Top 5 Best Flooring Ideas for a Master Bedroom

Last updated on March 11th, 2024 at 07:07 pm

When it comes to choosing a floor for your home, it really comes down to what style you are trying to achieve. It also depends on the room you are upgrading, and we cover your master bedroom right now. You’ll want to choose a floor that is durable and it can be a lower cost options for most people. The master bedroom is a peaceful retreat for most, so you want it to be a comfortable space. The five best flooring ideas for master bedrooms are solid hardwood, engineered hardwood, luxury vinyl plank, and carpet.

We will talk about their durability, water resistance, hardness, and more to uncover all the pros and cons attached to each specific flooring product. The bedroom floor is the first thing we touch when we wake up to and the last thing we step on before we go to bed. Getting the best floor that will last and have you loving it over time is a lofty goal, but today we will be a few steps closer to that goal.

1. Prefinished Solid Hardwood

A great reason to choose prefinished solid hardwood floors for your master bedroom is that it’s one of the few flooring types that will increase your home’s value significantly. Money isn’t everything when it comes to finding your bedroom floor, but at a site named  Really Cheap Floors, we tend to focus on it!

A second good reason to have hardwood in the bedroom is that it’s easy to install. You won’t have to worry about sanding or staining the floor on-site. The surface seal lasts longer, so the floor will remain durable over a longer period. It is simple to install tongue and groove hardwood bards, they click together easily and you can watch our installation videos if you want reference material.

It is commonly mentioned you can sand down hardwood floors and refinish them, we can go in-depth on this topic. We don’t think its a DIY or an efficient use of a project’s budget. Try to purchase a floor in the color you want to see for a long time in your room.

Will Prefinished Solid Last?

Solid hardwood continues to prove it will last a long time. I’m sure you’ve seen the tragic photos of hardwood floors covered in linoleum from the fabulous 70s and 80s. Those covered hardwood floors are begging for refinishing. The beautiful thing about hardwood getting old is that you can sand down the worn 15-year-old boards and refinish them to make them look like new. You can give your floor a different type of finish to give your floor a different look if you want to overhaul a makeover.

Why Can Solid Wood Last So Long?

Prefinished solid flooring has a factory-applied finish consisting of aluminon-oxide. This aluminum-oxide finish is too harsh of a chemical to apply to hardwood floors in a home. This chemical does not emit air pollution once this finish is applied to each hardwood board in the factory to be clear. There’s no need to worry about indoor pollution coming from your new prefinished solid hardwood floors. Aluminum-oxide is a very harsh chemical that, when dried and applied to hardwood, protects from scratches and wear over time better than any other finish currently available.

Polyurethane is the other hardwood finish that is used as a protective finish. Polyurethane is water or oil-based. It is typically used by flooring installers or contractors who install floors in an old-fashioned way. Installers will sand unfinished boards down, apply the finish in a few coats, and let dry. You will be recommended to stay out of your home for the install and a few days after the finish is applied.  This old-fashioned installation can yield beautiful results if your installer is experienced, but the finish on top of your hardwood boards will not be as tough or scratch resistant as the pre-finished aluminum-oxide boards that come from the factory.  Overall, prefinished solid hardwood is the one that will be the most likely to stand the test of time.

2. Engineered Hardwood

This kind of hardwood flooring is made to be more stable than solid floors in areas that experience more humidity throughout the year. Engineered wood floors are made with real wood manufactured using three to nine layers of different wood veneers. Each layer of wood, glue, and other materials is stacked with the wood grain in mind.

Why would a manufacturer care about wood grain? That’s because if you stack 3-9 layers of wood in the same grain pattern, these layers will warp, move, and expand in the same direction when it experiences moisture changes. Placing these layers or plys of wood in opposing wood grain patterns allows the wood to expand due to moisture in conflicting directions to prevent warping. This engineered floor core results in a more stable hardwood floor than solid wood can offer.

