Introduction
The living room of any house is the most important place. It’s the main area for you and your loved ones to spend quality time and it’s usually the first impression of your home whenever you have guests.
That’s why it’s important for your living room to have a healthy balance of comfort and style. The flooring of your living room has a major impact on how comfortable you want your living area to be.
Most home buyers face the big flooring question: Wood Flooring or Carpet?
To help you make up your mind, we’ve put together some useful info help you understand the pros and cons of both materials and how each can suit your home décor and lifestyle.
Carpet
Pros of Carpeting Your Living Room
Huge Range of Styles
The main reason why homeowners would like to have carpets on their living room floor is that it looks stylish. It is usually regarded as the simplest way to style your living area. A carpet can change the look of your room immediately and gives an elegant touch to your home.
Many homes opt for simple white walls. White walls aren’t a bad thing, they keep the home looking clean and make the room feel larger as you walk into it. But white walls lack any character and a strong carpet can help to change this.
Warmth and Insulation
We all know how cold it can get in the Winter months and a cozy, warming interior of a home is the dream of everyone. And what better way to avoid walking on a cold floor than having carpeting?
Carpets have insulation properties that help prevent the cold from seeping into your home as well as reducing the heat loss from your body to the floor keeping a warmer inner environment. The fibres in carpets can easily trap air which helps in building up insulation.
Another great benefit of carpets is it reduces down your monthly expenditure on heating. So, it is both economical and luxurious.
Softness
People love carpeting their living area because of the softness carpets provide. Carpets can make the walking on floor more comfortable, and if you have a habit of walking barefoot then this is the best option for you.
Safety
Carpeting lowers the chances of you or your little ones slipping or falling on the hard floor. If you expect older relatives to stay often at your new home then this may be something to consider for them too.
Moreover, people with young children often opt for carpeting so that their toddlers can easily roam around in the living area without the risk of injuring themselves on a hard floor.
Key to having a good carpet is investing in a good quality underlay.
Carpeting Can Prevent Noise
Carpets are good sound barriers too. There’s much less of a problem from the tapping of shoes when people walk around. If you live in a flat then your neighbours won’t hear loud footsteps above them.
Cost-Effective
One of the biggest reasons people choose carpets – they tend to be cheaper than wood floors.
Unfortunately with wood, you need to have it cut to size and installed on the floor. Some people can do this themselves, but most people need help and have to hire a builder to do the work. This labour can be costly.
Also, wood is an expensive material cost on its own. Before the global pandemic the global wood price had a high of $570, but this soared to $1,500 in 2021. It has started to stabilize back down, but wood costs tend to be higher than the average cost of carpets.
Some carpets will be cheaper than others depending upon the design and quality:
- A budget carpet range could start from £10 per square metre.
- A better quality and plush looking carpet could easily hit £30 per square metre.
- Hand made carpets can sell for over £100 per square metre.
Covers Up Damaged Flooring
Buying your first home is expensive. You don’t normally have a lot of free cash at the beginning and sometimes have to wait a few months before you can afford to decorate your surroundings.
But for some first homes the quality of the property is sometimes….questionable. Walls might be scratched, ceilings might be cracked and floors may be damaged. Repairing a wooden floor can be really expensive. For many it is a simpler solution to buy a nice carpet and lay it over any damaged floorboards.
Best Hard Wearing Carpet
In some areas of your home you need a hard wearing carpet to withstand the usual day to day activities.
The most important room for a hard wearing carpet is your living room. It is the place that gets the most amount of activity and people often have food and drinks in this room. Of course with eating and drinking there is always the possibility of food and drink getting on the carpet and becoming difficult to get out.
Colour
For starters, we would recommend going with a dark colour for a hard wearing carpet. Darker colour carpets are likely to cover up any really stubborn stains that just won’t come out for you.
The Dovetail carpet is a hard wearing item that is made of polypropylene fibres – great for resisting stains. It’s available in darker shades and is even resistant to moths (who sometimes like to eat carpet).
Cons of Carpeting Your Living Room
There are of course some problems to buying carpet for your room:
Dirt
Carpets are more prone to dirt accumulation and permanent stains than hardwood flooring. That’s why regular vacuuming of carpets is essential to prevent the dirt-accumulation which can be very tiresome for homeowners who have massive jobs and are unable to clean regularly. In short, cleaning the carpets is far more difficult than a hardwood floor.
