he later claimed that I had told him I was going to carpet them. I never would have said such a thing in my life, so that was a blantant lie!

Anyway, the later quotes I got to do this (including reinstating some of the steps that were replaced by previous owners with scaffolding board!!) are around £5,000. I simply cannot afford this, so I guess I'll just have to tackle them myself. I can't replace the scaffolding ones, but want to have a go at restoring the rest.

There are just soooo many of them (it's a four storey house) and layer upon layer of paint. I tried paint stripper already, but that didn't work. It just made it look worse. Also worried about trying to sand the fiddly bits like the risers. Painting those sounds like a good solution.

Here's one flight. You can just see the scaffolding board ones at the top.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  Yeah, gotta love it when the contractors claim "oh, that wasn't included in the quote". Unfortunately, you have to get everything nailed down in writing prior, no matter what a great rapport you feel you have with your contractor.

I was lucky in that my boyfriend at the time was a carpenter, so he helped me renovate a lot of the house. As I recall (it was 30 years ago) we just used a side grinder with a sandpaper wheel attachment for the treads and I sealed it myself. The hardwood floors of course required a big sander rental- they weren't painted, thank goodness, just worn, stained, and had old yellowed varnish in the non-traffic areas. And I always used a water based sealer with no toxic fumes, several coats.

But ouch, 3 flights of those beautiful wide stairs of yours! That would be quite an undertaking, not to mention create a huge mess for quite awhile. I think if it were my place, I'd consider just sanding any really rough spots by hand, then painting them. That way it could be a work in progress and not too disruptive- just do a few stairs per weekend. Hopefully you'd live long enough to get to the top 🙂

It's curious- way back when, everything was just the natural wood. Then around the 40's, apparently the way you showed that you weren't poor was that you painted all the wood (See, we can afford paint!) Then in the 80's-90's everyone was stripping all the paint off to get back to the natural wood. Then around the new millenium, I saw a trend in the house mags to be painting all the wood again, mostly white.

I never try to keep up with any trends, just do what is appealing to me.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977

Yes, you are right re contractors! It was a rookie error on my part. The quote was pages long already as it was a massive project, and I thought 'floors throughout' meant throughout! Well, it did actually, but later they decided they couldn't be bothered because they were behind with everything.

I agree, trying to completely rennovate the stairs on my own would be a nightmare (oh for a carpenter boyfriend!) so just trying to get them reasonably smooth enough to paint might be the best option. That is what my neighbours have done and their stairs were in a much better state than mine to start with.

Trends do change though. When I was growing up, everyone had carpet, often even in the bathrooms (yuck). Actually, there was a dark red shagpile carpet in the bathroom when my parents bought their house! Luckily that has long gone and is now tiled. 

Someone did spend a lot of time/money having most of the doors in my house (and there are many of them) stripped back in the 80s. It's a shame they didn't do that with the stairs!

[Kelmany0]

I am struggling with the same decision and as I read the responses I realized it wasn’t a decision to make. We are renovating our basement. It’s a new construction home and the cement floor is in perfect condition so we are considering polishing and staining the cement and using area rugs. I first thought I should carpet for warmth but knowing the two rooms we are making will be exclusive to Airbnb I think we are polishing and staining. Any input is appreciated. Kelmany 

[Kimberly54]

Hi @Kelmany0, I think polished, stained cement is SO ELEGANT and SEXY! 

Go for it! (Even with the area rugs)!

Best,

[Lizzie]

Aw love your comment @Kimberly54. I agree, it creates a great look in the right space. 🙂

[Susan10]

I have both hardwood and carpet.  It's true that it seems easier to clean hard wood (especially cat hairballs and pet throw up) but it aint all that.  I have warped pieces, gaps and plenty of scuff marks that won't come out.  Then there's the time when I dropped a heavy metal object and it left a gash in the wood floor.  Pet stains on hardwood look just as bad as on carpet.  I think you are fooling yourself if you think sand/dirt doesn't filter down underneath a hard wood floor.  All floors have to be replaced eventually, whether carpet or wood.

[Kimberly54]

Okay, @Susan10!  Life just happens.  I like to call it 'God's Patina.'  When I install one of my outdoor bronzes, it will NEVER LOOK THE SAME WAY AGAIN!  The atmospheric schmutz, the bird poop--I don't care how many times someone cleans it--that becomes part of its beauty.  Truly.  Time ages everything, and we need to see that beauty too!

Hardwood floors can be sanded and re-sealed (if you really WANT to), and a whole heck of a lot easier than ANY carpet can even be cleaned, but what's the need to fuss about something as easy as a more-or-less hard surface?  Heck, even concrete has pores/holes in it, unless it's sealed!

At some point, we need to be okay with the way things age, over time. 

Hey, >200-year-old buildings are soooooo yummy!  (There are probably DEAD PEOPLE stuffed away somewhere!)

Best!