When choosing between different types of floor for your house, it’s important to consider the different rooms involved. For example, while hardwood floors look great in a living room, they’re not well-suited for kitchens or bathrooms because excessive moisture ruins wood floors. Each room of the house serves a different purpose, and that purpose should be considered when choosing flooring. Keep reading to learn about options in kitchen flooring, bathroom flooring and types of floor for other rooms.

Living Room and Dining Room Floor Options

You almost can’t go wrong with choosing types of floor for this high-traffic area. Hardwood floors look beautiful as a living room or dining room floor. If wood flooring is too big an expense, laminate floors have a smaller price tag and are available in patterns that imitate wood floors.

Consider your lifestyle and decor when choosing one of many types of floor for the living room and dining room. Hardwood and laminate floors are easily scratched and scuffed, so if you have kids or pets, wall-to-wall home carpet may be a better option.

Kitchen Flooring Options

When choosing kitchen flooring, pick among the types of floor that are resistant to moisture and bacteria. The floor should also be easy to clean and maintain. Linoleum, vinyl, and ceramic or porcelain tile are great choices for the kitchen. Because of the potential for spills in the kitchen, steer clear of certain types of floor, such as hardwood, laminate or carpet flooring.

Bathroom Flooring Options

Much like kitchen flooring, bathroom flooring should be easy to clean. It also needs to be moisture-resistant, since the bathroom is one of the most damp and humid areas in the home. Ceramic or porcelain tile is one of the most popular bathroom flooring options. However, tile can feel very cold underfoot. If this is an issue, other types of floor, such as linoleum or vinyl flooring work just as well.

Do not install home carpet in your bathroom–a carpet can trap moisture and provide a home for mold to grow. Humidity and water can also cause damage to wood and laminate flooring by causing the planks to swell and crack, so keep these types of floor out of the bathroom.

Flooring Options for Bedrooms

Since the bedroom is designed to be a quiet and serene place, home carpet is a popular floor choice. Home carpet absorbs the sounds of footsteps, voices, music and television, and cuts down on the “echo effect” in large rooms. If home carpet isn’t an option due to allergies or personal preference, other types of floor like hardwood or laminate floors work if they’re strategically decorated with area rugs to muffle sound. And although it’s not a traditional choice, leather flooring is a great sound absorber, and has a warm, soft feel. However, leather is much more expensive than more common types of floor.