I am so glad you asked this question. I currently have wall to wall that needs replacing. I *think* I want to replace with hardwood. Cant wait to hear what everyone hear says.

We have hardwood flooring, with an area rug. Just think it looks nicer, and you don't get all the dust collection at the edges of your carpet.

We are in the process of installing premium white oak tongue and groove flooring on our second floor, big job (too much furniture in the way) but it looks absolutely wonderful...we Love it..
We're doing it ourselves, so there will be no saddles in the doorways, it all just flows together as one floor.
Do hardwood, you wont be sorry, it's forever.

Joann

We have hardwood in all bedrooms. It's much easier to clean than carpeting, and I think it looks better too.

I confess that I miss that soft rug feel on my bare feet since my area rugs are thin. But I still wouldn't choose carpeting over hardwood.

Another fan of hardwood. We've always replaced carpeting with hardwood except when we built we used marble. Much prefer hardwood flooring for cleanliness, and it's just a timeless look.

Hardwood here also. I can't answer what is most popular, just what we like. Now I'm not a big rug person, so in our bedroom, we have hardwood without a rug - there's enough furniture in there that it doesn't look bare. We have a basement though, so we don't get the cold floors.

Another plus for us, I have allergies and after seeing what sinks down to the base of carpet - even after frequent and thorough vacuuming (I have a rainbow), there is still *stuff*. I don't plan to ever have carpet again.

tina

When we had our flood, I exchanged our hardwood for carpet in the bedrooms but went with the same hardwood throughout the rest of the area that was flooded. (It was not a matter of finances as it was all insured). I just like carpet in the master BR, and I love rugs layered on carpet or not for a change. I get massive animal hair on carpet or hardwood. My cats and dogs shed on both. It doesn't matter. I don't understand why some would only shed on carpet and not on hardwood, honestly. Scratching my head here.

We put hardwood throughout the first floor & carpet throughout the upper level. I think both ways have their pros and cons. I love the look and warmth hardwood floors bring to a room, but equally love the soft feeling of the friezia (I think that's the right way to say it) carpet when I walk on it. As a rule we don't wear shoes in the house, and there is much less traffic upstairs so it is wearing well. I also like the carpet upstairs because at night, I don't need to wear slippers when walking around.

Wood floors throughout the 1st floor with area rugs throughout. I have been told by realtors that tile and hardwood add to the value of a home in actuality and that carpet is seen as something that will have to be replaced so is not figured into the appraised value of your home. I don't know if that is true but it makes sense. c

To me wood flooring always looks bare unless a large part of it is covered with beautiful carpets. My first memory of "home" at age four is a refugee camp which was barracks with wooden floors. I haven't been able to overcome that, and even the most beautiful rooms here that have bare floors seem stark and cold to me. They're also often for some reason very monochromatic since many people seem afraid of too much color in their surroundings. If it had to be wood flooring my preference is for wide, old-looking boards that are not shiny or too dark. In bedrooms I like wall-to-wall carpeting no matter what.

We put hardwood throughout much of home. We have travertine in kitchen & mudroom. The bedrooms are carpeted with 100% wool carpet. I love carpet in bedrooms but would never want it anywhere else in the house. FWIW the children are not allowed to wear shoes in bedrooms, that helps with dirt for sure.

I've had tile, lino, hardwood and now carpet. On the hard surfaces, I found that dust bunnies multiplied rapidly, but were super easy to clean with a Swiffer or vacuum. Now, with carpet, I don't see them... gotta believe they are still there but harder to dislodge.

So when I finally settle down, I want hard surface in the BR, with area rugs for softness.

Robin

We have oak flooring upstairs & downstairs, Opted to put carpeting in the bedrooms. lots of kiddies= noise, + an old house is chilly - so wool carpeting went over the HW -

I've always had well-to-wall. Recently, I had that ripped out and had hand scraped maple engineered floors put in the DR, LR, hall, and MB. I don't even have a rug in the bedroom, but even getting up in the middle of the night it doesn't seem cold on my feet.

