Eco-Friendly Flooring for the Nursery (Giveaway!)
When you’re planning out a new nursery design, your first thoughts are probably all about the theme, colors, and furniture. You’re so excited thinking about your baby growing up in a room full of owls, or fishes below the sea, or superheroes flying around the walls that you never even thought to look down at the floor. But the truth is is that the flooring in a nursery is very important. This spot is where your baby is going to be rolling, then crawling, and then running around. Not to mention that your baby is going to be in this room a lot at first,(newborns sleep 16 - 17 hours a day) which means that your baby is going to spend two-thirds of the beginning of its life breathing in whatever is in the air in that room. Put your mind at ease with these options for eco-friendly flooring for the nursery. (Plus, you can enter to win $200 for Lullaby Paints!)
First some thoughts on indoor air quality and carpet:
It may surprise you to hear this since so many homes have carpet in them, but the American Lung Association states that “Carpets may trap pollutants like dust mites, pet dander, cockroach allergens, particle pollution, lead, mold spores, pesticides, dirt, and dust.” They bring up another scary topic for parents with these facts, “In the home, children are more likely to be exposed to pollution in carpets. They spend time playing on the floor and place their hands in their mouths. If a large area is covered in carpet, it may be very difficult to remove indoor air pollutants and allergens.” If this wasn’t enough, there’s another thing they point out about carpet, “Chemicals used in some new carpets, carpet pads and the adhesives used to install them can harm your health. Some of these chemicals and glues are made with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which emit odors and pollutants. New carpet installation also has been associated with wheezing and coughing in babies in their first year of life.” Yikes. Still, there are some safer carpets out there (you'll see 2 options below).
Eco-friendly flooring for the nursery:
#1 Flor Carpet Tiles
For those of you who need to rip out old carpet but don’t have the budget for installing all new flooring, these carpet squares are a perfect choice. They’re designed to be used as an easily moveable area rug or a whole floor carpet, and they’re super easy to install yourself. Not only are they made from recycled materials, but they’re easily interchangeable if one gets stained, and they can be returned to the company to be made into more tiles. There’s a huge selection to choose from, so it's easy to find the exact look that fits your nursery design!
#2 Pioneer Millworks Reclaimed Wood
If you love wood and you want an incredibly unique floor in the nursery, then this company is for you! They “rescue” old wood from dilapidated buildings that are about to be demolished or are abandoned, and re-engineer it into useful lumber for siding, fixtures, and flooring. This means you get wood that's over one-hundred years old with its incredible character and beauty along with the good feeling that you saved this gorgeous lumber from the landfill!
#3 EcoTimber Hardwood Floors
EcoTimber has a huge variety of hardwood floors to choose from. From the width of the planks to the color and finish of the many types of wood, you'll for sure find a hardwood floor that you love. And remember everything about formaldehyde and VOCs? This wood has none of that! This is all-natural, sustainably harvested, and FSC-certified wood, so you can feel good about protecting the environment for the little one sleeping in the nursery!
#4 Ecofusion Bamboo Flooring
Do you know why bamboo is considered to be a renewable resource? It takes only one to five years for some types of bamboo to be ready to be harvested. Oak can take up to forty years! Not only that, but bamboo is simply cut at its base, so it keeps growing after being harvested. There’s no need to replant like there is for trees. Ecofusion’s bamboo flooring has no VOCs, no added formaldehyde, and qualifies you for LEED credits just for installing it in your home! LEED certification was created by the U.S. Green Building Council to be the benchmark for all green building products, so you can be sure that Ecofusion is going to be an eco-friendly product created with the highest indoor air quality standards in mind.
#5 US Floors Cork Flooring
Cork comes from the bark of an oak tree that grows in coastal regions of the Mediterranean. Unlike most trees that are cut down to be made into other products, only the bark is removed every nine years to be used as cork. This means that the tree, (which can live past two hundred years) remains healthy while supplying us with a naturally unique product. Some of the amazing attributes of a cork floor include - warmth, a natural comfort underfoot, fire-inhibiting, insect resistance, easy to clean, durable, and they have a distinctive beauty unlike any of the other floors we have listed. US Floors has many cork flooring options to choose so you may be surprised how much variety in texture and color you can find in cork flooring.
#6 Naturescarpet Wool Carpet
Although we talked at the beginning of this post about the dangers of carpet, we had to include this wonderful wool product. This wool carpet has many advantages over the synthetic varieties found in most homes. It’s so different that they’re hardly the same thing. Naturescarpet’s Dark Green line is 100% un-dyed wool with no chemicals added at all. It has an all-natural jute and rubber backing and is made from rapidly renewable resources. The eco-friendly and health benefits of this product are so long that we highly recommend you read up some more on Naturescarpet.
#7 Paint the Floor
Designing on a dime? This is a better option than you might think. If you follow the steps in this post from our brother company, ECOS Paints, you will have a durable, high-quality, and great looking floor for much less money.
GIVEAWAY!!
UPDATE: Congratulations to Lisa L. for being our lucky winner!
Let us know in the comments which one of these eco-friendly flooring options for the nursery is your favorite to be entered into this month’s Lullaby Paints giveaway for $200 in Lullaby Paints!
Here’s how:
REQUIRED: Let us know in the comments below which eco-friendly flooring you like best or want to use in your nursery.
OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL ENTRIES:
- Sign-up for Lullaby’s monthly email
- Like Lullaby on Facebook
- Follow Lullaby on Pinterest
- Follow Lullaby on Twitter
- Follow Lullaby on Instagram (@LullabyPaints)
- Follow Lullaby on Houzz
- Follow Lullaby on Google +
- Tweet about the Giveaway and use the hashtag #LullabyGiveaway
- Share the giveaway on Pinterest and use the hashtag #LullabyGiveaway
- Share the giveaway on Facebook and use the hashtag #LullabyGiveaway
For each additional entry, leave a separate comment letting us know what you’ve done (and what your profile name is where relevant). You can enter up to 11 times by taking all of the actions listed above and the more entries you make, the more chances you have at winning!
One random winner will be selected on 2/28/2017.
Good luck!!!
No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Must be US resident and at least 18 years of age. Click-through for full sweepstakes rules.