Home-based businesses change the way people work and live. Whether craft-based or service based, working from home is more prevalent than ever before. Most of the time this calls for a reserved space to put up a home office. It’s important to have a place that you can go to get your work done that’s separate from your home life, protecting that crucial work/life balance. Because many home offices are often converted from old bedrooms, dens, and other areas that were previously existing in the home, it’s also fairly common for these spaces to sport carpeting on the floor. And while carpeting has its place and its uses, the home office shouldn’t be one of them. Switching from carpet to hardwood in your home office can make a big difference to the room, to your work habits, and to your entire property.
Property Values
More than 90% of potential home buyers polled list hardwood flooring as one of the must have items that they want to see in a new home. Carpeting only helps homes sell faster and retain its value when it’s brand new; older carpeting is frequently torn out prior to resale or just after purchase. Adding hardwood flooring to your home office can increase your home’s value, and help it sell more quickly when the time comes to move. Both solid and engineered hardwood floors can help increase your home’s value, even if you only install them in one room of your home.
Maintenance
No matter what type of carpeting you install in your home, you’ll need to be prepared for the maintenance that goes along with it. This may be why more commercial office interiors are moving away from it as well; carpet is difficult to keep clean and maintain on a regular basis.
Even regular vacuuming can’t prevent carpet fibers from becoming worn, with foot traffic patterns showing up clearly in the center of the room. Even stain-resistant carpets also often show dirt and wear and tear after a while, which can detract from the look and feel of the room.
Hardwood floors are much easier to maintain, particularly newer floors, which are factory finished with a highly durable top coat. They won’t show the same levels of wear and tear, and you can clean them easily with a quick pass of a dust mop. This will help ensure that you spend more time in your office working, and less time cleaning.
Interior Design
No matter how good the rest of your interior design is in your home office, a worn, dingy carpet is going to bring down its style. Carpeting for commercial spaces may wear better than the carpeting used in most homes, but it’s often devoid of any style. And the carpeting that’s likely in your home office was put there with the intention of having it work with a bedroom set or some living room furniture – not the contemporary home office space that you’re probably trying to achieve.
Carpeting also limits the color palette that you can work with in the room, and may also limit the types of furniture you can use there. For example, rolling carts and office chairs won’t work as well on thick-pile carpeting as they will on a hard surface.
Hardwood floors work well with any type of interior design. They create a warm, yet neutral backdrop for you to choose paint and furniture colors, and blend well with both traditional and contemporary office settings. And if you choose to convert your home office back to a bedroom or to give it another use, hardwood flooring works well in these areas as well.
Hardwood also makes a favorable impression to those visiting. If you have clients who stop into your home office on a regular basis, hardwood floors help give your office the professional look you need.
Allergy Friendly
One of the biggest drawbacks of carpeting is the fact that it can trap so many things, such as dust mites and pet dander. No amount of vacuuming can ever completely free your carpeting of these items, which can make your home office environment unhealthier than you may want it to be. And while this may not bother you personally, remember that any clients or guests coming to your office may feel differently; you need your home office to be a professional setting where you can conduct your work as you would in a commercial office space. Hardwood flooring helps this happen more effectively than carpeting.
Make the Switch
It doesn’t take long to make the switch from carpeting to hardwood floors in your home office. In just a few days you can be up and running in your new space with a floor that enhances your home office, your work habits, and your property values. Consider replacing the carpet in your home office with a new hardwood floor to reap all the benefits that hardwood floors have to offer.
