If you’re looking to refurbish a bedroom, then what better place to start than the floor? A change of flooring can profoundly influence the look and feel of the space, even if you leave everything else as it is.
Given that most of us don’t want tiled flooring in the bedroom (at least, not in the UK), we’re left with a choice between hardwood (or hardwood substitute) flooring and a carpet. Each of these has its advantages and drawbacks, which you’ll want to think about before you make the investment.
Cost
You can expect hardwood flooring to come in at around £20 per square metre at the entry level, and go all the way up to £80 and beyond. This is around twice the price of the equivalent carpet, even once underlay is priced in. Then you need to worry about the cost of labour required to fit it. While a carpet can go down in a matter of minutes with the aid of a quality nail gun, hardwood flooring requires a slightly more painstaking process.
With all of that said, the investment that you make in hardwood flooring will tend to be reflected by the increase in the value of your home, should you decide to sell.
Noise
Carpet will tend to absorb a great deal more noise than hardwood flooring. You’ll be able to speak without hearing a lot of reverberation, which can be useful in noisy households, or if you’re going to be recording audio in the room. If you have a large expanse of hardwood flooring, then a few judicious rugs might help to dampen the acoustics. This might be a particular problem if you have a radio or television in your room, or you simply like to be able to place phone calls without hearing the sound of your own voice.
Maintenance and cleaning
Hardwood flooring tends to be easier to clean than carpeted floors. Simply run it once over with a damp mop. Leaving standing water on it might result in rot, and certain kinds of footwear might cause scratches. So, if you’ve got a preference for stiletto heels, then you might find that it’s a dangerous choice.
You can touch up hardwood flooring by sanding back any scratch marks and re-finishing. However, you should be aware that there are limits to how often you can do this, particularly if the flooring product in question isn’t solid all the way through.
Look
Of course, the biggest difference between these two technologies are aesthetic. This is largely a matter of personal preference. Just be sure to actually see the flooring in question before you confirm your preference. In some cases, it might be worth ordering samples so that you can see what it looks like in situation.
