Over the weekend, we moved around furniture and did some bed swapping between the kids’ rooms. The process reminded me of a truth I already knew. Carpet is not made for kids’ rooms. I’ve tried covering ours with rugs, but there’s no way around it. It’s guh-ross. If someone knocks on my door and hands me a bag full of money today, putting hardwood floors in every bedroom will be the first project on my list.
I used to think that hardwood floors in a bedroom seemed cold. I’m over that now. Besides being impossible to keep clean, I can only imagine what the carpet is not doing to help our allergies. . . Do you have hardwood floors in your bedrooms—or have you recently put them in? Curious about your experience, cost and general feedback.
We have wood through our entire home (minus the 2 tiled bathrooms) It’s some of the best money we’ve ever spent! We moved in a new house with new (builder grade) carpet…. after 1.5 years of living in it with 2 dogs, we knew something had to give! Hubby pulled it all up and replaced it, so worth it!
Will he come do mine???
hahaha good luck with that, there’s still ONE piece still not put in from 4 years ago at our house!
Thank goodness- someone on my side! Our house had carpet upstairs when we moved in and I am trying to convince my husband to replace with hardwood. He thinks it’s cold as well but I think it’s a better investment(such a pain to replace carpet over and over). I vote hardwood
First of all I will say that it is only my husband and myself. No children. We have hardwood in all the main rooms and our master bedroom. There are two carpeted rooms in the house – the other two bedrooms (one is used as an office, the other as a guest bedroom). We are planning on putting in hardwood in those two rooms within the next year. I have allergies and even if I didn’t I think I will always think of wood/tile, etc. floors being cleaner than carpeted floors. When pulling up carpet, no matter how good you have cleaned, there is still “stuff” deep down in the carpet backing. Wood floors are always my first choice!
We replaced all the carpet in our home with hardwood 5 years ago. The kitchen, bathrooms and laundry room stayed tiled. I’ve never been a carpet person and I’m so happy we did it! I love the warmth that wood floors give to a room. It hasn’t really saved time cleaning the floors since I first vacuum or swiffer then wash with Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner. But with two daughters with long hair and two cats, the hardwood definitely gets cleaner than the carpet ever did. We put area rugs in some rooms but not all. My older daughter actually prefers her bedroom without an area rug. I don’t remember the cost but it wasn’t cheap. We saved money by removing the carpet, padding, and tack strips, and installing the new shoe molding ourselves as well as spray painting the floor registers rather than buying wood ones. Good luck with your decision!
We have hardwood in every bedroom and NO carpet. With dogs and cats and visiting nieces and nephews it does keep the house so much cleaner. For warmth rugs do the trick and you CAN deep clean a rug. Its so worth the money and I think adds so much to a home. Go for it!
Carpet is gross. Especially moving into a home with someone else’s used carpet. Our home is about 50/50 wood floors and carpeted floors, with tile in the bathrooms. I would replace all carpet with wood without question, if not for the darned money issue. :)
I had hardwoods throughout the last home that I custom built. After seeing the quantity of dust/hairballs that collected under the bed in only one week’s time (and seeing how difficult it was to hit all the spots when vacuuming it all up) I vowed I would never have carpet in a bedroom again. Unfortunately, I’ve moved three times since living in that home and am back to carpet in the bedrooms. I know the carpet under my bed is probably a petri dish of dust, dander, and pet hair. It was easy to see the where I missed when vacuuming hardwoods, but is impossible to know on carpet.
You’re in my head. This has been a huge topic of conversation around here. We think we want to pull the trigger and ditch the carpet . . but there is so much of it and the idea of moving everything is giving me hives. Why don’t you go first! ;)
We built our house in 2007. Every room, including the kitchen and bathrooms have hardwood floors. I’ve lived with carpeting before and knew there would be no carpet anywhere. All 2700 hundred square feet – nothing but hardwood floors. I absolutely love them. Even when they need cleaning (which is super easy) they don’t look like they need cleaning. Yes, the dust bunnies come around and hop from place to place at times, but unlike carpeting I can see them easily and am certain they suffered death by vacuum. Most rooms have rugs but not all. My grand daughter has ridden her tricycle on them, has started at the back door running and slid on her knees all the way across the room. Doing all this and more with cousins and friends in tow. These floors have seen two weddings (100 plus people at each), countless bbq’s, birthday parties and showers with no noticeable scratches. All this said, I am particular about them. Every piece of furniture has felt tabs (if I want to move a piece of furniture, including beds and armoires I can do it by myself). You will not be disappointed in the life of a hardwood floor. They truly can be your best friend when it comes to durability and beauty. Have fun selecting the floors!