Here is my floor (Hallmark Heritage Maple Sugar):

I LOVE the hardwood. Wall-to-wall carpet really is so very dirty. It collects dirt and dust from the first day it's laid, and even with shampooing, a lot of it doesn't come out. It's bad for allergies, and it holds odors. Shampooing it is a huge backache looking for a place to happen, and the water NEVER runs clear no matter how many times you go over a spot. Wood floors are far cleaner, and far easier to maintain. Heck, I could even spray them with Oxine and know they were sterilized!

I wish I'd gotten rid of my carpet a long time ago; I'm just sorry I waited so late to do it.

I have tile in 2 of the bedrooms, carpeting in another, and hardwood in my 5 year old daughter's room. I prefer the tile or hardwood, as opposed to the carpet, for all the reasons posted above.

The one benefit of carpet is comfort, and sitting on my daughter's hardwood floor to play with her is not at all comfortable. She doesn't ever complain about it though, so maybe it's my older bones!

We are going to rip up the carpet throughout all the living areas in our home and replace it with hardwood, except for the living room (again, for comfort).

Hardwood with rugs here too. In our sub tropical climate hardwood feels cool to the feet and it's good to know that when the floors look clean they really ARE clean.

We have laminate wood but it looks close to the real thing. We both have allergies so it was an easy choice to make. I do miss the softness of carpet though sometimes.
Bonnie

We have hardwood floors throughout most our new home, including our master bedroom, but not in the remainder of our other bedrooms or baths. We chose to do frieze carpet in the rest of our bedrooms as our daughters preferred carpet. They like to lay on the carpeted floor a lot to lounge around and watch TV, do homework, play games, etc. Our baths have ceramic tile. We are very pleased with all our choices.

Hands down beaming hardwood floors!

We're about to replace all the carpet in our house with glue-down cork tiles. That includes LR, DR three bedrooms and the short halls that lead to the bedrooms. We wanted to get rid of the carpet because it is just impossible to keep clean (dogs, we're in the woods) and we think it will help with flea issues.

We considered hardwood, but feared that the great room concept of our MCM home, if redone in hardwood, would lend a bowling alley acoustic and aesthetic. Also, hardwood would have presented a slight level change to pavers that are already there -- the cork will provide a smoother transition and will go with the style of an MCM home. We're using glue-down tiles, so won't have the doorway saddles and expansion seams that are an issue with the newer cork planks.

We'll definitely use some area rugs, though. Likely in the MBR and the seating area in the living room -- maybe under the DR table if we find one that works.

We had carpet in every home. Then, in 1996, we bought a house with really horrible dark brown dirty carpet in bedroom. I had the carpet cleaner (a friend) pull it up and there were pretty oak floors underneath. My DH (from Indiana where it gets cold) worried about cold feet but it wasn't an issue. So, when we got ready to do some hardwood in Living room Dining room and hallway in this house, I wanted my master bedroom done too. I use rugs each side of bed so you can get out of bed on warm rug, but I love my wood floors. And when they are clean, they are clean, unlike carpet. My other two bedrooms still have carpet. When that has to be replaced, I may do wood or it may be carpet again--don't know. But for my own room......Wood.

I don't have a full shot of MBR wood floor, but here's a corner with the rug that I have at end of bed in the edge of the shot. (Dog sleeps on rug while I use my computer!)

Red

Thank you every one for the wonderful comments on the hardwood flooring, newhomebuilder,I've seen the picture of your bedroom with the hardwood flooring,just beautiful. oceanna,thanks for posting a picture of your maple floors, they're gorgeous. redbazel, thanks for posting your picture, those are beautiful floors, I love the way you did the picture grouping around the mirror, and what a beautiful dresser too. Does anyone else have some pictures of their hardwood floors, I would love to see them.

Here are ours - Bruce Hardwood in Ash with the Gunstock finish.

Here is a pic of mine - hope this helps! Bonnie

Lacombe, thanks. :o) I think you'll be really happy with hardwood, and you can always throw down lots of rugs if you want, so it's the best of both worlds. Cleaning them is as easy as running a vacuum, and the vacuum rolls easily on a hard floor.

I go to the stores and it's soo confusing, I really like the real wood the Oaks, and I also like the engineered wood too. I'm in no hurry to make up my mind, I guess I have to start bringing wood samples home. One sales lady tried her best to sell me the Bamboo Wood, I don't know that much about Bamboo Flooring.