Engineered hardwood looks very similar to solid hardwood because both boards on the top are basically the same. The top of each engineered hardwood board displays a layer of real wood called the top veneer. That means if you like a dark walnut look in solid wood, you’ll like it in its engineered form because it will have a slab of dark walnut wood on top. Depending on the thickness of the veneer, you can refinish engineered floors multiple times just like solid wood floors. If you want to learn more about engineered hardwood, and how it’s made check out our blog all about engineered hardwood.

Water & Moisture Resistance

Engineered floors are more water-resistant than solid wood floors in general. The horrible cupping you see in some old cabin photos is much less likely to happen because engineered hardwood was created to prevent that from happening.

It’s popular to purchase prefinished engineered floors, so you will still see the benefits of the aluminum oxide finish you find in a prefinished solid.

You will still have to be vigilant with standing water or liquids on both your engineered and solid hardwood. Engineered floors may not be the best choice if you plan on having a lot of new pets or if you’re unsure how big you want your family to be. Unsupervised accidental spills can damage your hardwood floor permanently.

We recommend engineered hardwood because the chance of any climate control problems in a house becomes of minimal consequence. You will be walking on really hardwood boards, and you will be moister protected by the cross-pattern plys in the core of the floor.

3. Luxury Vinyl Plank for a Waterproof Bedroom

Choosing luxury vinyl plank for your master bedroom is great because it is so versatile. You can get the floor to match almost any kind of style you’re trying to create. We offer Shaw Floors Floorte Pro luxury vinyl plank floors because they are built to last, and the style colors are amazing.

We wrote an extensive blog called “What is Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring?“, with pictures of its construction, wear layers, manufacturing origins and close-up pictures to cover everything you need to know about this relatively new flooring product.

If you’re hearing about LVT or LVP products know that they are built the same but LVT is a vinyl plank product made to look more like a tile floor instead of a hardwood one. We hear a lot about LifeProof vinyl plank floors and we think they can work for some homes, but read our deep dive to gain more insight into this.

Is it Popular For a Good Reason?

Luxury Vinyl floors are the fastest growing flooring product today. If you stay away from the exceptionally cheap stuff, you can expect:

• Durable Construction
• Scratch Resistance
• Dent Protection
• 100% Waterproof Floors
• Pet-Friendly Materials
• Aluminum Oxide Wear Layers (In a few products like our Floorte Pro)

The benefits of luxury vinyl are currently targeting homes with active families and pets. The standing water problem we want to avoid with hardwood at all costs is not a worry with LVP. Luxury Vinyl can throw its weight around in a durability contest, but you won’t see an increase in your home value over time like you would with a hardwood floor. If you are looking to sell your home and want the bedroom looking great for potential buyers, consider going the hardwood route if your budget allows for it.

In-Air Pollution

It is worth mentioning that cheaper imported luxury vinyl plank products can emit toxic pollution in the air of your home. Cheaper carpets can emit harmful toxic gases.

Luxury vinyl floors are easy to install. You will see installation is common among offerings these days. We recommend you stay away from glue down vinyl plank because it is typically a pain to install and a floating floor isn’t as

This flooring is also really low-maintenance. It is easy to care for and you’ll probably only have to clean it every now and then. If you take care of your vinyl floor, then it can last for a very long time. This will definitely help save you money in the long run.

4. Laminate Floors

When you use laminate in the master bedroom it helps give the space some elegance. You can get a similar look as hardwood floors without having to pay a lot of money. Laminate flooring contains a variable layer of particle material glued together to make up its core. Laminate has become more popular over the years because of its cheap price and hardwood visuals.

If cheap laminate is within your budget, we recommend moving to luxury vinyl. You can get great visuals in LVP at similar prices. Luxury vinyl offers a much more durable and longer-lasting product in general.

The major argument given for laminate is that “it is better than carpet”. That is a very biased opinion that sounds like someone who still won’t share their toys or sympathy as they did in kindergarten.

We ask you to research the laminate company and its specific product before moving forward. There are common problems like snapping in this photo to the right. Problems like this can occur due to your subfloors. Laminate boards can have nothing to do with imperfections like this but it is a unique problem to laminate when you consider common this is reported. Laminate is not as stable a floor as hardwood or vinyl. Keep this in mind.

