We have a wood floor in our library, beautiful over-sized Italian marble in the kitchen (a gift I gave my husband for finding a good home for a 100-lb., abandoned dog I brought home but he said there was no way we were keeping), and white tile in the kitchen/dining area of our basement. In the rest of the house (except the bathrooms) we have carpet.
What I've been noticing for the last couple of months, is that now our carpet is starting to look dingy too and could use a good rug and carpet cleaning. Winter will do that to you. So, tomorrow I'll call and make an appointment to have someone come in later in the week to give them a professional bath. I say later in the week because I know it's going to take me a lot of time to get the furniture disassembled and/or moved into the rooms that have no carpet.
I'd love to have hard flooring in all of the rooms, but hubby and the kids like carpet. They say it's warmer in the winter, and much cozier to sit on year-round (both points with which I can agree). So, since I'll not be the majority rule on that decision any time soon, I might as well make the best of it. That means keeping it as clean and attractive as I can, despite the huge color mishap.
Do you have a preference between hard and soft flooring? And do you get your rugs professionally cleaned once or twice a year to keep them looking their best?
87 comments:
I much prefer carpets. I grew up in the north and it's all I've known. Carpeted living room, carpeted dining room... Even our kitchen was carpeted back in the early 90's! (Granted, it was ugly and we eventually put in linoleum, but that's another story.) When I moved to Florida, I was horrified to see that everyone has tiled floors. It has been a real learning curve for me to feel safe about putting my kids on the floor to play, especially as babies! I can't wait until we have enough money to move back to Indiana!
You know what, Alicia, that's where I was, Florida. Maybe it's a Florida thing (hard floors) and I'm just used to it that way. :)
I've had both carpet and hardwood flooring, and there are certainly pros and cons either way you go! My house was built in 1905, and I enjoy the original hardwood floors very much....but it's cold and kinda drafty in the winter...and carpet would help that. No matter what floors you have, ya gotta take care of them...including the professional cleaning for carpets! ;)
Joy
Yesterfood.blogspot.com
Oh, I bet it is nice having the original hardwoods! I vote for the family to just wear slippers, but they give me that look when I say such things... I'm sure you know the one. hehehe
Thanks for your visit.
steve and i always go back on forth on hardwood flooring. i think it looks beautiful but with our three fluffies, we aren't sure how they'd do with it. the italian marble sounds so pretty!
i hope you're having a relaxing weekend, rosey!
xoxox
We're about to go out and do a short game of golf (9 holes). The weather's perfect for it! I hope your weekend is going great too. :)
Solid oak or tiles downstairs, easier with the dogs, carpet upstairs. Nicer onthe feet in the morning.
That's a great 50/50 thing you've got going on there!
I grew up in Florida, too, but the funny thing is I can't remember what kind of floors everyone had! I think it was mostly tile. Now we have carpets covering 90% of our house. It's harder to keep clean, especially because our carpets hide EVERYTHING... which is good and bad at the same time when you have kids lol!
We have *hideous* carpet put in by the previous owners (seriously ugly, a kind of greenish black with dark grey swirls...horrid!) that we are going to rip up and replace with hardwood when we can.
I've had both and prefer hardwood, even here in Indiana; rugs, cushions and even, yes, slippers will make it cosy where it needs to be.
My husband and I have always preferred the look of hardwood floors with hides and rugs!
I'd love to have all hard wood with a few nice rugs like near the bed...but for now we have wall to wall blah blah with the animals I hate but we just cannot replace right now.
With my allergies wood floors are better. Spills and throw-up is better on wood. Carpet feels nicer to the feet though!
I love wood floors hand down - no ifs, ands, or buts. I just need the money for them. sandie
We have wall-to-wall carpeting in most of the house, but I'm too, uh, "thrifty" to pay someone else to do a job I can do myself. I used to rent a machine a couple times a year until I decided it made more sense (and cents) to buy one. It isn't my favorite job in the world, but our aging carpet looks pretty darned good. (Even so, I'd rather have hardwood floors!)
