I find wall-to-wall carpet a pain to keep clean around the baseboards. I prefer area rugs (they can be cut from carpet and bound) laid over hardwood floors. You you have only carpet and it wears out, you are stuck with worn carpet or sub flooring, and it will always wear out when you least have the money to replace the carpet. Get hardwood - you won't regret it.

Timely question/post for me! We inherited carpet with our current home & are probably switching to hardwoods to try & help with allergies. I like the softness of carpet, but the ease of cleaning with wood floors. I will be interested in responses!

Joanie, my DH recently floated the idea of replacing the bedroom carpet with wood flooring, and my immediate reaction was, NO! Thinking I like having a soft, warm surface under my feet when I get out of bed. However, the more I think about it, I think I would like it. Easier pet cleanup is a big factor.

Donna

I like the feeling of a carpet everywhere in the room, no fringes to stumble over, no hard surfaces to step on, for me it just seems cozy and right. On the other hand, I agree that for resale value wood flooring is the way to go.

It really matters where in the country you are. NO way in northern climates would I have anything but wall to wall. Too cold!! Other places depending on if you don't have knee/hip issues on hard surfaces might be fine. I think running a vacuum is much easier than sweeping such. To each his own.

Hardwood with large area rugs.

We went with carpet in our first remodel and hardwood in our second. No regrets.

I live in Buffalo, NY, which gets plenty cold. I ripped out all the wall-to-wall carpeting when I bought my new house almost 2 years ago. Redid the hardwood floors and put down area rugs. I personally hate wall-to-wall carpeting.

Prior houses had carpet - one had a very low, tight carpet with a platform bed and it wasn't too bad to take care of but that area next to the baseboards is a dust catcher. The other had a frieze and collected dust, dog hair and general cooties under our king bed, a PITA to reach and attempt to clean and I said never again. Built current house with no carpet anywhere, use rugs next to beds and I love it.

Hardwood with velvet cut wool wall-to-wall Or cut to room size with a narrow margin. With the beds blocked out underneath on platforms so there's no under the bed to get dusty.

Hardwood with area rugs for us. Carpeting is so gross to me...

Maine - cold, but hardwood in every room with area rugs. Master and dining rooms had wall to wall when I bought the house many years ago, which I replaced with hardwood.

Hardwood. No question about it. I've been there and done it with carpeting in the bedrooms and I'll never do it again.

Carpeting is dirty and it doesn't last all that long (maybe 2-3 years) before it starts looking like it needs replaced. Most carpeting, in most people's houses, spends more of its lifetime looking like it needs replaced than it does looking nice. It's probably more expensive to replace than most people expect. Plus, replacing carpet is an expense that just keeps coming, again and again.

Rugs are just as soft as carpet.

I do not like hardwood in bedrooms because it is just too cold and stark (even with rugs). My new build is all hardwoods except for the bedrooms and second floor bonus room. I have never had to replace carpet that I’ve chosen and installed myself. They never got worn out, stained, dirty or had the nap broken. Maybe it has to do with the quality (or lack of quality) of the carpet people are installing in their homes. I will say that if I had a bunch of toddlers running around, the cleanliness thing might be an issue. With young children (ha and even some grown ups), there are spills and leaks and accidents. But I would still choose carpeting in the bedrooms over hardwoods if I had young kids at home. It’s just a comfort thing. Playing and rolling around on the floor is just not as inviting on a hard floor with an area rug compared to thick carpeting with nice thick padding.

Interesting that someone said carpet is hard to keep clean. I find just the opposite is true. With hardwoods, every bit of dust shows, but with carpet, even if there’s a very fine bit of dust on top, it’s not visible (you don’t have to vacuum every three days to keep it looking clean). Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my hardwoods, just not in the bedroom.

I guess I’m definitely in the minority. We’re about to move into a complete remodel and we choose carpet for the family room and bedrooms. I haven’t had problems keeping it clean in the past. Everything else is wood flooring. I’m also getting a double sink which seems unfavorable in the kitchen forum too. Oh well, I like it.

