Exploring Flooring Options for Your Child’s Bedroom

If you’re a parent, it definitely won’t surprise you to hear that kids can wreak havoc on a floor. Running and jumping, scattered toys, spilled juice, and more are just par for the course when you’ve got little ones around, but they’re not the only things to consider when shopping for kid-friendly flooring. Comfort, safety, style, and longevity are all factors when you’ve got a household with kids. The right floors for your child’s bedroom should hit all of these marks. Whether you’re turning a home office into a nursery for your baby, setting up your son or daughter’s first “big-kid” bedroom, or giving a teen or preteen’s room a glow-up, here are some great flooring options to consider.

Carpet

Even though many people are starting to opt for hard surface flooring in living areas, carpet remains a popular choice for bedrooms. That’s not too surprising – carpet is soft, warm, inviting, and dampens sound, making for a quiet, cozy bedroom. You can’t really go wrong with carpet in your child’s bedroom. It’s a soft, cozy, safe surface for playing on, and if you have a little one who’s new to the whole walking thing, it’s especially ideal. Carpet will also muffle the sound of kids running, jumping, and playing in their room, which is great if your child’s bedroom is on the second or third floor.

Muted neutral tones like white, beige, and gray tend to be the most popular, but you can find carpet in a variety of textures, colors, and patterns. Keep in mind that lighter colors are harder to keep clean-looking, so if your kids are more mess-prone, opt for darker colors or patterns. 

Carpet can also trap dust, dirt, and other allergens, so it needs to be vacuumed pretty regularly – at least once a week. If your kid’s favorite pet spends a lot of time snoozing on the floor in their room, you’ll want to vacuum closer to every day. And if your child spills a cup of juice or even water on the carpet, deal with it quickly. If you don’t, you can end up with staining or even mold. 

Cork

It might be a little unconventional, but if you’re looking for a comfy, safe floor that offers some of carpet’s benefits without as much maintenance, you should consider cork flooring. 

Cork floors are soft, warm, and resilient underfoot, making it a comfy space for kids to play. It also offers some sound-dampening benefits – though nothing is going to be as quiet as carpet. These floors are also antimicrobial, so you won’t have to worry about mold growth or other allergens. Although you won’t have to worry about mold issues with cork flooring, remember that it isn’t inherently waterproof, so any spills need to be taken care of quickly. If they aren’t, the water damage can cause warping. 

If having a green or eco-friendly home is a priority, cork floors offer the added benefit of being a natural material. Bonus: they’re also manufactured without destroying trees!

Keep in mind that a lot of the properties that might appeal to you about cork also pose some drawbacks. Because it’s so springy and resilient, it can be damaged more easily than other hard surface options. Sharp-edged toys or heavy furniture can cause scratching, tearing, or gouging, which can only be fixed by replacing the plank or tile. 

A lot of cork flooring looks like just that – cork – but if that’s not your style, you can find cork flooring that imitates popular hardwood or even tile visuals. 

Vinyl 

If your child’s bedroom also doubles as a playroom – and if your child is an active one – vinyl flooring might be the way to go.

Another resilient hard surface option, vinyl floors offer a durable yet comfortable surface for your child’s room. Vinyl flooring is available in a few different formats: luxury vinyl comes in either planks or tiles, and can be printed to look like hardwood, tile, stone, concrete, or even fabric. Sheet vinyl comes in a roll, and is available in a wide range of colors and styles as well.

In addition to being durable and pretty water-resistant (and in some cases waterproof), vinyl floors are pretty low-maintenance. Weekly sweeping or vacuuming will be fine to keep your child’s vinyl floors looking fresh. 

While vinyl floors can be a budget-friendly alternative to hardwood or tile, you get what you pay for. Lower-quality products won’t look as nice as higher-end products, and can even off-gas harmful chemicals called VOCs. VOCs can lower the air quality in your child’s bedroom and pose serious health risks, especially to babies or very young children. If you choose vinyl flooring for your child’s bedroom, make sure you pick a high-quality product, or one that has third-party certification verifying its safety, such as FloorScore. 

Laminate

Like vinyl, laminate is a budget-friendly, low-maintenance flooring option that works well for an active child’s bedroom. Laminate floors are pretty durable and stand up to scratches well, making it a great choice for kids who play hard. Unlike vinyl, laminate doesn’t stand up to spills well, although some manufacturers have made strides in offering water-resistant laminate products. It also doesn’t offer the same give, or resilience, that vinyl or cork floors do, so laminate might not be the best choice for toddlers who are new to the whole walking thing. 

As with vinyl, you get what you pay for with laminate floors. The most inexpensive products aren’t the most durable or stylish, and can also off-gas harmful chemicals. Do your due diligence when choosing laminate floors for your child’s room, especially if your child spends a lot of time playing on the floor. 

Hardwood

This one might surprise you. Hardwood floors are … well, they’re hard. They can be expensive. They can get scratched or scuffed. They’re not exactly quiet. But they are pretty durable, and they’re going to last a long time. If your child’s bedroom is relatively low-traffic, and your child is a little older, you might want to consider hardwood flooring.

In terms of style, hardwood floors are timeless, which is pretty important considering their lifespan. If you’re putting hardwood floors in your child’s bedroom, they’re most likely going to be there when your kid goes off to college or moves into their own home. And while, yes, those floors are probably going to weather some scuffing or scratching – especially if your kid forgets to take off their shoes or drags their desk chair across the floor – hardwood floors can be sanded or refinished. Lighter toned woods hide scuffs or scratches better than darker colors, as do more rustic or textured floors. Though it’s not as resilient as carpet, cork, or even vinyl, hardwood floors are warmer and offer more give than something like ceramic tile. Plus, you can always soften up the surface by adding an area rug.