Need flooring advice / guidance please!

[leightx]

Ok - here's the situation. We have laminate all downstairs (except in the kitchen and foyer and master bath. It's an oak color, purchased from Costco - nothing spectacular, but a huge improvement over the previous carpet.

We didn't do the upstairs at the same time, since we couldn't afford to buy all the laminate at once, and we weren't sure what we were going to do up there. Now that we love the laminate so much, we think we'd like it up there as well. Upstairs = loft, office, 2 kids' bedrooms and small hallway (the kids' bath will be tiled).

Here's the dilemma - naturally, the laminate we used downstairs is no longer available. The replacement is the same brand, but the oak is a slightly different color. This wouldn't be a big deal, except we're not sure what to do about the stairs. We're kinda iffy on putting laminate on the stairs anyway b/c it's a bit slippery, and now we're thinking carpet may be the way to go since the 2 laminates would not match at the bottom of the stairs. Then again, the laminate would be soooo much easier to clean than the carpet (esp. on the stairs).

Would it look funny to have laminate everywhere and then carpeted stairs? Would that look better or worse than having 2 almost matching laminates right next to each other? Is there a better option that I just haven't thought about?? Any opinions and ideas are appreciated! :)

[armel]

My parents have wood on their stairs, but then put a carpet runner over them. It looks really nice. with a metal bar that goes across the runner on the stairs to hold it in place at each stair.

You could do something like that. Since only a portion of the wood shows, it might not be obvious as to the mismatch in color (either at top or bottom of stairs) to the other laminate. you could even choose a darker shade for the stairs and purposely have it not match either but contrast.

[Beth]

That was basically my thought as well as I read your post. You can also do regular carpet on them and have just the edges in the finished wood or laminate.

Ask the flooring folks -- they've probably done something similar before.

[Robyncz]

Hey Leigh,
For what it's worth, when we recently got a quote for hardwood in our house and we were talking about the stairs, the flooring guy pointed out that stairs are constructed slightly differently depending on whether or not they'll be carpeted or wood (or laminate, I'd suppose). Carpeted stairs (well, at least ours) have a little overhangy sticky-out bit that the carpet wraps under and down to the next step. Wood stairs don't have this lip. If you are going to refloor carpeted stairs you either have to have that little overhangy lip thing shaved off of each stair, or the wood has to be cut in all kinds of weird ways to fit the stair. Either way, it would add considerably to the amount of time it would take you to do it, or the amount of money you'd pay to have it done.

I'm sure I haven't explained this well at all, but take a look at your stairs and see if you see what I mean. If each stair is not a flush rectangular prism, but instead has a overhang on the top of each stair, it's something you'll want to take into account.

[armel]

Hey Leigh,
the flooring guy pointed out that stairs are constructed slightly differently depending on whether or not they'll be carpeted or wood (or laminate, I'd suppose). Carpeted stairs (well, at least ours) have a little overhangy sticky-out bit that the carpet wraps under and down to the next step. Wood stairs don't have this lip.

Maybe it depends on the age of the house? My parents stairs are wood and they have the lip. But it is an older home.

[Krysia1031]

When we bought our house, the bedrooms had hardwood floors and that was it. We ended up putting hardwood all throughout the our house and the original wood in the bedrooms is different that the one we put in the hallways, stairs, etc. Honestly, I think its looks pretty good even though the rooms are different. And I agree with the other posters, you could always do some kind of runner on the stairs if you wanted. We had laminate at our old house and I absolutely loved it (much easier to clean than carpet). :)

[Hammster]

I'm not familiar with how the laminate gets put down, but we had a similar situation with wood parquet flooring. Our flooring installer had to buy 2 different color lots when he did a bedroom and hallway. They are close but not quite the same. So, what he did was jumble the 2 lots and just installed them randomly. That way there is no clear delineation between the 2 colors. So what I'm getting at, is it possible to randomly remove some of the downstairs laminate and install some of the slightly different colored ones? And then do the same upstairs as well? I don't know how easy or difficult it would be to remove the stuff downstairs and also how much extra it would cost, but it could be a way to resolve the mismatch problem.
Although I think carpeted stairs looks just fine. That would be the easiest solution I think. Perhaps a Berber or some type of carpet with both hues of the flooring?