We lived in a condo that was one level and had all hardwood which was fine. Then we lived in one that had carpet in the bedroom that was right off the front entry and I didn't care for that. Now we have a two story home that has carpet on the stairs, in the hallway and bedrooms upstairs and I have to say I love having the upstairs carpeted now, I just find it much more comfortable. However I hate having carpet on the actual stairs, its a PITA to vacuum and gets so much foot traffic. I would never put carpet in the main living room and dining room area like the old split levels did. If I had a split level where the bedrooms and living room where on the same level I wouldn't do any carpet. I think for a true two story it works to do carpet upstairs.

Had very expensive wall to wall installed upstairs in a new house and it looked good for years, but fortunately there was new hardwood underneath. When the carpet started looking used, I had it ripped out and never looked back. I would never have it again; cleaning around edges, baseboards yuck, and especially under the bed - I never felt I was getting everything up. Love, love, love my hardwood floors. I live in New England and my hardwood floors never get very cold. Still I have a little ruglet next to the bed. Even when staying at fine hotels- the carpeting seems toxic to me -all those barefeet and shoe ick - so I take great pains to step on it only with slippers.

Hardwoods with an area rug at the foot of the bed. With the hardwoods, the dust issue is greatly reduced, especially with my Roomba that chases down any dust bunnies that might get started under the bed. Everything is cleaner and DH's allergies have gotten better.

I have wood with area rugs but do like the feel of wall to wall in bedrooms. I just have not done it in this house for economical reasons and it seems wrong to cover the orginal wood floors. I do have carpet under my bed but I have always preferred canister vacuums that can reach under beds, chairs, sofas and tables easily.

Hardwoods everywhere for me, except the bathroom. I have rugs in every room. I have a large 9X12 under my bed. My feet always land on the rug when I get up. Also, even if it is cold the wood is always comfortable.

This debate has raged off and on for years here. I have always had a few questions. If you have hardwood floors and rugs, doesn't that mean you have to clean both the wood floors and the rugs? Don't the rugs wear out, just like carpet? Doesn't the wood floor need refinishing? How is that easier/cheaper than carpet? I completely understand if you prefer wood/rugs--but to say it is cheaper and easier to keep clean? I don't see it. Invest in good carpeting/padding, and vacuum/steam clean regularly, and your floors will be clean. Invest in wood flooring and sweep/mop regularly--and clean all the rugs, and your floors will be clean. I truly am curious as to what I am missing? I have had all hardwoods, but ultimately switched back to more carpet--love the warmth, softness, and sound dampening that carpet adds to a home.

Carpets are never truly clean, even after they've been steam cleaned.

After tearing out carpet and seeing all the ick that filters all the way through it, I always visualize that stuff lurking under there, even when the surface looks clean. Area rugs can be hauled to the rug cleaner. I have never worn out a wool area rug in 30 years. Our new house has cork, with a wool rug. It is never cold.

It's personal preference, both can be lovely. I had carpet for many years and never thought anything of it. But after I moved into my current house with all hardwoods, I was shocked at the accumulation of dust bunnies under the bed and dresser. It struck me that the same amount of dust was in the carpet of my old home, I just didn't see it. Another consideration is allergies -- bedroom carpets can be a problem for people with chronic allergies or asthma.

I've recently noticed more and more wall-to-wall carpet in Houzz photos. I suspect it's coming back in style.

I've had wall-to-wall carpeting in my previous homes, since 1990.

In this renovation, I have no carpeting anywhere. I have dust allergies, and hardwood floors that can be vacuumed and mopped work best for me -- and my sinuses. I have a rug at the foot of my bed so that my poodle won't be hurt when jumping off the bed.

