When you have a busy family, the choices you make for your home are really important, especially when you have young children. They grow up so fast and your time is best spent with them, so your home should be easy to take care of .
Anyone who’s ever raised small children knows they are capable of all kinds of unintentional damage. While they’re playing—just being kids—they make mistakes and can sometimes have a little spill here or leave a little scratch there. It’s all part of growing up.
But nothing about hardwood floors makes them more susceptible to damage than any other type of flooring. On the contrary, wood floors are one of the most durable forms of flooring you can find, and they are very easy to keep looking great, even with small children. And once the children are grown, there won’t be any need to replace your floors, just have them sanded back down to bare wood and refinished to have them look brand new!
With a few easy tips, you can relax and enjoy your children and your new wood floors.
Clean Up Spills
One of the great things about wood floors is that they aren’t easily damaged by liquid or food spills as long as the spill is cleaned up in a reasonably short time. Kids inevitably spill things, so this ease of cleaning is a definite plus for families with small children, particularly when compared with carpeting, which can quickly be permanently damaged by spills.
Use Rugs
Judiciously placed throw rugs on wood floors are not only a great, simple way to help prevent your kids from nicking and scratching your floors, the rugs can be creatively used to achieve the interior design look you’re after.
Pick the Right Floors
Most families can pretty well anticipate how their children will use their floors. When choosing your flooring, it pays to keep this use in mind.
If the flooring you’re thinking about is going in a kitchen or family room where your kids will constantly be playing, you may want to consider flooring that’s particularly good at hiding scratches, dents, etc.
Fortunately, there are so many options in selecting wood floors—species, texture, sheen, grain, color, board size, —that it’s rarely a problem for homeowners to find flooring that hides wear well but also suits their tastes.
Your Lifestyle Should Always Be Considered
While all of the above points are pertinent for homeowners with small children, they are actually true for anyone considering installing new floors in their home. Diligently cleaning up spills, using rugs, and choosing the right flooring for your lifestyle are good strategies, regardless of whether you have children.
