How To Choose Flooring Material For Bedroom

 

Most Aussies spend roughly a third of their lives in the bedroom, sleeping off a hard day’s work or making happy memories with their families and loved ones. Which is why there are few places that we can consider as sacred or as special as the bedroom.

This is why it’s super important that we select the right floors for our bedrooms.

The floor is the last thing your tippy toes touch before you climb into bed for the night, and the first thing you feel under the soles of your feet when you get up in the morning (unless you have to get up for a toilet break in the middle of the night!).

If you don’t have a floor that’s friendly on your feet, or one that isn’t visually appealing to the eye, it can have a huge psychological effect on the way you feel as you go about your day and, later, when you try to get a night’s sleep.

In this article, we narrow down the advantages and disadvantages of the most popular flooring materials, so you can choose the type that is most suited to your personal needs. That way, you can pick the floor that is most likely to enhance your  mood for the day, and give you the best night’s sleep.

 

Laminates

Laminate flooring brings many desirable traits to the table often at a cheaper price.

Laminate flooring is comprised of three main layers, the first of which is a dense fibreboard that lends the product firmness and flexibility. On top of that is a thin layer of plastic laminate with a remarkably convincing design layer (often featuring authentic woodgrain effects) that create the illusion of real hardwood floors. And on the top, outermost layer is a clear wear veneer that is designed to resist scratching and general wear and tear.

Although any laminate floor can be considered highly effective, the Swiss Krono Laminate Floor is perhaps the most modern, versatile and up-to-date laminate floor when it comes to high performance flooring technology.

Each panel in this catalogue is designed to complement and enhance the space in which it’s installed, and the best part is they can be customised to suit your personal tastes down to the most minute details.

Available at modest prices, they’re often considered more cost effective than their natural counterparts, and they are super easy to install, meaning even DIYers and those on a budget can lay them down without the help of a professional if necessary.

There are few negatives to choosing a laminate floor, but there are most definitely a few that should be pointed out.

Although they’re extremely hard wearing, laminate floors can suffer from scratches and damage over time.

On top of this, like wood floors, they retain little heat and tend to promote sound in much the same way as the hard surfaces of a natural oak or cedar would.

Laminate planks are almost impossible to repair individually, and are therefore usually replaced on a unit by unit basis when they are damaged.

And, finally, unlike wooden floors they can’t upcycled or recycled to produce new products. This might be a turnoff for the more eco-conscious consumers who are concerned about their impact on the environment; laminate flooring is plastic and can therefore take a lifetime to break down if it winds up in landfill (although this shouldn’t be a problem if you select the right floor the first time around!).

 

Carpet

One of (if not the) most popular forms of flooring in the bedroom is carpet, and there is little doubt as to why it is a forerunner for this space.

There are few flooring materials that can compete with carpet in the comfort department. Carpets are soft and warm to the foot, meaning they prevail over other flooring materials that aren’t quite as welcoming to the touch, such as tiles and natural stone.

Nobody likes setting their feet down on a hard surface that has grown cold overnight. Your toes wince in surprise and discomfort, and your natural reaction is to plunge your hoofers back under the covers for warmth.

Well, you’ll never have that problem with a thick, lush carpet.

As a flooring material, carpet retains the heat. Its cushiony thickness insulates against heat loss and keeps your toes nice and toasty, meaning you’ll never recoil from it as you might from the chilly touch of a tile.

Furthermore, carpets muffle sound and are relatively cheap to install when compared to other pricier options, such as hardwoods and natural stones.

Nevertheless, there are a few reasons unbeknownst to the average person that might yet discourage you from picking carpet for your bedroom.

For example, did you know that carpets are notoriously difficult to clean? If your children or loved one serves you breakfast in bed and they happen to spill the coffee, you might never get the stain out of the carpet (let alone your sheets!). This is because liquid stains can be absorbed into the fibres and remain there forevermore.

On top of this, although they might be invisible to the naked eye, carpets can become home to microscopic nasties and tiny particles that can potentially cause allergies.

 

Hardwoods

Unlike carpets, which can become a safe haven to tiny, microscopic bugs, hardwoods can be easily mopped, steamed and cleaned by any old person, disinfecting them of most microbes and allergy-causing bacteria.

On top of this, there are few flooring products that beat a classic wooden floor in the looks department. Have you ever seen rich, dark panels of oak gleaming across a lounge-room floor? Or maybe you’ve had the pleasure of feeling them under your feet?

If you have, you’ll know that hardwood floors lend an element of natural beauty and elegance to any room in which they’re installed.

Moreover, hardwood floors are also extremely durable and likely to last generations in the same household (so long as they’re properly cared for).

For this reason, hardwood floors add not only flavour to a house, but value as well.

Hardwood floors might not be as warm to the touch as carpets, but they retain heat more effectively than tiles and  stone, and they’re widely regarded as one of the most appealing flooring materials to the eye.

The downside? While everyday maintenance is relatively easy, if you happen to seriously damage hardwood floors through chipping, scratching or denting, they can be costly and difficult to repair.

In addition to this, hardwood floors can be costly in terms of price and their hard surfaces tend to reflect and promote sound rather than deter it as softer carpets might.

 

Vinyl

Racing home in fourth place is the modest, unassuming vinyl.

Few people consider vinyl a highly desirable choice for their bedroom floor, but when you take into account its various features and characteristics, it’s hard to comprehend why it hasn’t been given more kudos.

Vinyl products are no longer relegated to the realm of the ugly or unattractive; in fact, like laminates, they now come in a wide range of versatile and gorgeous appearances thanks to modern flooring technology.

Also, another trait they have in common with their laminate brethren is that they’re easy to maintain, a breeze to install and less expensive than natural options.

Perhaps the most attractive feature of the vinyl floor is that it’s virtually waterproof.

Yep, you know that spilt coffee we were talking about before? Not a problem when you’ve got a vinyl floor, and the same rule applies if you’ve got an adjoining en suite or kids who are likely to tramp wet footprints into your room.

 

The Verdict

At the end of the day, if you want to wake up on the right side of the bed, you need to pick a floor that is most suited to your personal needs.

You don’t want the rude shock of a cold floor under feet when you get up in the morning, nor do you want the exorbitant prices of a hardwood floor. Yet you also want something that looks nice and will last a long time (after all, you’ll probably be spending a lot of time there… you know, almost a THIRD of your life).

For this reason — although every option we’ve outlined above is a plausible choice for a bedroom floor — our personal recommendation is laminate floors as the most suitable go-to option. They tick every box on the checklist in terms of pricing, appearance and durability, falling down only in the warmth department.