As winter looms, we face another round of the messy season - rain, mud and kids and pets running in and out tracking it all into the house. Floors take the most abuse during this time, but there are ways to make sure they stand up to the challenge.

Ed Howes of Circus Floors Carpet One in Los Altos recommends durable laminate or ceramic flooring for high-traffic areas of the home.

“These surfaces are available in a wide range of beautiful styles and are extremely scratch and wear resistant,” he said. “Plus, it’s easy to sweep up dirt or wipe up spills from a hard surface.” Another good tactic is placing an inexpensive floor rug that can be laundered in entryways.

LEES for Living carpet can be another option, he said. This carpet is specially designed to resist stains. Its patented stain protection technology suffuses the carpet with the ability to repel spills before they set and become stains.

“And it comes with a 25-year warranty - so you can be sure it will last throughout the messiest years or your kids’ lives,” he said.

Berber carpeting also takes heavy use and will camouflage dirt and dust, making it very low maintenance.

For a kid’s room, it’s a good idea to create a “dry” and a “wet” area with different flooring. On the dry side, place durable carpeting that children will find comfortable to play on. For the wet side, lay a laminate or vinyl to provide kids a place to paint and use markers and glue.

Howes also offered some tips to help keep you and your children organized during the winter:

• Put a trunk or storage bench close to the door that gets the most traffic, providing each child with a place to lay her backpack, wet shoes and carry-alls. This will keep children from tracking wet and mud through the house.

• Place some hooks at a child level on the wall so children can hang up their own jackets and umbrellas. Color coding or putting nametags on the hooks will keep things even more organized.

• Find a table or armoire with built-in storage to make putting away toys, games and books an easy chore for your child.

• Install bulletin boards or cork sections in one spot of your child’s room to give him a place to put lovable junk that he accumulates over the year.

• Paint one wall of your kid’s room with blackboard paint. A supply of colored chalk will keep her in a creative mode for hours.

• To keep fingerprints and wall marks to a minimum, paint kids’ rooms with semi-gloss or washable paint or apply washable wallpaper.

• Another option is to extend the laminate or ceramic area of the wet side of your kids’ rooms up several feet on the wall. This makes it very easy to wipe off sticky handprints and stains.

For more child-friendly floor ideas, visit Circus Floors Carpet One, 5084 El Camino Real, call 964-0326 or visit www.CarpetOne.com.