I’m 100% behind wood flooring. However, I do believe (and I may be the only one) that it depends on the carpet. I grew up in a home that for 20 years had the same builder grade gray carpet in the upstairs bedrooms. Now I realize that my mom is a cleaning nazi, but I didn’t notice it then. When the house was put up for sale, the carpet guys who replaced the gray couldn’t believe the carpet was as old as it was because it looked so great. However, we lived on the replacement high-end, patterned cream carpet for just one year and it was so disgusting that it had to be replaced AGAIN before the new owners took possession.
That story isn’t helpful at all. :) Wood floors!
DO IT! We have all wood floors except in our bathrooms (tile). When we moved in, we replaced the white (!) carpet in the bedrooms with wood floor — so so happy we did. Installing floors is a dusty, dusty job, despite the best efforts of our floor guys, so was glad to do it before we moved in. We do use area rugs, but I send them to the dry cleaner twice/year to get a good scrub (about $35 per rug).
We had some complications that added more $$ (we had cement that needed to be jack-hammered out of the floor to finish the wood) but without those, the cost would have been $3,500 total for two 14×14 bedrooms. I highly recommend a floor “craftsman” over Home Depot/Lowes – he went the extra mile to match them to our other floors, hand stained, etc. Hope that is helpful!
I agree! Carpet does help absorb acoustics so it has that going for it, but area rugs help with that! Wood is pricey but a great investment in the home. My family is in the flooring industry and one thing I’ve learned working there is don’t go super cheap when it comes to wood or any flooring. The big box stores and liquidation stores have very low quality wood (and installers for that matter). You’ll end up paying a huge investment for floors that wont last and look terrible after just a few years (if not sooner). It’s worth it to go to a good flooring retailer. And honestly, the pricing ends up being about the same once it’s all said and done, and you end up with better quality.
In our old house, we couldn’t afford to replace the carpet in the kids’ room with hardwood, so we used composite tile like you see in grocery stores. After potty training my oldest, I swore no more carpets, ever.
In our current home, we’ve had to replace the carpet with hardwood and tile as we can afford it. The stains, odors and shredded edges from somebody else’s pets are just nasty.
When our daughters left home, we pulled up the carpet in their rooms to replace with new carpet. Even though we had them cleaned every other year, there were stains that just wouldn’t come up. (nail polish, markers, etc). What I didn’t expect were the sub-floor stains. There were spots that looked like science experiments with mildewy growth! I cancelled the carpet order, and we sanded and painted the sub-floor with Kilz. It stayed that way for 3 months until we had the money to put hardwood. Kids are gross-do it!
We’ve used the carpet in our older home as a drop cloth when we painted, then ripped it up and had the wood floors refinished. The filth that had collected under them would have filled a small sandbox! The only thing good about it was that it had protected the wood floors very well, and they refinished beautifully. The polyurethane finish has held up to two kids very well, although it could use a “screen and poly,” which is the finishers’ ways of saying a light redo.
I remember my father-in-law saying at the time: “Why don’t you put in some nice carpet?”
UH, NO! Wood floors are wonderful, and depending on the finish, very easy to keep up.
I guess I am in the minority, because I love carpet in a bedroom! We recently moved… the old house had brand new wall to wall carpeting in the bedrooms and hardwoods throughout the main living spaces. Now we have hardwoods everywhere in our new house and I truly miss having carpet in my bedroom! I just felt like our room was “cozier” with carpet. I have two little ones (5 and 2) and I also find that sound really travels much more with hardwoods-even with area rugs! That being said, I know that hardwoods are beautiful
I agree :). It’s just too cold on the feet! I have five kids too and the noise on hardwoods as they run in the hall and on the stairs is just too much. When we added on and redid every square inch we put hardwood on the main level and carpets upstairs. Also we do NOT eat in our bedrooms,so no food stains etc. and i have enough space for the kids to craft etc. downstairs on the hardwood floors.
We renovated last year and pulled up every square inch of carpet and replaced with wood. I have tile in the utility and wet areas of bathrooms – everywhere else is wood. My husband agreed to the wood …kicking and screaming. But he tells me regularly just how much he enjoys the wood now that he’s lived with it a while. Even in the kitchen! This is going to sound weird, maybe, but one of the things I really love about cleaning the wood is how quietly it can be done – as opposed to vacuuming. I can do it when everyone in the house is sound asleep.