We have hard wood floors and I love them. We have area rugs in most of the rooms, which I have a steam cleaner for.
Maybe in some parts of the house, I'd love wooden floors, while in others, carpets work best. I guess it'll depend on what the room is used for. If it's a toddler's playroom, carpets may be best, to help cushion the blow from possible falls. For the living room where there's most traffic, a hard wood floor may be better, so it doesn't take much effort to clean.
I own a flooring business so I'm biased against carpet:) I will say that my wood floors at their filthiest are cleaner than the "cleanest" looking carpet. I love the feel of carpet...but I can't afford to replace it as often as I need. There are heated wood and tile floors...those are nice.
Carpet is a pain in the rump, gets to dirty and too hard to clean, like if there is a hairball haha so hardwood is the best for me, but yeah sitting on carpet is better. Didn't let you keep the mutt, how rude haha
I love carpet, but it is a pain. In my house now we have carpet upstairs only. I chose to decorated downstairs with half wood, half ceramic tile. We have large area rugs in certain sections which make for easier cleaning. Next house I am definitely doing hard surface flooring throughout the entire house and getting large rugs to place in certain rooms.
Hard wood all the way
We bought our home in 2009 which needed to be completely redone. We haven't done any of the hardwood yet, but it will be gorgeous. I love hardwood though we do have large area rugs on top of it right now since it looks yucky from being so old.
We have hardwood throughout the entire house except the bedrooms. While I like it for ease of cleaning, I hate it for how often I have to clean it. I have to sweep and mop it every day because it gets nasty with 3 dogs, 2 kids, and 1 husband (who's idea of cleaning off the counters in swiping everything on the floor!) It gets tedious and quite laborsome to clean each day. Sometimes I wish we had carpet because then I could do a quick vacuum and call it quits instead of tying up an hour of my day on the floors.
As for the carpet, I have a steam cleaner that I whip out once a year for the bedrooms. I just did that 2 weeks ago, actually :)
The entire first floor of my house is hard wood, with the exception of the kitchen, which it tile. My upstairs is all carpet, except for the bathroom up there. I would much rather sweep & wash hard wood than vacuum.
When we first bought our home the floors were covered in this 70's ugly green carpeting. Before we moved in I decided to lift up a corner of the carpeting to see what was underneath. Was I ever happy I did as it was oak hardwood. Ripping up of the carpeting happened almost immediately. I find that hardwood floors are so much nicer. We have 2 dogs and I find that the hardwood is easier to keep clean than the carpeting.
Hardwood is what I lean towards
I hate carpet but can't do anything about it since we rent. We had both hardwood and carpeting when I was younger and I always loved the wood, it's easier to keep clean and I just really like the way it looks!
I had one friend in Florida who had all hard floors except for her family room. In that room she had white carpet (and she had three kids). No furniture was in the room, a gate was up to keep the dog out, and no one could go in it, lol. It still makes me laugh. The room didn't get used, but the carpet was clean. ;)
I just became a fan of slippers last winter. I used to think they were overrated, now I'm aghast I ever had such a thought. ;)
I just saw hardwoods in your room remake for your children (which is awesome, btw).
I wouldn't even mind carpet if we could get one that was a nice color. Like you said though, now's just not the time to replaces it...and so I'll live. ;)
Carpet does feel nice on the feet, I agree w/that for sure.
I need money and approval. ;) :)
I'm not adverse to buying a cleaner if I know it'll work good. I had one years ago, but I remember not being very happy with it. I'm scared to rent one (never know what was cleaned up just before yours w/a rental, or what could still be lurking). It's a lot of hard work to prep, but the professional cleaners to a great job, which makes it worth it. My husband is very 'thrifty' too. I admire that quality. :)
Sounds superbly ideal. :)
We did block off our kitchen with a gate when the youngest was little because a fall on that floor would have been atrocious.