But cleaning doesn’t have to be a chore! You just need to make sure you have the right equipment.
We recommend a good quality carpet vacuum like the Vax spotwasher. It’s a powerful machine and at only 3.2kg it’s great portability for the home.
Health Issues
It’s an unavoidable fact that for some people carpet flooring can trigger allergies. The reason is simple – carpets can easily trap dust, dirt particles, and even small insects. With all of this dirt and debris lodged inside it’s important to keep to a good cleaning regime with carpets.
Ventilating a room will significantly help remove dust suspended in the air, giving a fresher feel.
Shorter Lifespan
Some traditional carpets are made from natural fibres – as they were many hundred years ago. But with modern production methods synthetic material is more commonly used.
Synthetic fibre carpets are cheaper, but they are also more fragile than natural fibres, meaning their lifespan tends to be less and they end up wearing out. This ends up being bad for your wallet and destructive to the environment.
If you do decide to buy carpet try to do some research before to understand what the material is and if it’s likely to wear out.
Best Material
The best material for carpet longevity is wool. They are more durable, provide better insulation and are usually very soft. The only downside with wool is it is also difficult to clean if you have stains on them – not ideal for any spilled drinks at a get together or a pet that is yet to be toilet trained.
Carpets are Hard to Keep New
The living room is the most used part of your house. There are always people using it: walking around, sitting down, playing about. Maintaining it is essential, but if you’ve ever owned a carpet before you’ll agree that after a few months the ‘new look’ feeling begins to wear off quickly. Dust can settle on carpets much more than other surfaces.
Aside from regular cleaning and vacuuming, you will also need a deep cleaning procedure at regular intervals to prevent any kind of health issues as well as potential mould growth underneath carpets.
Foreign objects can also get stuck in carpet. Some of the common ones include:
- Dirt – from shoes and boots (invest in a doormat to keep this mess outside)
- Dust mites and other insects making it their home
- Bits of loose fluff from clothes (socks are a common culprit)
- Food – mainly crumbs from snacks
Hard Wood Flooring
Hardwood flooring can give a classy modern look to your living room. So, if you are looking out for unique chic style that is both versatile and can blend in any kind of furniture then opting for hard wood will be a great option.
Pros of Hard Wood Flooring
Longer Life Span
The biggest advantage of having hardwood flooring over carpeting is that hardwood sustains much more wearing than carpet. Once done properly they can last for decades if maintained properly.
If you are looking for hard wearing wooden floors then it’s best to go for a durable wood. This will cost more, but the extra life of the material will make up for it.
Variety of Wood Flooring
One thing where people often get confused is that they think there is just one kind of wood flooring. In reality there are dozens of options available in hardwood flooring and each of them is equally modern and stylish.
These are some hard-wood flooring options for your living room:
- Brazilian cherry
- Teak
- Tigerwood
- Brazilian Chestnut
- Hickory
- Santos Mahogany
- Australian Cypress
- Brazilian Walnut
- Oak (Red and White)
Ebony and Oak are some of the best types of wood for a durable floor.
So no matter what colour your walls are, there will always be a range of wood to complement the décor of the room.
Less Prone To Damage
The living room should have your highest quality possessions inside them. Moving around furniture and cabinets can put a strain on the floor – especially if they don’t get moved around for several years. But unlike carpeting and vinyl flooring, hardwood flooring in the living room is usually a much tougher material. Some woods even look better over time as the occasional scratch is not noticeable and gives it a stylish aging.
Unlike carpeting, you can always protect hard wood flooring with another layer of varnish or polish. Polish will prevent your wood from getting any scratches or strains and you can always get it re-polished again to maintain its appearance.
Easy To Clean
Mopping, vacuuming, brooming. You can do all three of these magic tasks to your wood floor to keep it spick and span.
If you are mopping the floor make sure you squeeze any excess water off the mop before applying. It’s a durable material, but wood is still wood, and wood doesn’t mix well with moisture if it penetrates through layers. Remember to get the floor dry at the end – many people open the windows to help.
Great for Pets
Wood floors are also great for all pet owners as unlike carpets hardwood flooring does not trap the fur and hair of the animals.
