How-To

-Ideas for Great Baby Rooms, Sunset

Babies spend a lot of their first two years on the floor -- crawling, playing, and yes, falling. You'll want a surface that's hospitable to the little one's various activities but also easy to keep clean. While carpeting is soft for crawlers, most types are not suitable for, say, building block towers. It also stains easily and traps dust mites and residues tracked in on shoes. Wood floors and resilient surfaces, such as vinyl and cork, are better for play and far easier to keep clean, but offer little cushion for a fall. That's why most experts recommend a combination of hard or resilient surfacing with one or two small rugs or a carpeted area.

Resilient surfaces
Though often associated with kitchens and bathrooms, vinyl, linoleum, cork, and rubber are also good choices for the nursery, as they are hard-wearing, easy to clean, and softer than wood. Sealed cork is especially practical, as it is sound-absorbing as well as soft underfoot. Available in tiles or sheets, it is relatively easy to install.

Vinyl is another resilient flooring, especially appealing for the array of colors and patterns available. Cushion-backed vinyl is softer underfoot but may dent under heavy furniture or with a child's playful abuse. Inlaid patterns wear longer than photographically printed patterns. Be sure to ask about the protective finish on any vinyl you consider, as well as cleaning requirements (some have to be waxed, while others have an easy-care finish). Some vinyls must be professionally installed; others you can install yourself. Costs vary from about $4 to $40 per yard, not including installation.

Wood floors
Warm and appealing in its look, wood is a natural choice. Though a bare wood floor can be noisy, an area rug here and there will quiet things down, as well as add color and softness. If the nursery already has wood floors, make sure they are splinter-free. Fill any cracks or spaces between boards, or they will attract crumbs, dirt, beads, and siblings' other very small toys.

If the floors are in rough shape and you'd like to refinish them, again look for low VOC-content products. Alternatively, you could sand the rough spots and paint the floor in a geometric pattern, or add a stenciled border. Be sure to apply a top coat of sealer for easier cleaning.

Carpet
While wall-to-wall carpet seems like a soft, quiet solution for the nursery, spills and spit-ups create hard-to-remove stains, and dust settles in too deeply for most vacuums to extract. The latter is especially problematic for babies with allergies or asthma. If you are nevertheless set on wall-to-wall carpeting, choose a very low pile, a loop carpet, or commercial-grade carpet. Consider a border of a different color and texture to appeal to a baby's developing tactile and visual senses; composing a pattern from an array of carpet squares can also add interest.