Carpeted dining room... with kids?

[new2this]

How do you handle it? I have a 4 year old and 9 month old. Our new house has an open layout and carpet... which means carpet under the table. Can you say gross? We will eventually replace all the flooring with anything other than carpet but in the meantime how do we deal with it? I originally thought area rug even though rugs over carpet is generally terrible. The space is a weird size though. It's 6ft 2in wide (there's a bump out for stairs on one side and the kitchen with linoleum on the other side). I've now ordered and had to return 2 rugs that were advertised as being 6ftx9ft but ended up being only 5 1/2 wide which is barely wider than the table. DS is pretty clean but DD... not so much.

[thatgirl2478]

they make high chair mats that my friend used to contain the messes that her child would make in their dining room even though they had hardwood.

It might work better because it's designed to be cleaned off AND it has an obvious purpose so it doesn't look like you're putting a 'rug' on carpet.

[wavepool]

We have the same problem. Our current solution is a shower curtain of the same color as the carpet under the high chair, so not the best, but trying to save the floor.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using proboards

[adhdfashion]

I ripped out my carpet and put in new flooring. :/ Nothing worked well and my kids are so incredibly messy.

[auntie]

Do you eat in your dining room most nights?

If you do, I'd put a chair mat down under each kiddo's chair. If it's just holidays, I'd do a cheap vinyl tablecloth or shower curtain under.

You could also by a "steam" carpet cleaner. I have a cheapie I paid about $125 for that does a remarkably good job. It's not harder than running the vacuum.

[Deleted]

My SIL finally had to put that plastic floor mat stuff under her entire eating area. Kwim? The stuff with the prickles on the back that's clear. Old people love it in their hallways and such?

It's not the prettiest but it's not entirely obvious either. She tried all sorts of stuff and her kids were just all over the place because they're little. At least she can mop off or dray outside and hose.

[demandypants]

Dogs? I never realized how messy DD was as an infant until we traveled to a house without a dog, and I was so confused why there were cheerios on the floor...

[lavender444]

Lol. Seriously, demandypants. How do people without dogs manage the food messes kids make?

As for the carpet, I would put down some sort of mat/rug under the kids chairs, spot clean as well as I can when the carpet does get dirty and, call that good enough, since you have plans in the future of replacing the carpet anyways.

[dr.girlfriend]

I would do an indoor/outdoor area rug, and then a highchair mat. Our kid eats at the coffee table a lot, and our indoor/outdoor rug actually holds up really well against spills and stains. It's not very rough, either.

[thatgirl2478]

Jul 10, 2014 9:03:25 GMT -5 lavender444 said:

Lol. Seriously, demandypants. How do people without dogs manage the food messes kids make?

As for the carpet, I would put down some sort of mat/rug under the kids chairs, spot clean as well as I can when the carpet does get dirty and, call that good enough, since you have plans in the future of replacing the carpet anyways.

  My old dog was our chow hound - the current dog is lovely and wonderful but he could give two craps about people food on the floor. 

[new2this]

We haven't moved in yet but we will eat most meals at the dining room table. I looked at "splat mats" on Amazon but a lot of them don't get great reviews. The hard mat sounds perfect though!! I'm totally going to get one of those.

We don't have a dog. I constantly find puffs on the floor :/

[cjeanette]

We eat in the kitchen most of the time?

Seriously though I don't get the carpet thing. Our dining room would have been easier to lay hardwood since it is an open area that only has carpet in that room. Why??

I am just hoping for a good stain to justify ripping it out.

[craftyone]

I would suggest a mat and maybe a hand held carpet cleaner so you can clean up any mess that might turn into a stain? Luckily we have dogs that pickup most of the kids droppings.