Any home refurb project comes with a multitude of questions. “What colour should the walls be?” “Are we REALLY putting that there?” “Isn’t that a bit expensive?” And so many more. When it comes to the bedroom, the questions are perhaps even more intense. The bedroom, after all, is a private haven of relaxation, a place you can feel snug and secure, a place where the kids run into on Christmas morning asking if “he’s been”.
So when it comes to decorating or altering it in any way, there will be plenty of decisions to work through. One that is normally high on the agenda is flooring. And with good reason. The floor is both the first thing your feet touch when you wake up and the last thing they touch before you get your head down. It’s also something that helps accentuate the style of your room and adds to the impression you want your room to create.
A thick fluffy carpet for example exudes warmth, coziness, and comfort. A wooden floor can create a rustic and vintage theme, whilst a vinyl-tiled floor could showcase style and modernity. Each works with the room’s furnishings and it can be very easy to inadvertently mix styles and create something that doesn’t work at all. Leaving you with a garish, uncomfortable, and odd-looking room
Below, we have picked a selection of the best bedroom flooring types you could invest in and what their pros and cons are. That way you can make an informed decision over the best flooring type for your bedroom.
First things to consider
Before we dive into the differing floor types that you could have laid, you should weigh up what you want your room to prioritise. Should it be style? Or should it be comfort? Could it be both?
Certain floor types will lend themselves to one more than the other, but it is possible to fuse the two a little.
It is also worth considering how you want the room to make you feel. This may sound odd but colour psychology – and yes, it is a thing – shows that the furnishings you use, and their colours, can play a large part in your mood! Red for example is meant to show love, energy, and strength, white can be cleanliness, simplicity, and honesty, whilst yellow can signify creativity, happiness, and warmth. Now for many, it may not mean anything, but research has shown that colours play a large part in our mood and as a result our interactions.
The bedroom flooring choices
Now you have weighed up whether it is a style or comfort vibe you are aiming for and have assessed the implications of the colour choices, it could be a good time to investigate the available options for bedroom flooring.
Carpet
Carpet is perhaps the first choice for many and that is understandable. It’s comfortable, it keeps the feet warm, and with the varying availability of colours, patterns and carpet types available, there are plenty of options to consider. Ordered to fit the size you need, it can be extremely cost-effective, and any waste can be used for garages, and other rooms or as spare parts for tears and other flooring damage.
If you have kids, carpet is also often preferred due to its cushioned surface. Factor in its sound dampening ability too and much of the noise that could come from any bedroom or even outside can be soaked up relatively well.
On the downside though, cleaning the carpet can prove to be tricky. Spillages can soak right into the carpet and leave unsightly stains as well as damage the fibres. When having new flooring laid, you want longevity, and carpet is perhaps one of the surface types where this isn’t guaranteed. Wear marks can appear in the most used areas, and this suddenly devalues the bedroom somewhat. In the same light, carpet just doesn’t have the same lifespan as hardwood or tile floor options. It should also be noted that some carpets contain chemicals in their manufacture, these can still be prevalent after they are laid. You should check with the carpet company before purchasing to see how your chosen carpet is made.
Hardwood bedroom flooring
Hardwood can make a bedroom look great. Especially if you are going for a more classical style. Hardwood can help a room make a statement. You can opt for solid hardwood, which is the variant made from thick planks of wood, or Engineered Wood Flooring, made from a veneer of real wood on top of a plywood core. Both hold a variety of benefits but also have a few negatives you may want to make note of.
Hardwood is durable and won’t show up the same wear and tear that a carpet might. This can stand to benefit you further down the line when it comes to selling your property as more of the value will be retained. Much like carpet, variety is there too. With a host of woods to choose from, you can find a finish that suits the rest of the house easily.
When complimented with a rug, the floor takes on even more character and should it be that you one day want to replace the hardwood floor, it’s recyclable too!
On the downside though, there are definitely a few things to consider. Wood can be expensive and the type you choose can see prices change quite dramatically. Engineered hardwood will be cheaper but it is still likely to be more expensive than other types of flooring. Wood can also suffer from damage much more easily than other bedroom floor types. Regular coating can help but do you want that extra task? You will also find with hardwood floors that the absorption of sound and the heat insulation are minimal, meaning you may have to spend more elsewhere to help give your bedroom its desired results.
Obviously, and probably the most common thought regarding the negatives around hardwood is the injury risk. These surfaces do not offer much, if any shock absorption, so when you slip, trip, or fall, the impact could be hard and cause injury.
Vinyl tiling bedroom flooring
Vinyl tiling has long been a favourite flooring type for bathrooms and kitchens. Its waterproof nature and high level of durability lend itself well to high footfall areas, but what about in the bedroom?
Well, it’s certainly possible and gives homeowners a fantastic form of flooring. With lots of design options available, a wood or stone effect is easily achieved at much less cost than if sourcing their natural equivalents. Add in the ease of keeping it maintained, the option for underfloor heating and its soft, comfortable feel and you have something that ticks many boxes. Whilst it may replicate hardwood or solid stone in the way it looks, the risk of falling and hurting yourself on an extremely solid surface is lost as the surface is much softer too. Such is the durability of these surfaces; you could see your flooring last 20 years or more before you even need to consider replacing it.
As with other flooring types, there are some negatives but with vinyl tiling, also known as LVT flooring, these tend to be outweighed by the positives.
The product isn’t recyclable like many other flooring types although Amtico, one of the market leaders in vinyl flooring has been undergoing a green revolution with work being carried out to ensure that all LVT products manufactured by them will include more recyclable materials.
Furthermore, and this isn’t always negative but may be perceived as one by some, the product often needs professional installation to ensure it is done just right.
Lastly, some property experts believe that this flooring type may not help maintain the house due to many prospective buyers seeing the product as a substitute for real wood or real stone.
Laminate flooring for the bedroom
Laminate flooring is another option popular with many. Simple to install, affordable and good to look at, it provides many with all the things they look for in a new floor type.
Made from a thin plastic laminate printed with a design, it is then bound to HDF and then coated with a protective coating.
With so many design choices available, it allows you to develop the room exactly in your vision and with stone, tile, and wood being replicated, it is easy to make it look much more expensive than it actually is.
Unfortunately, its ease of installation, affordability, and abundance of choice, leave it open to many negative attributes too.
Laminate scratches much easier than any of the other surface types we mentioned and can warp if it gets wet. In addition, it doesn’t provide much, if any, absorption against sound or offer much in terms of heat insulation either.
Unfortunately, should it get damaged, you may also find that repairs are quite difficult to complete. This often means having to replace entire sections which could then prove costly.
Ultimately, it comes down to you and what you want from your bedroom flooring. Hopefully the above has helped you find a flooring type that works for you, your style and your budget!