Hardwood with an area rug is my preference and what I had in my previous home. I just moved to a new home that has wall-to-wall carpet. Unfortunately, installing hardwood isn't in our budget right now, so I have to live with it for a while.

Last summer I had all of the carpet in the bedrooms removed and replaced with Engineered Gunstock hardwood flooring. I love it so much better than the carpet. It's also in the hallway and my small foyer. Only room left upstairs with carpet is the living room and when the money isn't so tight--it will be going too. The house seems a lot lighter without the carpet. I have rugs on each side of the bed.

Peachie

This was one major point my DH and I disagreed on when building our new house. He insisted on carpet in the master bedroom and since he only had a handful of things that mattered to him, I didn't argue. It is nice to plant your feet on fuzzy carpet in the cold winter and the carpet looks pretty in there. Still, I do like the look of hardwood.

Hardwood, no question. The happiest day of my home decorating life in this house was the one last summer in which my son ripped out the LAST of the wall-to-wall carpet, in his bedroom, and laid hardwood. Now I have wood in the foyer, LR, DR, hall and all 3 bedrooms. As many others have pointed out it is far easier to keep clean, and I love the clean spare appearance of the wood floors. My son also ran the flooring directly through the hallway and into the bedrooms so there are no thresholds and it makes the space look larger.

Someday when I do a full remodel of my kitchen I'll continue the same wood flooring into there and the back contiguous hall. A few months ago as a stopgap we pulled up the horrible homeade vinyl floor in there and laid a laminate floor that looks similar to the wood, just a lot less expensive.

My goal is that the only non-hardwood flooring in my house will be tile in our florida room, which is a separate (added-on before we bought the house) space.

Hardwood rules!

Ann

Hi runninginplace, do you have hardwood in the bathrooms?

Hardwood lover, here, too. I had wall to wall in my bed room, and a doc advised me to replace it when temporary asthma developed, and I had trouble sleeping. The difference was amazing! Despite sharing my bed with 'my 3 dogs', I have no trouble breathing and sleeping now.

I have Douglas fir original flooring in my upstairs bath in my 1930's cape. I found it under the vinyl that I planned to replace with tile. It's coated in an epoxy finish that sheds water like a duck. I had the same oak flooring that I put in my bedroom in the downstairs bath.

Upstairs bath floor after refinishing

1/2 bath oak floor. I am thrilled with both.

No more w2w carpeting in our home. All bedrooms have either hardwood or travertine.

Cant stand w2w anymore, especially in hotels. I always wonder what gunk is hiding in there :)

Hi my3dogs, thanks for posting your pictures, the floors look great in the bathroom. I've been going to a lot of show homes lately here in my area, they're building homes like crazy here, any ways I've been seeing a lot more hard wood in the bathrooms lately.

I love the hardwood we've put in the bedrooms. I simply have matching smallish rugs beside the bed to step on when getting into / out of the bed. Our allergies have serious gotten better since we're a carpet free house.

"Hi runninginplace, do you have hardwood in the bathrooms?"

Oops, forgot my bathrooms! No, those are tile too.

Ok, so hardwood everywhere except bathrooms and florida room is my goal :).

Ann

I guess I'm the odd ball. I don't mind carpet at all. I actually like to run the sweeper and think it's easy to keep clean. I'll add I have three very furry kitties. I think visually hardwood looks nicer if you have area rugs but that's another expense on top of the hardwood. Someday when my LR and hallway carpet need replaced we'll probably do hardwood but I think I'll always have carpet in the bedrooms.

Hi sheesharee, haven't talked to you in awhile, hope your doing good. You know we still have carpeting in our bedroom, but I think its time for a change, the carpet that we got when we built the house is ok, but every time I vacuum the rug it always leaves the vacuum line, you know what I mean, and also its starting to wear down a bit too, it's been 10 years since we've built, every time I look at the pictures of newhomebuilders house I wish we had hardwood flooring, we'll see, one room at a time, I just wish we didn't have such big heavy furniture, I'm sure glad I have a big strong husband.