Kids throw your whole world into disarray and make you rethink everything that came before them. Specifically, they make you take a step back and look at your interior design choices. While focusing on making your home look nice was fine before kids, the attention must turn to making your home suitable for children.
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As a result, you have to make everything as child-friendly as possible – and this starts with the flooring. Little kids will start crawling and then attempting to walk very early on. There’ll be plenty of stumbles, not to mention a catalogue of spillages as they inevitably make a mess. With that in mind, you need to explore flooring options that are safe for kids while being easy to maintain.
Only a small selection of flooring choices tick these boxes, so here they are:
Carpeted Floors
Go down the traditional route with carpets in your home. They’re easy to find, come in a wide range of styles and are suitable for children. The soft texture of carpeted floors means you don’t have to worry about children falling over. For one, the surface can’t get slippery, so the risk of falls decreases. Secondly, if they do take a tumble, they’re doing so on a soft, cushiony surface.
Granted, carpets don’t hold up too well to stains – which is why you should pick some in dark colours to mask any spillages. Cleaning carpets is fairly easy and they provide the additional benefit of making your home nice and cosy.
Vinyl Flooring
You can go down the more modern route with vinyl flooring in your home. This gives the appearance of wooden floors but with more practicality and safety. Step on vinyl flooring and it won’t feel that hard. It’s not as soft as carpet, but if a child falls on vinyl flooring they’re unlikely to get seriously hurt.
From that perspective, it’s immediately better than hardwood or laminate flooring. Vinyl floors are also so easy for you to clean and will typically be stain-resistant. It makes them a top choice in kitchens and living rooms where young children are likely to create a mess. They also help you retain a very trendy interior design look, meaning you almost get the best of both worlds: style and child-friendliness.
Foam Mats
The final option is more of a temporary one when your kids are little. Buy interlocking foam mats that offer cushioning and protection for children. They’re perfect for laying down in bedrooms or sections of the home your kids play in. In many ways, you can use foam mats to create a little play area for kids where they can safely stumble about and spill things without worrying about anything.
When the kids get older, you can take the foam mats away without needing to rip up your flooring – simple!
Mainly, you want to stay away from very hard flooring options with kids in the house. This can be unavoidable in some areas of the home, but you really don’t want to have tiled staircases or hardwood landings. Find flooring that doesn’t pose a risk to your child’s safety and isn’t a huge pain to clean.
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