Hard floor and rugs or carpet – what’s the best flooring for you?

When it comes to our homes, we all have our own opinions on what we prefer. Whether it’s the colours that we pick, the style of furniture that we prefer or the type of flooring that we want we’re all different. While changing the colour or swapping furniture around if you change your mind is easy, replacing your flooring is not. So it’s important to give very careful consideration to all the pros and cons before you make your final choice.

Hard floor and rugs

Wooden flooring is a great way to add a real touch of stylish elegance to your home, there is something rather luxurious about the old-fashioned elegance that it can give to a room. While this type of flooring might be the more expensive choice, it is also incredibly durable. If you follow a good maintenance routine and take very good care of wooden flooring, it will reward you with many, many years of wear. Good quality wooden flooring can also be sanded and refinished to prolong its life. It is very easy to clean, and it doesn’t really absorb smells which can be handy if you have pets or small children. Wooden flooring, even with a stunning rug, is an excellent choice for those people who suffer from allergies as it does not harbour dust mites or other allergens.

On a day to day basis, all that you should really need to do with a wooden floor is give it a quick sweep with a soft brush. Cleaning it with a damp mop once a week should complete your maintenance routine.

Wooden flooring comes in a wide range of stunning natural shades, from rich dark reds to pale golden shades, and you can often choose between smaller boards and larger ones that can make a real design feature in your room.

Adding a luxurious soft rug in a complementary colour can really complete the look of your room.

Carpet

For many people, carpets are the more practical choice of flooring for the home, especially those people who have young children who are likely to spend a lot of time crawling around the floor and playing. They are also easier for young children to learn to walk on and safer when they fall.

Carpets come in a huge variety of different types of materials, with different piles from the very soft and thick pile to shorter more hardwearing. Of course, they also come in a truly fantastic selection of colours. Neutral shades can provide a blank canvas in your home that you can style the rest of the room around, while a bright carpet can add a really bold statement to any room.

On a day to day basis, a carpet isn’t too difficult to keep clean, a vacuum will take care or any crumbs and dust. However, if not dealt with quickly spills can be more of an issue as they soak into the pile where they can leave stains.

There are pros and cons for each type of flooring, the final decision is really down to personal choice and the look that you want for your home.