Ever tried Lysol Deodorant spray? I got that tip from the Home Decorating forum, I believe and it works wonders on stains on my carpet from pets, etc.! Just spray it on heavily, wait a min or two then dab or scrub the stain! Hope it works for you!! Linda--you're so right and so funny! Animals aren't color cued to food but people sure can be. As a 'side', my mother was discussing the notion of 'Green Eggs & Ham' as per Dr. Seuss' story and my Dad just sniffed and said it didn't matter to him what color his food was--it was just plain "stupid" to think it would matter to anyone!! I'm sure you have an idea of what happened the following *breakfast*--yep--green eggs and blue biscuits! And, yes, he did eat it all but he had to admit, afterwards, it had a decided effect on his ability to 'scarf it down', as usual! My mother could hardly restrain herself from bursting out laughing as he ate it! Pretty sure, my cats and dogs could care less about the color of their food--but, apparently, the marketing folks believe it affects our decision (as though we'd be eating it) as to what our pets would like to eat! You know, they're probably right--we're so VISUAL you know! :o)

Eleven years ago I replaced the cheap beige carpet in our house with beautiful Karastan wall-to-wall beige carpet. We have a lot of kids and back in 2004 we still had toddlers. I don't regret the carpets, at that point it was hard to know what type of hardwood to put down on a concrete slab, it seems that engineered hardwoods were an emerging product and solid hardwood planks were not recommended for slab foundations. There were moisture transfer issues that seemed to make hardwood floors a risky proposition back then. Our carpet looks exactly like the close-up sample that AuntJen posted. It looked to me like beautiful sand, the quality is excellent. We paid a fair sum of money for it in part because it did not off-gas, and we installed rubber padding (instead of the compressed foam) which helped prevent goat trails. Now we have a dog who occassionally barfs. So our carpet is stained. And worn out. Having a Dyson vacuum had made all the difference in keeping it looking good when we vacuumed daily, our carpet looked fabulous. Wish we had a Roomba. It's a frieze and I love it. I'd love hardwood floor more, but do not regret the carpeting. My kids played on the floor until five years ago, and the carpet kept the house a little quieter and allowed them to lay on the floor and play anywhere. I certainly miss those days.

Olefin will crush so you have to look for a carpet that is very dense. So only get it if you struggle to get your fingers down into the weave. I use a lot of olefin, mostly tight level loop commercial type carpet, but I also have olefin area rug in my library that looks like an oriental silk and I have not had an issue with crushing as it is a very dense weave. I did get an olefin berber once and what a mistake that was...it never looked good in the traffic areas. Also, olefin has a low melt point so keep it away from heat....DH put a drop light down on my carpet and it melted into hard plastic nubs...had to have a section replaced.

Laminate just means layered. Thin plastic is pressed together into a thicker layer. This thicker layer needs a wood backer. If you go to a big box store, you'll see they have laminate for sale, some with the wood attached, some is just the plastic sheet that you glue on yourself. Laminate colors tend to be very fashionable and end up out of fashion long before the product itself wears out which is why there are countertop paint kits- with more neutral or up to date colors. If you scrub hard enough at a laminate you will remove some of its layers which is why some of yours appears to be speckled and some solid color.