ideas for flooring in spare room?

hi ladies,
we are buying a high ranch which has 4 bedrooms. the master bedroom and 2 smaller ones are upstairs. there is a 4th room, that could be a bedroom - or whatever you want to make it - downstairs. for now, we are using it kind of as an exercise room; we have a boflex and an elliptical that we are putting in there. down the line, if and when we need it as a 4th bedroom, we'll convert. right now there is really ugly tile on the floor - it kind of looks like it belongs in a nursing home hallway. not in a house. i want to do something with the floor... and i'd like to do it soon, because it would be so much easier to take care of the floor before we move these huge items in. i thought of carpet, but with the boflex and elliptical being such heavy items, i'm thinking that down the line the carpet will be permanently indented. we need something on the cheaper side, we can't afford to lay hardwood down right now. but i'm not sure what to do... i don't want it to end up looking like it's supposed to be a kitchen or bathroom floor, ya know?
can you ladies help me with ideas? pictures would be great! TIA.

Re: ideas for flooring in spare room?

in my parents basement, they have thinner carpet- i think its called "indoor/outdoor" carpeting, especially for areas like you're talking about. it might not indent as much as a thicker carpet would.
my FIL put down that stick down linoleum tile in his office for a cheap update. that was a year ago, and its holding up really well so far, and really easy to take care of, keep clean, etc.

Re: ideas for flooring in spare room?

Berber carpet won't get indented.

Message edited 7/20/2007 12:45:20 PM.