A good pet vacuum can pick up pet hair very quickly. The Shark Cordless Vacuum is one of the best pet vacuum cleaners around. Not only do you get a 60 minute run time, but Shark provide a 5 year guarantee on the vacuum! Best of all is that it can clean carpets, floors and pet hair all in one machine.
Reduced Allergies
Unfortunately carpets can really bring out bad allergies in people. The dust built up in the floor fibres eventually make their way into the air and can irritate the lungs of some. Wood flooring greatly reduces dust build up and therefore also can keep dust mites at bay.
Cons of Hard Wood Flooring
The Cost
The main reason why people avoid having wood flooring is that it’s more expensive compared to most carpets.
Hard wood flooring needs to be installed over another subflooring which can be difficult if this initial floor is not level. You can imagine the problems if you lay a new wooden floor on top of existing ground with a hump in it – the wood isn’t going to last very long with that kind of strain. Sometimes the ground may need to be improved if you are laying particularly inflexible wood.
Wood is also a more expensive material to source, which pushes the retail price up at the store. On top of this there is the professional help that most people will need for installing the wood (getting a builder or carpenter).So in short, it tends to be more pricey than the carpet option.
Estimates shows that an average hardwood flooring job in a 5m x 5m living room would cost somewhere between £1500 – 2000.
Of this amount, the breakdown is briefly:
- Wood material costs of £35 to £50 per square metre
- Installation cost of £25 per square meter by a builder or carpenter
It may have a higher upfront cost than carpet, but wood is likely to last much longer over the course of time – and some people value that more.
Scratching
Although we said before that wood flooring is a tougher material in your home than carpet would be, that doesn’t make it invincible. It’s true that wood will hold up better than most carpets when you leave a heavy piece of furniture on top of it (carpets tend to flatten in this case). But some woods will show scratches up much more than other types.
So if you expect to be moving furniture around a lot or have pets moving around the room, be aware of the scratching risk when selecting your wood type.
A great way of avoiding scratches to wooden floors is to put a large rug under the heavy furniture. Not only does it look great but it can really add some colour and personality to the room.
Cupping and Crowning
We’ve said it earlier but to repeat the point – there is one thing wood does not like – water. This includes any moisture or humidity.
When wooden floors are in a humid room, moisture can eventually get into the floorboards. This can happen over many years or very quicker depending on how severe the humidity problem is in your home.
Cupping
When water sits on the top of wood, this causes the surface to expand out. The result is that the floorboards start to warp. Cupping results in swelling of wood from the corners of the board which leads to the condition where wood’s edges come off from the ground. The middle part of the floor board bends down to create a ‘cup’.
Crowning
Crowning is the opposite process, where the middle section of a floorboard rises and the outer sides slope down.
Both conditions can cause damage to your floor, so it’s important to bear humidity levels in mind if you are installing. In most areas in the UK the humidity is low enough to have wood flooring, but every home can be different.
If you are concerned about humidity problems in your home, it’s worth buying a hygrometer to check if there is a problem. These devices are affordable and can give you a quick indication.
We recommend the Doqaus room thermometer and hygrometer on Amazon.
Pets Slipping on Floors
Pets can be unpredictable. Dogs in particular like to run laps around the room. This can be very fun to watch, but it can cause an annoyance for everyone after a bit of time. Some dogs can also get panicked by slipping around on shiny wood, and so it’s something to bear in mind if you are thinking of installing a new floor.
Noise
Footsteps
There’s no doubt that wooden floors make louder footstep noises than a carpet, and this can be a problem if you live with other people or have a large family. This is why some people prefer to have wood floors in the reception areas but carpets in areas near bedrooms where people are sleeping.
If you live in a block of flats or apartments then footsteps can also be an annoyance for people who live under you. In fact there are many lease agreements that prohibit you from putting in wood flooring into your property because of this annoyance to other residents.
Creaking Floorboards
After a few years of regular walking, the wood on floorboards can start to make a creaking sound. And as your living room is normally one of the most used rooms in your house, you can expect a lot of creaking after a few years.
Bottom Line
Our homes are peaceful places and making them comfortable is everyone’s desire. Whether you choose carpet or wood flooring in the living room, selecting a good quality product with a style you like is the right strategy for moving forward in your dream home.