Softer than Hardwood or Luxury Vinyl

Laminate is a softer floor than hardwood or luxury vinyl products. This is a good thing if you want a hardwood look with a softer impact on your feet. The softer material is a bad thing if you want floors that aren’t easily dented or resistant to furniture wear.

There are laminate options out there that have advanced to become more durable with better manufacturing over the years. We don’t stock laminate due to its performance and cheap manufacturer materials.

Chinese In-Home Air Pollution Scare

There was a big formaldehyde scandal with laminate flooring distributor Lumber Liquidators. The Chinese imported laminate floors glued the laminate cores together with formaldehyde. This highly toxic chemical forced everyone that purchased the floor to replace it in their home.

You can read more about the story from The Washington Post: Lumber Liquidators to pay 33 million for misleading investors about formaldehyde in laminate flooring.

5. Carpet

This bedroom floor idea has solid pros and cons to discuss. You can find carpet in thousands of homes today. It is becoming less popular to purchase a new carpet floor with other flooring options on the table.  It is cheaper to select carpet as your flooring option than the other four floors mentioned previously. Let’s go over some pros and cons of carpet floors and see what we find.

Pros of Carpet in the bedroom

• Texture is soft

Most of us already know that a good carpet feels great between the toes. It can feel very comforting.

• Sound Cancelling

The sound removal found in carpet is a less contemplated benefit. There will be less noise transfer to or away from your bedroom.

• Maintenance

It is pretty simple to maintain carpets. Vacuuming and shampooing carpets are our cross to bear when we want a clean carpet floor. Steaming away bacteria will get old after a few years. Or at least, it got old for me. Experts say carpet is not the most hypoallergenic option for flooring. Bacteria can get trapped in between  We think it’s not the most cost-effective floor to use.

• Cozy Temperature

If you like feeling something warm on your naked feet every day, the carpet will answer your call for a warm touch.

Cons of Carpet in the Bedroom

• Marks & Stains

Looking to have breakfast in bed? Look out! Stains find ways to collect outdoor debris, food, and common compound dust buildup to actively attack your floor.

• Material Breakdown

If you accidentally catch some fabric when moving furniture or due to another accident, it can unravel if you don’t treat the “wound” immediately.

• Replacement

Unfortunately, carpet has one of the shortest flooring lifespans. Even in a low-maintenance area like the bedroom, careful care doesn’t make a carpet last for 15+ years as hardwood or luxury vinyl can.

Air Pollution

Look for quality carpet when shopping around. Cheap carpet is rolling into Home Depot shelves from factories that carry materials that are toxic to your home’s air quality. Manufacturers are more aware of consumer’s concerns and are trying to minimize this air pollution.

You will find carpet in a lot of bedroom flooring idea pictures on Pinterest. Especially with the carpet tiles craze that we find on some niche DIY sites. It is common to find carpet in bedrooms. Deep clean your carpet multiple times a year, and be ready to replace it every 5-7 years. If you are happy to do those two things, carpet may be your best pick.

Best Flooring Ideas for Master Bedrooms Summary

If you’re looking for the best flooring for bedrooms, we know it’s all up to you what that means. Hardwood has a timeless look and the greatest effect on increasing the value of your home. Luxury vinyl plank is one of the most durable materials in flooring. We can talk more about wear layers and visual durability in our what is Luxury Vinyl Plank blog if you want to get technical.

Laminate is a cheap alternative to get the hardwood look, but we don’t recommend this option due to its structural issues, toxic materials, and its history found in the Lumber Liquidators Case. A popular flooring option is a carpet because it is comfortable, but it doesn’t last as long as hardwood or LVP. Another problem with carpet is it also has a long history of air pollution problems, and it costs more to maintain it over time.

No matter what flooring you decide to put in your master bedroom, we can help you get the best deal. Our sales associates can help you find the flooring that is perfect for you within your budget. Browse our flooring ideas for a master bedroom and find the best fit for your home. Feel free to call us if you have any questions.