We have a two story house and I was afraid of the noise factor but it hasn’t been an issue.
I don’t have a lot of rugs, either. I longed for the wood so long I don’t want anything to cover it up.
We have hardwood floors and FLOR (carpet tile) area rugs that are easy to vacuum and we can switch out a tile or two if we get a stain or spill. As for cold floor — that’s what cozy slippers are for!
When we bought our old home, it had wood floors throughout the house expect for tile in the bathrooms. We carpeted the bedrooms because I thought the wood seemed cold too and our kids were young and would play on their floors. 12 years later, we have pulled all the carpet out except for in one bedroom. That carpet is being pulled out this weekend. I agree, it is gross! A carpet-less house hasn’t been cold or noisy (other than the creaky floors). I say go for it!
We just ripped out all of our flooring on our lower level (1400 sq ft) and it was life changing! I would do my upstairs in a heart beat! Too bad my budget is now gone for a while. I too cover most of the carpet upstairs with area rugs. But with 3 cats, 2 younger kids and a dog it has definitely taken a toll. It’s definitely on my wish list. Some day…
Your new headshot is STUNNING! Like…is this your modeling head shot? Love it :)
Ha! Ummm, yeah, sure :)
We’re going with hardwood floors for our bedrooms in the new house. It’s one very worthy upgrade that we’re willing to dish out. We’re not very diligent cleaners, and seeing dust on the dark wood floors would be a nice reminder it’s time to vacuum. Area rugs add nice texture to wood floors and make the room look more pulled together. For our son’s room, I’m thinking of using the FLOR carpet tiles as an area rug… like you said, kids are gross, and carpet tiles make it easier to change out any grossness.
I used to agree. Then moved into a house with laminate floors upstairs. I can’t stand how sound travels (despite area rugs) or difficulties with furniture layout. I just priced putting carpet upstairs and plan to next month. I can’t wait. Planning on carpeting the hallway. Then in five years when I put in hardwood downstairs (all laminate and different in every room ) I’ll replace the hallway carpet with wood but leave the bedrooms. It’s only $300 to do the hall now so figure fine investment for a few years for sound and flow. I’ve also found it’s just as expensive as nice rugs to fit the bedrooms. I bought a cheaper rug on overstock for one room and it still won’t stop shedding. Money I would have spent on area rug for third bedroom will instead cover wall to wall in that room. I also prefer large rugs vs small rugs in bedrooms and soft for young children.
I struggled since all you hear is hardwood and resale etc. But finally realized I liked the other and have to live in the house now.
Hi, I’ve been a longtime reader but don’t think I’ve every commented, love your blog! Re. hardwood floors in the bedroom:
Both of my boys have allergies & our house has all hardwood floors. I feel like their allergies are much better without carpet. The hardwood floors are very easy to maintain too! The only issue we ran into was that we needed to add small area rugs so the kids had a place to sit down & play.
When we bought our house, the entire house was carpeted except for the really retro hexagon tiles in the bathrooms and the ugly vinyl in the kitchen. We saved and spend the $10k to do the entire first floor (~1200 sq. ft.) which includes our master bedroom in 3/4″ white oak.
We were fortunate in that we don’t have any kids yet, so no one really goes upstairs. The carpet we did have was actually very nice and soft. My husband did the tear out himself, which included the carpet, padding, and particle board. It saved us about $1000, but he said he would never do it again.
He has redone the stairs himself and we have enough wood left to do our upstairs hallway. We do have a bonus room that we will utilize as a playroom when the time comes and that’s definitely getting some cheaper wood flooring for easy clean up.
I grew up in a cold house in Georgia with wood floors; no central heat. I use to visit my well heeled friends home with central heat and carpet. I thought it was lush and warm and soft. When I grew up and had a home with central heat and carpet I thought I was in heaven. It was so soft and inviting and warm. I still love carpet in most rooms but now I do realize it needs to be really good carpet with really good padding ,and often expensive to weather the years. My kids were not that messy and no pets in the house so I guess this makes a real difference. Also, I feel wood floors are a trend that will circle around in years to come. Actually I like the combination of wood floors and carpet in a home. I think they both have a real beauty that compliment each other.
