It can be very difficult to know what to do when choosing new flooring for a family home. In the sitting and living areas, it is so lovely to have that warmth provided by a luscious wool carpet – in the deep mid winter, it does make you feel that bit more cosy. In the 1960s and 70s, the advent of central heating in modern homes seemed to coincide with the move away from wooden floors and large rugs to fully fitted carpets. Our own family moved into a brand new house in the late 60s and we enjoyed the novelty of having wall to wall carpet – not wool though, that was very much out of the budget. Ours was a modern made made nylon mix, from memory. I do recall the odd crackle when anyone moved too quickly over the sitting room one in particular. Dad used to say it was a build up of friction and electricity. We just accepted it and made sure we didn’t do anything too fast – it seemed quite a common thing to occur so we never questioned it. Fitted carpet was so popular and cheap compared to wooden flooring, which would have been in the form of parquet squares or tiles. We even had fitted carpet in the family bathroom – that seems unbelievably crass nowadays and definitely a hygiene risk.
The kitchen in that house was tiny – it seems unbelievable now to think back that housewives accepted these ghastly little sculleries with no fitments – just the sink unit with shelves underneath. When we look at the amazing features that family kitchens have become these days. Definitely no carpets! Most kitchens are the social hub of the family space now, so practical flooring is more important than ever. It has to be safe, no possibility of slipping. It also has to offer beauty that complements the cabinets and overall kitchen features. One thing my own kitchen has which at the time we moved in did not seem problematic, but now that there are aged, less nimble hands doing the housework, the very hard ceramic flooring is completely unforgiving when a favourite bone china mug slips from the grasp! For some reason they fare slightly better when bouncing off the wooden floor in the L shaped sitting area. But the ceramic floor is so much easier to keep clean and is much more water tolerant, but the wooden floor has the beauty and reflects the sun in that special natural way.
