Carpet

[Kori Ellis]

So...

I'm re-doing the playroom at our house. Right now, it has tile on the floor (and mats for the kids to play on). Anyway, I want to get new carpet installed, get the room repainted, and get some toy organization system (built-ins, shelving, wall units or something).

What's a good place in San Antonio to get carpet? The carpet needs to be more durable than fancy. I don't want to pay a small fortune for installation either (and no, we won't install it ourselves).

Also, do any of you have a good organization system for your kids' toys? We have three two-year-olds and a three-year-old. So we have lots and lots of toys. I was thinking of installing some wall units with shelves and bins -- like in a preschool.

Thanks in advance.

Belated Merry Christmas and Early Happy New Year.

-Kori

[cantthinkofanything]

Tiffany's or Hardbodies

[cantthinkofanything]

^ but...ya know... sometimes it's pretty moldy. the carpet...

[tlongII]

Home Depot.

[4>0rings]

Not what I expected when I clicked this thread.

[TDMVPDPOY]

a good toy system is havin toy story on repeat....

[leemajors]

The Ikea Expedit bookcases are nice, you can buy the fabric drawers for storing toys. That carpet is gonna get messy!

[cantthinkofanything]

just read the second paragraph. there's some system with shelves and pull-out fabric boxes that works great. doesnt look bad either. when i get on a computer, ill add a link.

[Useruser666]

So...

I'm re-doing the playroom at our house. Right now, it has tile on the floor (and mats for the kids to play on). Anyway, I want to get new carpet installed, get the room repainted, and get some toy organization system (built-ins, shelving, wall units or something).

What's a good place in San Antonio to get carpet? The carpet needs to be more durable than fancy. I don't want to pay a small fortune for installation either (and no, we won't install it ourselves).

Also, do any of you have a good organization system for your kids' toys? We have three two-year-olds and a three-year-old. So we have lots and lots of toys. I was thinking of installing some wall units with shelves and bins -- like in a preschool.

Thanks in advance.

Belated Merry Christmas and Early Happy New Year.

-Kori

Unless you are sure you want full carpeting installed, both Home Depot and Lowes have large play rugs for kids. These rugs come in various sizes ( and have nice patterns (fake streets, houses, towns, learning) for kids to play on. You can also pick them up to help you clean if liquids are spilled on them. Plus, when they get older you can simply toss them out. So no installation costs involved, and you can go back to the more durable tile later on down the road without any hassles.

If you do want full carpeting, I'd get estimates from Home Depot and Lowes. You can check Angies List for ratings on installers (membership fee).

Rug Links:

http://www.homedepot.com/Decor-Area-Rugs-Mats-Area-Rugs-Kids-Teen/h_d1/N-5yc1vZba79/R-202565246/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&superSkuId=202782540

http://www.homedepot.com/Decor-Area-Rugs-Mats-Area-Rugs-Kids-Teen/h_d1/N-5yc1vZba79Z1z10vf7/R-202565256/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&superSkuId=202782552

[Drachen]

I received an email that Home Depot is having a bunch of "in store specials" on storage, to include those fabric boxes, etc. Berber carpet seems to be pretty darn durable. My parents have it installed in their condo at the coast (think sand) and it has held up quite well. Something to check out. If you need an installer, I can recommend someone too.

[ploto]

Not fancy at all, but I am still a fan of the big Rubbermaid/Sterlite tubs. I had them in all kinds of sizes, depending on the toys, and they stack wonderfully. You can always throw stuff in there and put on the lid. They wipe clean and can even be hosed out if necessary. You can even pick a different color for each kid's stuff, if you want. When they are done being used for toys, they can be used for whatever comes next.

I would caution against any frou-frou fabrics. Everything should be Windexable!

I also always have had bookcases full of books, but I am a book nerd.

I know it is scary with little kids and tile, but I also know my kid needed a "hard" place for building puzzles, especially as the pieces got smaller. You might have a desk or table, but he liked building them on the floor. I put one of these on the floor (6'x6') in the center where he mostly played. It cushioned the floor and wiped clean without taking up the whole room.

http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pG01-3857895_alternate1_reg.jpg

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2786146

I have never dealt with 4 toddlers, but I think the key is simply to have a place for everything- whatever that place is- so that there is a spot it is supposed to return to when done with it. Good luck!

