Although now widely regarded as an interior design blunder, as many as one in eight Brits say they still think it is acceptable to have carpet in their bathrooms.
According to a survey conducted by market research company YouGov, in a poll of over 2,000 UK adults, a startling 13% of respondents said they think it is “acceptable” for a bathroom to be carpeted.
This trend differs slightly by generation, with only 8% of 18-24 year-olds saying it was acceptable, compared to almost one-in-five (19%) of those aged over 50 saying they saw no problem with a carpeted bathroom.
Although once an incredibly popular design choice, the popularity of carpet in the bathroom has sharply declined since around the 1980s.
Interestingly, when looking at the rest of the house, more respondents said it was unacceptable to have carpet in the kitchen than in the bathroom. Only one-in-ten (10%) said it was “acceptable” to have kitchen carpet, with respondents of all ages seemingly united in their belief. Only 8% of 18-24 year-olds said they thought it was acceptable for a kitchen to be carpeted, which is broadly consistent with the 12% of over 65s who shared the same belief.
Bizarrely, the same amount of people (10%) who believe it is acceptable to carpet a kitchen feel like it is “unacceptable” for a hallway to have carpet. 15% of respondents also said they felt it was unacceptable for a dining room to have carpet.
Despite these opinions, YouGov also asked respondents what their kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms were actually furnished with. Almost all of the respondents (94%) said that they didn’t have carpet in their current bathroom at home, with only 4% admitting to actually owning a carpeted bathroom. Strangely, 1% of respondents (more than 20 people) confessed that they “didn’t know” if their bathroom had carpet or not.
Almost all of the survey’s respondents (97%) said that their kitchen wasn’t carpeted, and four-in-five Brits (82%) said their bedroom had carpet.
