Vinyl Flooring - Better than Carpet?

It’s difficult, especially in these economically challenging times, to achieve a luxurious and attractive finish on a tight budget but maybe there’s one option you haven’t considered. I’m talking about vinyl flooring and vinyl floor tiles, the practical flooring solution that has donned a mantle of style and is coming out of rooms with taps in to take over your whole house.

Carpet, as we all know, despite providing a comfortable and unifying look to a home’s interior is vulnerable to attack from animals and children and even moths! How many times have you screamed in horror as that glass of wine or bowl of chocolate ice cream heads floorwards? Those long lonely hours spent on hands and knees with scrubbing brush and soapy water or some underperforming miracle cleaning product. The disappointment when one realises that it will never be the same again and the only choices left to you are to rip the whole lot out or move the sofa to an inconvenient place.

If you had installed vinyl flooring or floor tiles instead of that carpet you could happily entertain a whole tribe of drooling incontinent basset hounds safe in the knowledge that they won’t be able to damage your precious floor. The pressure would be off. The weight from your shoulder lifted. No more would you be forever rushing into the sitting room to scream at the kids for absent mindedly treading a felt tip pen into the ground.

Yes, yes you say, I realise the obvious maintenance benefit of such a floor covering but my little tootsies will get awfully cold on a vinyl floor. Well, that’s for another article that will probably be called ‘Slippers – warmth from the feet up’ There is no avoiding the fact that vinyl will feel cooler underfoot than carpet but some of us are prepared to sacrifice comfort for style (and easy cleaning)

Style! We’re talking about vinyl aren’t we? Well yes we are but don’t let shudder inducing memories of seventies lino fool you into thinking that vinyl flooring isn’t where it’s at. Have you seen what you can get nowadays? It’s a world of vibrancy and daring, colour and shape. Yes there are retro looks available but long gone is the vinyl floor that is a pale replica of its ceramic tiled cousin. A vinyl tiled floor will thrill with the shock of the new. It’s forward looking, it’s maintenance free. It’s brilliant. Who’s looking old fashioned now neutral carpet person?