We had all hardwood floors in our house in Venice (except kitchen and bathroom, which were linoleum tiles), and our current house came with hardwood in the living room and hall only - the previous owners had put carpet over the original two front bedrooms, and the new master bedroom was built with just carpet, which I think is just over concrete. My brother had to good sense to remove the carpet in his bedroom and have the original wood floor repaired and refinish - wax only - no poly! I left my room (the master) and the extra bedroom with carpet, and I lived to regret it big time. The previous owners had dogs/puppies that peed on all the carpets, and the stench was nauseating and lasted for months. Whenever we viewed the house before buying it, there were extremely strong deodorizing scent machines going on that masked the odor until the house was sold. I tried everything to get the stench out of the carpets, but to no avail. To this day I do not allow any dogs in the house - they go straight to the back yard if anyone brings one with them, but most people have figured out that I do not want them bringing their dogs here. (I had dogs as a child on the farm in Texas, but they lived outside; I prefer cats in the city.)

I prefer wall-to-wall carpet in my bedroom, and in San Francisco, I had a carpet cut to fit my bedroom, although it was not tacked down. In Venice, I had a small rug next to my bed (like my brother does now), but that was not enough. We also had a runner in the hall, and that was difficult to keep clean - much harder to vacuum than a rug that is properly installed. I am not a fan of loose rugs on hardwoods, but I do like hardwood floors. I also prefer a waxed finish on hardwood, as that is easier for me to maintain - scratches are never a problem to fix by myself.

I would not mind hardwood in my bedroom, but I would want it covered completely with a carpet that I could easily change when it gets worn.

My house is never cold, and we have travertine floors in the art studio/dining room and adjoining hall plus ceramic tile in the kitchen. We're in a somewhat warm climate, and I like having cool floors for most of the spaces. The coldest place I ever lived was San Francisco, and one of the reasons I moved away was the cold weather.

Hardwood. Mine are vacuumed and damp-mopped regularly so dust is kept to a minimum. Area rugs at bedside and in main living areas are taken out and cleaned professionally when needed. I have only had wall to wall once, and it showed major traffic paths even after cleaning. They never seemed really clean to me. Wood floors are at the top of my list when house hunting. Along with a working wood burning fireplace.

I am a w/w carpet lover. Hardwood floors are pretty, but people end up covering them up anyway. To me it is totally illogical to put in hardwood floors and cover it with all these rugs and runners that I see on this site. Rugs makes a room look smaller. Rugs are tipping and slipping hazard. My mother had hardwood floors at one time with all these stupid rugs all over the place, small and large. Until she tripped over one and broke her ankle. She got wall to wall and never went back to the hardwood. She hated having not only having to lift the rugs to clean the hardwood, but also having to sweep the rugs then put them back down. Double/triple work. Then people po-po carpets in dining rooms, but first thing people say when they ask for advise decorating a dining room is to put a rug under the table. Now does that make sense??? Food doesn't drop on rugs?? I think so. If you buy a good rug, pad and clean it regularly it will last a long time. Longer than my friends hardwood floors before they had to refinish them. My last house I had the carpet in for 20 years before it had to be replaced and I had kids. I agree that I don't like carpet on stairs and have oak steps now, but when the kids were young I had the steps carpeted because it cushioned falls. Beside I live in the north and carpets are warmer and insulate the floors. Hardwood is cold and noisy. I even hate having to put rugs in my bathroom in the winter, but if I don't it's like walking on ice since the master is over the garage and the floor is tile. The only rug I like is my Alpaca skin rug in front of the fireplace during the winter, but the rug isn't there to protect the floor, just decoration. Give me the warmth, soundproofing and luxury of carpet any day.

Hardwood floors really shouldn't need refinished (at least not for many, many years) if they are finished with a hardwax oil and maintained properly.

I have a minimal number of rugs in my house. I don't really think there's a need for little rugs and runners everywhere. I usually wear shoes or slippers inside, though I do enjoy the feeling of the hardwood underfoot (silky, but with a bit of grain).

The last time I got carpet, the installer told me that you really should not walk around barefoot on carpets because the oils from your feet will get on the carpet and the oil will help to hold dirt. So, "feels good underfoot" is probably not a really good argument for carpet, because it seems that you shouldn't have your bare feet on it anyway.

