Many parents see hardwood floors as “one more thing my child can fall and hurt themselves.” But, before you move your whole family into a bouncy castle where there’s nothing hard to hit your head or glue foam mattresses to every surface of the home, let’s dispel some myths about kids, their toys, and your hardwood floors.
The perfect hardwood floors for families with active and imaginative kids
First of all, if you do end up living in a bouncy castle, can we come and visit? Second of all, there’s no reason you can’t be a great parent, have a lot of kids running around, and have beautiful hardwood floors. And you don’t have to keep the two separate. You just need to know what type of wood species to pick.
Kids and toy friendly grass flooring
The most durable “wood” of them all is not wood at all; it’s a grass. Bamboo flooring had it’s heyday about 5 or 6 years ago, and we’ve dabbled in the debate about the environmental impacts of bamboo flooring, but regardless of whether it’s trending or not, bamboo is one of the strongest, most durable types of flooring you can find.
Kids and toy friendly solid wood flooring
Pine, walnut, and cherry are very durable. However, when it comes to the finish of your solid wood flooring, the softer finishes will work much better for the purpose of kids. When your kids forget to take off their roller skates, or it’s raining so the big wheel races have to take place inside a softer finish will have more give under this extra pressure. Instead of cracking through a hard finish, the soft finish will merely (if at all) dent, and a dent is a lot less noticeable to the naked eye than a crack.
You can also go for the ultra trendy, environmentally friendly reclaimed wood. Besides being the responsible thing to do, part of the draw is that reclaimed wood floors come with the quirks and imperfections of a wood floor that have been around for ages. A few more imperfections created by your family won’t matter. It will only add to the charm.