[leightx]

Robyn - so what did you decide? Did you leave the stairs carpeted? Ours does have that lip, so that may make the decision even easier.

I'd thought about a runner, but our stairs also have a landing halfway, and then they turn back and go down the other way (does that make sense?), so I'm not sure how the runner would work on the landing part. It would also maybe look a little odd - too old fashioned / traditional?? In my ideal farm house with a huge front porch a runner would be great, but this is a typical house built in the 90's - not modern, but not traditional either.

I guess I'm mainly just concerned with resale value. I don't know if having carpet only on the stairs is just too weird for most people or not! Then again, having laminate in the bedrooms might be a bit weird for some, but it's easy enough to remove and put carpet down.

[clairea]

I do have stairs that are carpeted, with hardwoods at the bottom and top. I think a lot of it depends on the style of your house, and where the stairs are located. It is my back stairs that are this way, and they just run up from the hall by the garage to the hall between the playroom and the kids bedrooms. I love that they are carpeted, because they are the stairs that the kids and I run up and down all day long. I think it looks fine, but it is definitely sort of a "casual" look. My front stairs are hardwood, which looks really nice but I have probably only used those stairs 4 times in the 8 months we have lived in this house!

If you want a more formal look, I think you could still do a runner with the layout you described. You would need to do a short runner on the first run of stairs, then a rug on the landing, then another short runner on the second stair run. A lot of the home decor catalogs having coordinating rugs and stair runners.

[Robyncz]

Robyn - so what did you decide? Did you leave the stairs carpeted? Ours does have that lip, so that may make the decision even easier.



Well, our decision was easier because we're leaving carpeting in all the bedrooms upstairs.

Also, I was afraid that uncovered wood would be too slippery, for our kids and our arthritic dog. . .

I'll be interested to hear what your flooring person (or are you planning to do it yourself again?) says about the stairs. Mine may have been blowing smoke because the lip makes the job more complicated. Or it's possible that I completely misunderstood the point (I'm such a construction IDIOT)! In any event, I'd be interested in hearing what someone else had to say.

[leightx]

I think we'll have someone do the upstairs - there are a lot of weird cuts up there, and honestly, we're just sick of working with laminate!! I think DH has put in about 1500 sq. feet already (with my "supervision" ;) ).

We've gone back and forth with leaving carpeting in the bedrooms, but since the entire family has allergies, I think getting rid of the carpeting is probably the right decision. Hopefully it doesn't seem to weird when we sell the house - we'll have to get some fun area rugs. I'm just excited about getting rid of it in the loft, so I can move all the kids arts and craft stuff out of the kitchen (the laminate is so much easier to clean up spilled paint and markers).

[boisewinesnob]

I'd thought about a runner, but our stairs also have a landing halfway, and then they turn back and go down the other way (does that make sense?), so I'm not sure how the runner would work on the landing part. It would also maybe look a little odd - too old fashioned / traditional??

Leigh, I have the exact same type of stairs that go from our first floor to our second floor. We have a hardwood entry/foyer area and then the stairs and second floor are carpeted. We have thought about doing hardwoods upstairs as well and I would keep the carpet on the stairs.
If you went the wood/laminate route with a carpet runner, it would probably be OK, but if your house is like mine (built in 1990) it would look a little out of place.

[leightx]

Ok - I think we'll keep the carpet on the stairs. Actually, we'll get new carpet. Thanks for the input everyone! :)

We're about to enter home repair h*ll (new roof, interior and exterior paint, then flooring upstairs and bathroom downstairs). Should be an interesting summer!