Ah, heated floors... we saw those in an open house we went through once, and I thought that concept was delightful. :)
That dog had my heart in an instant... He was a big sweetheart.
Rosey, are you the one that lives in Sandusky??? I was racking my brain trying to remember because we're leaving in about an hour for there. We rented a cottage right on Lake Erie. I can't wait I'm so excited. If you are I sure wish we could meet up for dinner or lunch or at the Park or something. OH how fun that would be. Thanks for stopping by 4M Hugs, and let me know at xmasdolly at comcast dot net
Hi Rosey,
I love hardwood. I am not a fan of carpet. We are down to one dog and carpet and shedding dogs do not mix. Hardwood is much easier to clean and it is classic. It just doesn't go out of style. Carpet, no matter how well you clean it, still holds allergens and house "scents" and eventually has to be replaced. Great post.
Sincerely,
Karina
Look at it from the health point alone. Wood is cleaner and healthier. The fibers on carpet are breaking down and YOU are breathing that. I don't care how much you paid for your vacuum, you can never get the filth out of a carpet. Amen
The large rugs are nice too because when they wear out they are super easy to replace. :)
It's easy to clean, I like that a lot. :)
You're right, Nichol...as easy as it is to clean, it can become unappealing with age. The re-dos look amazing!
Warm weather: Time to clean those carpets, woot!
Your husband and my husband may have gone to the same cleaning school. :D
Happy Anniversary to you, by the way!!
We used to have carpet in our main living area. It was great for the kids when they were really small and crawling, walking, playing etc. Over the years, the high traffic areas were just so dirty, that we would get the carpet cleaned and once dry, those nasty stains would magically reappear. We did end up getting bamboo flooring last October and I LOVE my new floors. It is such a nice, clean feeling....I do see the positive to carpet too. I guess if you can maintain the carpets easily, that's wonderful. Also, we all have asthma, so really, the carpets in the main area had to go imo!
I don't mind either, it's the color (of our carpet) that ails me. It's one thing I'd like a do-over on. It's hard to get the right color.
That was a nice surprise!
I am picturing you leaning now... lol :)
Thanks for the visit. I'm headed over to your place.
I think the right color of carpet looks great, but the wood always looks good! I had it in a kitchen even once upon a time, and I loved it there too!
I e-mailed you. It's not me, I live in Michigan. If I did live in Sandusky, I'd have loved to have had lunch with you. :)
Have a fabulous trip, Marie! I love Cedar Point.
Hi Karina! You're right about shedding and carpets, they don't often mix up so great. My grandma had carpet for years and years (she kept it spotless, like she did everything). When she got older she had it taken out and hard floors put in. It was much easier on her to take care of it because she had two dogs who shed quite a bit.
I was wondering about the stain guard. If it's so good at protecting stains like it is, I wonder what's in it, and what the implications might be, health-wise.
I did't know Asthma and carpets didn't mix well, but it makes perfect sense.
Bamboo floors!! That sounds nice!
I like a mixture of both in the home and I guess it depends on the room. I spill a lot though so I really shouldn't have ANY!
And by the way, let the carpet cleaners move your furniture for you!
I didn't know they would move it, I've always done it myself and had no idea. In fact, I've been procrastinating calling today because of the thought. TY for the FYI!
I prefer hardwood flooring over carpet. We had gorgeous old hardwood floors in our last home, but in our current home we have carpet. This summer we are actually ripping it up and replacing with wood! The carpet just gets too dirty with all the stuff we track in from outside and our cats shedding all over the place.
My husband is fine with tile and hard wood in some rooms, but not our LR and MBr. Consequently...bring on the carpet cleaner!
i love carpet for those cool mornings when you put your foot to the floor and pull it back bc the hardwood is so cold.
Pets seem to be a huge determining factor. :) We get a lot of tracking in the house here too.
