If you asked me pre-kids if I had ever thought about replacing my carpets for wooden floors, I would have laughed in your face. So much so, that when The Hub found the house we’re in now, which is full of wooden floors, I told him that they were the first things that had to go.
But do you know what? Since having the girls I love them. From pushing the buggy into the hallway in the rain to play-doh accidents, my floors can handle everything. Now, what carpet can say that?
Now I know what you’re thinking; wooden floors are cold, cost a fortune and scratch easily, all valid points, but by picking up the right engineered wood flooring, all your prays (well maybe) will be answered.
It’s not just the mess factor too, seriously, it’s funny watching the kids drag each other up and down the house on the wooden floor but then, my kids love nothing more than playing with household items instead of their real toys!
Still not convinced? That’s okay. Here are ten reasons why you should be swapping your carpet for wooden floors if you have kids, and trust me, it will save you money and time in the long run!
- It’s Fun
It is! Sliding round with your socks on, pushing each other around in the wash basket and playing football are easy. Just, er, don’t wear tights, trust me, it hurts.
- Stains
No matter how much you channel Cinderella, not even SHE could get orange vomit out of beige carpet. Genuinely, have you ever tried scrubbing Spaghetti Bolognese stains out of a thousand-pound material or tried to scrap out poo from individual strands of finely woven wool? No? Then trust me it’s not good….
- Cleaning
I get my steam mop out twice a day (okay okay, once a day, maybe); once for breakfast and once for dinner, and use m
handheld vacuum for the crumbs. Compare that to the girls carpeted playroom, which has to be shampooed regularly just to hide all the spillages, it really is a no-brainer.
- Colour
Something I wished I thought about it when decorating the kid’s bedrooms. We went with plain old white for The Eldest’s room, with a pink feature wall. Yep, I was one of those naïve first-time parents who thought that she’d happily play downstairs in her new playroom, not upstairs, with her pre-school mates. Picture a now dirty white carpet with a few wee stains and you’ve got it. Bummer!
The annoying thing is that I made the SAME mistake with The Baby’s room! I went for a pale green looking carpet with light green walls, all great for a baby, but now she’s two, it looks like a baby’s room and won’t go with the Frozen theme she now wants! Doh!
- Maintenance
Cleaning and hovering just aren’t my thing. I don’t have time to wee most days, so things like vacuuming and shampooing my carpet are at the very bottom of my to-do list. I’m lucky if I get to shampoo my hair once a week, so the carpet can forget it.
6. Wear & Tear
As you’ve wo
ked out by now, I’m bad at cleaning, and to be honest, I’m not that good at it. There are times I wish we could all levitate, to stop all the crap coming in from our feet; but weirdly we can’t. Our high traffic areas in our house are our hallway and living room, that I would almost certainly look worn by now, and no amount of shoes off or care could fix. Now, about levitating….
- Dirt
Ever watched that su
per cleaning program with Kim & Aggie? Need I say more? Add kids into the mix and you have a continuous plague cycle that never ends!
- Durability
Carpet just doesn’t last that long. We moved into this house four years ago, and The Eldest’s carpet already needs replacing. Now, you could blame that on her constant need to get out of bed every twenty minutes, but mainly carpet just doesn’t last as long!
- Allergies
Dust. The more you walk on a carpet, the more dust it creates. Carpet holds everything. I mean, do you really know what’s living in your carpet right now??!!!
10. Price
It’s a no brainer really. Think of all the time you will save hovering, shampooing and shouting at the kids to take their shoes off. In all seriousness, there are loads of places that offer discount solid oak flooring, all you need to do is look around.
And trust me, no amounts of happy thoughts will keep you in love with your carpet when you’ve had to clean up the third lot of regurgitated chicken chunks that won’t come out!
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Nexus Flooring. All views expressed are our own. Please refer to our Disclosure Statement for further information on disclosure.
The Pramshed
Friday 3rd of February 2017
I couldn't cope without wooden or tiled floors. We have carpet in our living room and it is so dirty from the little one already eek. But our wooden floor and tiled kitchen have stood up to buggies, shoes, mud etc, I dread to think what state they would be in if they were carpet. Claire x #triballove