We pulled up the carpet in the two kids’ rooms one summer and replaced it with varied width pine flooring, then I painted it with floor enamel. Last summer we did the hall – one more bedroom to go, and I will be carpet-free. Doing it this way was more manageable financially, plus we could shuffle furniture without having to do the whole upstairs at once. Cleans with a damp mop, repaint if something huge happens. We had a stomach virus last winter that made me love it all over again!
Our last house had hardwoods in the bedroom and we loved them. So much easier to keep clean. I have bad allergies and it really is easier to clean an area rug and hardwood floors than wall to wall carpet.
When it was time to recarpet the house I struggled. House #2 we put wood in the family room and it was cold!! We sit on the floor so the family room in house #3 is carpet, beautiful fluffy Karastan carpet. The kids rooms we put in laminate ourselves and it was the best thing ever!!! The dog hates the hardwood stairs to the basement so the stairs on the main floor stayed carpet just for her. The sacrifices we make!!!
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YES to hardwood floors. Single mom here & I did every room in my house. Back breaking but it certainly saved $$$. It can be done with lots of planning & patience. Probably the best DIY project I have ever done. Save the stairs for the pros but the rest? Total DIY project.
When we bought our house we ripped up all of the carpet & put down hardwood. It was not as expensive because my husband, son & I installed it but we had it sanded & finished by professionals. I love it & would do it again if we ever move. I use rugs in the living room & bedrooms. I say you should go for it!
We custom built our new home AND installed carpet in our bedrooms. If one vacuums and cleans the carpet regularly, cleanliness is not an issue. We do have two dogs which are not allowed on our bedrooms. Getting out of bed and landing on a warm surface is so much better than landing on cold hardwood.
My home is built on a slab so we had to install engineered hardwoods. We selected a Shaw Hickory with a hand scaped look. I thought it would hide any potential scratches. And the lighter color hides dust. Always a bonus.
Best decision I ever made. I was getting tired having carpet cleaners come in every 6 months to shampoo. That gets expensive. I found a website that sold my flooring waaay cheaper than what my local flooring stores sold it for. And a friend recommended their contractor who was very affordable.
And if your feet are cold, you can wear socks or slippers.
Completely agree. We replaced our nasty builder grade carpet ten years ago with Pergo wood laminate floors, and I have never regretted it. I sometimes wish it was real hardwood, but we’re on a slab, so we really can’t get solid plank hardwood, which is what I would want. The laminate we have was the highest grade available when we bought it, so it’s nice for laminate, and it’s very low-maintenance. We have had to replace it in one bedroom when our hot water heater leaked, but it wasn’t that expensive, and my husband and dad were able to DIY it. As far as how it works as a bedroom floor, I am perfectly fine with it. It’s SO much easier to keep clean than carpet. Also, I can slide the furniture around so cleaning under and behind is easier, as is making the beds. My oldest son really likes carpet, though, and always talks about how comfy his friends’ bedrooms are. I think I just need to get a larger, more plush area rug for him. That’s another great thing about not having wall-to-wall carpet — you can accessorize with rugs and change them out whenever you want. :)
Our house was built in the 50’s so it has hardwoods throughout…I love the look and it feels clean and fresh…beautiful images!
Just this summer we pulled up all the carpet upstairs and put down hardwood floors. Now every room on the top floors is hardwood or tile and I could not be happier. (We do have carpet in the basement for no other reason than warmth on the floor.) The look is warm and inviting. We paid extra money for the paper lining (I cannot remember the name of that product) that goes down under the flooring (on top of the subfloor). This was used to absorb some of the sound as well as act a barrier since par tot the floors went in a room added over the garage. This product added about $600 to the cost of the project but noise is not an issue at all with our floors. We have a 9 year old boy and a 22 year old girl living at home as well as an 80 pound dog. Some of the best money we have ever spent on our home. The floors are so clean! And the house has a much cleaner smell that I was not even aware of before. Love. My. Floors!
Awwww….thanks for including one of our bedroom projects in your inspiration photos! I LOVE having wood in our bedrooms, especially the kids rooms! Wouldn’t change it for the World!