Hear! hear! Just made my carpet cleaning appointment today. :)
That's how my family feels too, they like to go barefootin' and they don't want to have to wear slippers just because mom likes hard floors.
Guess I'll stand overruled. Maybe in retirement we'll forego the carpet... ;) Of course maybe then I'll want comfort over ease of cleaning. :)
I have had both - I think I prefer the wood flooring with area rugs. It's easier to keep clean, and not such a huge investment if you want to replace a rug (unless, of course, you have nice oriental rugs, but that's a whole different story)
Ah, true, some of those Orientals run pretty steep cost-wise! They're sure pretty though. :)
I prefer hardwood floors - so much easier to care for! Plus on a gross note, I have an elderly cat who throws up a lot - much easier to clean up from the hardwood than the carpet!
We have mostly carpeting but I make everyone take their shoes off.... I hate dirty carpets.
i really wish we had hardwood throughout...
but carpet living... :)
Years ago, we had our carpet cleaned. It was awful. A crew of two men came out to the house, and they were involved in junior high girl drama. One man was telling me how bad his partner was. It was quite awkward, and I haven't called Stanley Steamer since.
http://joycelansky.blogspot.com
We have tile flooring throughout our house but there is carpet in the living-room under the centre table. I am allergic to dust so can't have it in my room. We got ours cleaned recently.
We have tile all downstairs and just carpet in the bedrooms, we love it that way.
When my grandma's pets got older she made the decision to have the carpet pulled and flooring put down too, for similar reasons. My grandpa never liked the carpets gone though.
Agreed. It makes a whole room look awful if the carpet's stained or dirty.
Carpet living here too. :)
That would be awkward. Those guys need to be concentrating on the dirt on the carpet, not the dirt on each other, lol.
I like when it's freshly cleaned (just after it dries). It just feels summery. :)
I've seen pictures of your downstairs, your place does look great like it is!
we prefer hard floors... we ripped all the carpets out in our house and replaced them with wooden floors except in the bathrooms where the floors are tiled - we have 3 dogs and 2 cats and hard floors are easier to keep clean x
I bet your pets were happy to have you home from vacay. :) Sedona looks beautiful.
And for many years you will not stop wanting that carpet out! But for me, I'm wishing for hardwood floors.
Our carpet came with the house and I ...well it's okay, but I can't stand it! And I need to clean it. Just not looking forward to it on my own, but it seems having someone come in would be too expensive, of course I haven't gotten a quote or anything.
I'm not sure if I prefer carpet or hardwood. I'm used to wood floors though. Just haven't yet made up my mind.
Good luck.
There are often coupons or discounts online and cleaning can be really reasonable! Def. worth checking into it if it's that time of the year. :)
I honestly prefer the look of hardwood floors over carpet. I find that carpet draws in the dirt, I kind of hate that, but on the other hand with wood or laminate floors, every crumb on the floor is visible so cleaning them every day is essential, especially with children in the house.
Heather, we have hardwood in one of our rooms and you're right, it's a several times a day thing sometimes to keep it clean. Super easy to clean though, so I don't mind it. :)
Thanks so much for stopping by!! We have decided to go with Pergo max hard wood laminate in our downstairs. It will be installed in the Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen and Hallway. We will be doing this in September. My carpeting is 18 years old and it is the 3rd carpet we put done. I am tired of having to shampoo it so I am really looking forward to the laminate wood floors!!
Hugs,
deb
Good luck w/the transition. I hope it goes perfectly smooth for you!
I love hardwood flooring and tile in bathrooms and the kitchen. We have almost all hardwood/imitation tile in our house, except for the living room and the basement. I wanted to carpet at least the rooms where we'd be the most because of having a baby...and our dog HATES hard floors. He only will lay down in the rooms with the carpets! I've never gotten our carpets professionally cleaned, but I would if we had the money! Good luck!
LOL at your doggie. It's nice to have spoiled pets. :)
It will be really different and unique post.. carpet cleaner
Post a Comment