Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: kids room flooring- marmoleum

[Dahako (Dahako]

Hi-
 
At Eastern Village, we have real linoleum in the kids room, with a few rugs  
helping to define the various play areas.  There is a really nice  small rug 
on one edge of the room, with a mirror hung low on the wall  next to it.  That 
is the little baby area. One of our neighbors is a former  Montessori school 
teacher and she helped set it up.  A week or so ago, she  pulled some stuff out 
of the room, rearranged, and added a train table.   Kids do the messy stuff, 
like painting, in the lino areas, and have rugs and  pillows elsewhere. 
 
We also have a "game" room for older kids (and some adults).  It also  has a 
linoleum floor. In fact, most of the common house has linoleum  floors.  The 
dining room has bamboo.  I think the guest rooms might  have carpet, but I 
can't remember and I'm feeling to lazy to walk over and look.  The elevators 
have 
Flor tiles.
 
In all the linoleum-floored rooms, we could definitely use some additional  
sound management, like acoustic panels on the walls and  ceiling.  We designed 
the kids room pretty well for sound  control - high ceilings, direct door to 
the outside, bathroom  inside, unopenable windows facing into the living room 
so parents can  supervise from outside the room.  But the amount of sound 
leakage still  bothers some folks in the dining room, and, as more kids join us 
the 
sound  levels are increasing. 
 
I also have some experience with cork flooring.  We installed a cork  floor 
in my son's bedroom.  It was cheap because we installed it as a  floating floor 
and did all the labor ourselves in less than a day. (My husband  is really 
good with a chop saw.) The cork is nice looking, sound damping, and  easy to 
clean.  It is also holding up well to a fair amount of abuse. And  my favorite 
-- 
it is never cold to the touch.
 
Jessie Handforth Kome
Eastern Village Cohousing
Silver Spring, Maryland
"Where our third holiday season is upon us and I think the decorations may  
go up without controversy this year!"