Carpeting for Child's Room

I found that hard wood floors with throw rugs or those interlocking foam blocks worked the best in kid's rooms. Much easier to clean up.

Consider the following:

- glitter
- play doh
- halloween candy
- face paint
- water color & other paints
- crayon melted in the sun
- markers
- pens
- sunscreen
- chapstick
- chocolate
- chalk dust
- barbie shoes (which hide, stealth like, in carpet... waiting for a bare and unsuspecting foot)
- sippy cups
- POTTY TRAINING
- STOMACH FLU

The carpets in kids rooms QUICKLY become disgusting biohazards. We've moved a lot in our son's life... and keep things (relatively) tidy. Regardless... we were steam cleaning his carpet at LEAST once a month from the time that he started walking. And more when during the year of potty training (yes they train quicker than that, but they DO have accidents), and more when the seasonal flus hit.

I can't thank the powers that be enough that we have our own home now, so we've ripped out the carpet and have replaced it with hardwood and rugs that can be taken outside and beaten or washed as needed..

My daughter, in her room, has wool berber.
Wool, is a great fiber... and naturally stain resistant. It repels fluids etc.
We also have Berber in the living room.

But with a kid... well, I would get hard flooring... because of the unexpected "stuff" kids get on the floor as Riley mentioned and Diane D. had the 2 options, that I would suggest as well.

Again, my daughter has wool berber. And well she was sick once, threw-up all over it. It is stained. NO getting it out. I tried everything... natural and chemical stain removers/enzyme types as well.
No dice.

Again, for kids rooms.... a hard flooring is best. And use area rugs.

We will not replace her carpeting (nor the one in the living room)... until she (and my son) is older. Because my son goes in her room too... to play in there, and he spills things and smooshes things ONTO/INTO the carpet.
My kids are 7 and 3.5... and so, you can imagine... since birth and until now... how many "oopsies" are on the carpet, due to my kids.
Ugh.

OR yes, you use commercial grade, interlocking rug tiles.... and thus, you can make any pattern/color you want, and EASILY replace it, if one or several gets soiled. And it can withstand heavy traffic.

all the best,
Susan

We did our daughter's room in a wool berber. Love the wool because it's less or even non-toxic (it had no noticeable off-gassing) and sooo soft to the touch! The berber loft is nice because it's flat for playing with toys, easy on early walkers, and wears well. We got a variegated beige/light brown to help camouflage stains :)

Take home carpet samples and check them in the room after you paint. The color swatches that I thought would work well were way off in tone and appeared too pink.

Happy decorating!

I know carpet is nice and soft, but I would honestly stay away from it for a child's bedroom until they are older; my son is just now figuring out that when he's physically sick to go get sick in the toilet (he's 4.5) but my 3 year old just kinda lets it go wherever she is and it doesn't come out of carpet as easily as you would think. I would go with pergo (fake hardwood) or real hardwood depending on your budget and find a nice floor rug that can be washed.

although berber is being suggested alot, remember this...berber is one continuous strand of yarn woven throughout the whole piece....little kids will "pick" at things that are out of place...you get one strand that strikes her interests while she's playing alone in her room, and you could end up with a "bald spot" in the room.
hard wood floors are being suggested too...but toddlers "run" everywhere and they are VERY slippery. She's bound to slip and fall alot running into her room.
Your best bet it so get an inexpensive piece of say...beige colored plush. Don't skimp on the pad though...get the pad that is thick, has a water barrier, etc. then...when spills and stains happen, they can be cleaned to your best ability without jeapordizing the pad below. and if the carpet gets too unsightly, you can replace the carpet, without replacing the pad and its dirt cheap to do it. most bedrooms are small enough that it can be done very inexpesively.

Check out those carpet tiles. They are usually pretty inexpensive and if something happens to it, you have the option of just changing out that one tile. I would start out by buying 4-5 extras!!! For kids rooms, I would suggest a multi color or multi shade carpet with different tones or colors - they hide dirt and stains the best.

I just started working for a floor design firm. There are sooooo many options and most have excellent stain/dirt resistors. I would recommend you go into a flooring store and have them walk you through a few things.
United Flooring Center is about 15 miles from you
3806 Rochester Rd.
Troy, MI 48083
They will have this amazing new technology in yarns called Tigressa, it is very soft and very durable. It is also a cradle to grave recyclable. They use recycled materials and they will pick up when you're ready to change carpet and recycle.

There is also a product that is partially made with corn products. Which is very cool from an environmental standpoint.

I love wool, but high quality wool can be expensive, so it would be good for you to know what kind of an investment you would like to make in your daughter's room.

Colors, patterns and textures are really going to be personal preference. If you don't like footprints/vacuum prints, solid color, variagated, loop vs. pile. I'm a loop girl myself, but have never had one, so can't comment on how it will perform. A good investment now could take your daughter well into her teen years.

If you have any questions about what you see or want to run something by me, feel free to send me a message.
S.