[PakiDan]

Not what I expected when I clicked this thread.

:tu

[ploto]

If you go with carpet, just be careful of what material it is made. Some of the supposed durable carpets are made of Olefin. I would stick with 100% nylon or wool.

[CosmicCowboy]

Kori...

If I were you and you plan on being in the house at least ten years I would look at going with a good quality commercial carpet. (like the carpet you find in hotels and casinos) That's what I did in mine and they were GREAT for kids and have lasted forever...mine are 15 years old and still look like new. They are a low dense pile and don't have a foam pad under them to soak up kid and pet accidents. BTW, they don't have to put it directly down to the tile...they can put 1/4" masonite down as a smooth base....then just pull it up when the kids are grown and you have tile again..I use Hicks Carpet One for carpet.

For your kid storage and play stuff? Don't even hesitate..Drive to Roundrock and go to Ikea. Way better selection and cheaper than anything you can get at Container Store, Home Depot, etc. I set up a very cool kids play section in my house for the grand kids that is super compact but extremely efficient...wood cabinet frames with slide out multi-color plastic tubs of different sizes...I put pictures on the front of the tubs of what goes in them and it even becomes a game for them to clean up and put stuff in the right tub...

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/childrens_ikea/18706-2/

[Summers]

We have two commercial-quality bakers racks in our spare/play room. They're not very pretty, but they have a huge weight capacity and roll if you need them to. (They hold a lot less weight per shelf if you put the casters on, but it's still really strong). They come with plastic mats that cover each shelf so you can use those so storage bins slide more easily or take them off if cleanliness is an issue. The shelf height is adjustable, so we have the one big Sterilite tub on the bottom shelf holding all the train tracks, then shelves above that to hold tubs of other toys, like Ploto was saying.

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=152201

Two pieces of (unsolicited) advice: :) 1) Consider anchoring any storage system you get to the wall. Kids climb. 2) If you're going to put down carpet, invest in a carpet shampooer. We have a cheapish Eureka or whatever and we use it all the time. Kids spill things constantly and one of them will eventually throw up on the carpet, I promise.

[mrsmaalox]

My kids' playrooms were always dominated by art projects and snacks, hence never any wall to wall carpet; actually we did start out with carpet in one room but it ended requiring more time/attention that I cared to pay for, so it got pulled out early on (and my kids never got hurt falling on the bare tile). Plus many of the toys just work better on a hard surface. Any area that required padding just had cheap area rugs that were easily and frequently replaced.

As has already been pointed out kids climb things, so I always preferred one low anchored shelf running the length of the room with bins on and under it.

[CosmicCowboy]

FWIW ran across this on craigslist

http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/fuo/2765278288.html

[Kori Ellis]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Our whole house is currently either Saltillo tile, or wood flooring. (Except there is carpet in the master bedroom.)

I want to put down carpet in this room (which is about 26 x 25), as opposed to just laying area rugs. Our kids aren't allowed to eat/drink in the playroom (except for water), so I'm not concerned about spills in that regard.

I will definitely anchor any shelving/wall units to the wall. They are big climbers -- especially my youngest daughter. The amount of toys they have is embarrassing. I have all the Christmas toys just sitting in the sun room in large cardboard boxes right now because there's no place to put them in the playroom, except for just sitting on the floor.

I want to make a system sort of like this:

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/cameron-6-cubby-and-3-drawer-base-set/?pkey=dstorage-storage-wall-systems

but with the cubbies/bins a little bigger.

[Summers]

Yeah, my first thought is those bins are fine for little things, but you need big spaces for big things, like Tonka trucks and whatever the girl equivalent of a Tonka truck is. :lol

[trypldubl]

As far as shelving and storing goes, if you can't make a trip to IKEA then a trip to The Container Store might work. I put in a few shelves from there already. It was not to expensive and easy to install myself. They have people there that would help you desing a shelving layout for your room. This is something you might consider in case you did not want to go with what you were already looking at.

http://images.containerstore.com/catalogimages/102946/elfaWhiteKidsWorkstation_l.jpg

[Trainwreck2100]

3 words

white...board.....paint

[The Reckoning]

[QUOTE=ploto;5537785]http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pG01-3857895_alternate1_reg.jpg

...play on words...