I should preface by saying my husband and I don’t have kids and don’t plan to, so it’s just us and a cat – and neither one of us has any allergies. We live in a 100 year old home that has original hardwoods in all the bedrooms. We have left it because we haven’t wanted to pay for carpet, but I do find it cold (especially in that old of a house where heating isn’t that great anyway). If we are able to build or move in the future, we will definitely have carpet in the bedrooms. Last summer we ripped up the 25+ year old carpet in the main living areas of the house. We ordered carpet but ripped up the old carpet a month before the new arrived. We found original hardwoods underneath and felt sick – had we done the wrong thing by ordering carpet? We decided in 3 days flat that we are NOT hardwood people. It was cold (even in the summer) and loud and echo-y and after our first coffee cup (that we had just gotten for our wedding less than 6 months before) shattered after being knocked off a table, we were done. We are carpet people. We have not regretted our decision at all. Maybe it’s different for us since we’re in such an old house and heating/insulation is an issue, but we don’t love it. Not at all. Having said that, I love the classy LOOK of wood – and think your pictures are stunning! I wish we were more trendy and like wood floors! We’re too young to be so old!
I actually adore carpet in our house! We mainly have hardwood throughout but carpet in the bedrooms and the living room. If we ever build I will keep it the same. It is so cozy!!!
Thank you all for the great feedback! I’ll be sure to tell my husband that most of you think we should install them ASAP :)
I’m with you on the carpet! I love the feel of it under my feet, but I didn’t really grasp just how stinking hard it was to maintain until we bought a home. I don’t have experience with hardwood floors, but I think they would be great in a bedroom. Some pretty rugs around the bed would be nice for your feet in the morning though :)
We have wood and tile throughout our house. When we purchased, it was all carpet and the floors were the first project we did. I love them and I love how easy they are to take care of compared to carpet. We live in Florida, so I don’t think the floors are cold, however they might be in more northern climates. One note tho, I think my kids (7 & 3) would prefer carpet as opposed to the wood/area rugs in our house. Every time we visit a friend with carpet they always throw themselves down and roll around on it. It’s half comical and half embarassing.
We put hardwood floors in ALL of our bedroom this past April. It’s WONDERFUL! No more gross carpet, no more stains and spills. My oldest has horrible asthma and allergies and it just made sense to make this house more allergy free for him. We love having hardwoods and some cute area rugs add color and a bit of coziness. We used 50 Floor and they did a great job. They can do floating hardwoods, true hardwoods, or even a fabricated floor if that is more in your budget.
We installed, sanded and stained (a brutal trial and error experience the first rooms!) during our reno. I love them! Just don’t do a dark stain like we did….with kids, you’ll spend way too much time cleaning them. I know they’re beautiful, but not worth the work to keep them clean looking!
We’re replacing all the carpet in our home with high quality laminate next week. It looks like reclaimed barn wood. So excited!!!
We’re also putting laminate over existing hardwoods on the main floor because the upkeep of the wood is making me crazy! They need to be refinished and the thought of doing all that then going through it again in another ten years made me want to cry, so hubby suggested spending a little more now and being done with it since the floors have a 50 year warrantee…YES!!!!
Now I just need to buy some area rugs.
Hi Emily,
My husband and I installed hardwood in our entire home with the exception of the bathrooms. My husband swears that the hardwood in the bedroom makes the room colder, but since I put down a huge area rug with a thick carpet pad underneath, I haven’t heard a peep from him :)
We just finished renovating a rental property with the intention of selling it, and I shopped for months comparing samples of laminate wood flooring. I always thought that laminate would look cheap, but I found this style at Sam’s club for $1.60 a square foot, it was so substantial looking and it has the pad attached which is more bang for the buck.
A few weeks back, I found this blogger’s site and she has wonderful things to say about this flooring as well: http://www.theyellowcapecod.com/2011/10/more-on-floor.html
I have received more compliments on this flooring and would lay it in our own home in a heartbeat. This might be a cost savings for you and help you achieve your dream sooner. Plus, I have read that laminate holds up so much better to the beatings that kids can do to a floor. I can’t wait to see what you do!
Exactly! I hear some people say “just put something super cheap in your kids rooms because they’ll destroy it, just wait until they’re gone to do anything decent” but I can’t agree with that! With our black lab and my husband and daughter’s allergies, I can’t help but think it’s not the healthiest option either.
If you have even been present when carpet is pulled up (and I have), you will NEVER want it again!
We have had hardwood in our master for 21 years because of my allergies. It is ‘real’ hardwood which just seems warmer to me than the hardwoods and laminates of today. We have a washable rug on each side of the bed because we do not want the bare floor there. I grew up in Florida on terrazzo floors. Now they are cold!
We have hardwood floors everywhere, including the bedrooms and I love it. So much easier to clean!!