[RandomGuy]

Kori...

If I were you and you plan on being in the house at least ten years I would look at going with a good quality commercial carpet. (like the carpet you find in hotels and casinos) That's what I did in mine and they were GREAT for kids and have lasted forever...mine are 15 years old and still look like new. They are a low dense pile and don't have a foam pad under them to soak up kid and pet accidents. BTW, they don't have to put it directly down to the tile...they can put 1/4" masonite down as a smooth base....then just pull it up when the kids are grown and you have tile again..I use Hicks Carpet One for carpet.

For your kid storage and play stuff? Don't even hesitate..Drive to Roundrock and go to Ikea. Way better selection and cheaper than anything you can get at Container Store, Home Depot, etc. I set up a very cool kids play section in my house for the grand kids that is super compact but extremely efficient...wood cabinet frames with slide out multi-color plastic tubs of different sizes...I put pictures on the front of the tubs of what goes in them and it even becomes a game for them to clean up and put stuff in the right tub...

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/childrens_ikea/18706-2/

I would concur to this as to durability, and storage.

Pros/cons of pads:

The foam pads do allow for some padding from falls, but have the feature that they also let liquids get absorbed, so you have to make sure you clean and suck up anything that gets spilled.

If you choose to have animals of any sort, and they pee on the carpet, it WILL soak into the pad and be hard to get out. Whenever we have a tenant with a dog/cat, we almost always have to replace the pad, to get the smell out, no matter how good the animal was.

It is possible to get a good industrial strength carpet, and then add some cool throw rugs on top of THAT for play, you know the ones that look like little maps/cities, etc.

Either way, my wife was very right about the shampoo-er. Spend a little to get a fairly good one. That and a good Dyson vacuum. Those things are amazing. Expensive to fix, but worth the money, IMO.

A good shampoo machine can also double as a wet shopvac, even on hard floors, and can actually be used to clean hard floors if one has the right accessories.

Our shampooer also has an attachment that can be used for sofas and/or car interiors. Darn useful thing, and some of the better applicance money we have ever spent.

[RandomGuy]

As far as shelving and storing goes, if you can't make a trip to IKEA then a trip to The Container Store might work. I put in a few shelves from there already. It was not to expensive and easy to install myself. They have people there that would help you desing a shelving layout for your room. This is something you might consider in case you did not want to go with what you were already looking at.

http://images.containerstore.com/catalogimages/102946/elfaWhiteKidsWorkstation_l.jpg

You can also get that kind of stuff from Lowes.

They can even custom cut lenths of shelving to suit any size room.

[DieMrBond]

Just my 2 cents, but I would heartily recommend NOT putting in carpet in a kids playroom... If you want them to do any painting, playdough or messy craft - carpet is not a good choice. Also, not sure if your lot are toilet trained yet - but carpet is also bad for that. If they wet themselves, that stench will stay around for quite a while... Not to mention the allergies that carpet can encourage.

We have Vinyl Wood Planks in our house, which are water resistant, allergy free and if you go for the higher quality commercial grade they are very kid resistant - and easy to replace a strip at a time if needed.

Just an alternate view I guess.

With kids storage, we bought the IKEA Expedit shelving units, bought some tubs and then printed up a sticker for each tub with the toys they were for, Eg Lego, Dinosaurs, Cars, Trains, Dress Ups, etc. That worked with our kids, because then they knew exactly where everything was supposed to go when it was time to clean up...

Obviously tho, I'm in Australia so I have no idea if you can even get that stuff there (the Planks i mean, not the IKEA stuff - thats a disease, it's everywhere).

Good luck!

[ploto]

Our kids aren't allowed to eat/drink in the playroom (except for water), so I'm not concerned about spills in that regard.


I was thinking more about throw-up and diarrhea!

[DieMrBond]

Oops, double post... Stupid slow internet.

[Mark in Austin]

If possible I would do a low voc or no voc carpet - preferably 100% wool. That "new carpet smell" you get from typical carpeting is from chemicals the carpet is off-gassing. Not the greatest for kids to be exposed to.

HGTV article (http://www.hgtvremodels.com/interiors/choosing-eco-friendly-carpet/index.html)