Nylon is non absorbent and oil would just come off in cleaning. If your buying poly yes it absorbs oil and dirt. We wear whatever in our home bare feet, slippers, mostly shoes. We are the minority. It is insulting to us for people to take off their shoes when entering our house. We value our guests comfort over a floor.

Imo, it might not absorb the oil, but it'll stick on there and dirt will stick onto the oil. Whether or not it is cleaned off well when you get your carpets cleaned.... I, personally, do not think carpet is clean after it's steam cleaned. The water that wwould come out if it when they're done cleaning would still look dirty, not clear, if they continued to clean. I've seen the water that comes out when carpet gets cleaned and the carpet is never cleaned until the water runs clear. I think that would be impossible?

FWIW, I also don't want guests taking their shoes off when they visit my home. I do value their comfort more than keeping out whatever dirt they might bring on the bottoms of their shoes. Plus, there's the added benefit of whatever fungus might be on their feet staying in their shoes vs getting on my floors. :-) ;) The hardwood is easy to clean and clean thoroughly.

I periodically take my rugs outside, into the driveway and I clean them myself, with the garden hose. The water runs clear by the time I'm done. You just can't do that with a carpet.

I'm having to make this decision, too. We are putting hardwood downstairs and on the stair treads. I have been planning to re-carpet the upstairs hall, bedrooms, and den just to reduce the sound of footsteps overhead. But you're right about the dust that gathers in the little crevice at the baseboards, and I can no longer bend over to vacuum it regularly. Might be a good argument for a cleaning lady, though.

I would put a low pile runner on the wooden stairs for safety reasons. When treads can be slippery. I have used a low Loop sisal look alike in the past with good results, cut and bound to the size of a runner.

Our house is partly tiled and partly wall to wall. When we moved here we had the carpeting taken out and new nylon carpeting installed which looked good for ten years. We've now replaced it with new carpeting. With regular vacuuming and steam cleaning (and never going barefoot in the house) I think the carpeting stays nice for a long time. On the tile we have area rugs. Since very few of us eat off the floor (or carpet), this concern for absolute cleanliness at all times seems a little overdone. Most of the world population would count themselves lucky if they had either carpeting or wood flooring.

When I was a much younger homeowner, my dad commented that one could eat right off of my floors. Oh, how time and age have changed me!

I prefer carpet in the bedrooms for softness, warmth, and sound muffling. However, in my area at least, hardwoods through-out is considered a tremendous upgrade. And, yes, one could lay area carpets over the hardwood for softness, warmth, and sound muffling, but that's just one more expense on the budget. So, it's wall to wall carpet in my bedrooms!

I've been reading this thread with interest, as our 13-year-old "frieze" (the modern word for "shag") carpet is getting to the point where it will need to be replaced soon. We decided a few years ago that when we remove the carpet we would replace it with the same oak flooring we have throughout our main floor. But now that the time to remove it is getting closer (and my husband is fully on board), I find myself second guessing the decision...

Our carpet starts on the second half of the stairs going up to the second floor, just after the landing, which is my biggest regret and something I would never repeat. I don't enjoy vacuuming, and especially hate vacuuming stairs. Maybe having a runner isn't so bad, but fully carpeted stairs are a hassle to be avoided IMO.

My husband wanted the sound muffling and softness of carpet upstairs because that is what he was accustomed to from previous homes, so it was a compromise and I've had mixed feelings about it from the start. I had never lived in a house with wall-to-wall carpet anywhere and was convinced for a long time that converting to hardwood upstairs was what I really wanted, but having lived with it for over a decade now I can better appreciate the benefits of carpet in bedrooms.

My kids are still at an age where they like to roll around and play on the floor, and we have 3 cats who like to lay in sunbeams and retreat under the beds when they need some quiet time, so I really like that the whole floor is soft and not just certain areas. And I like the softness and warmth of carpet on my own feet (which are bare much of the time) and the cozy feel of the bedrooms. So lately I've been looking at carpet options that might give us the best of both worlds, which to me means looking attractive, feeling soft and cozy, and holding up to real life (and cat barf) without looking like crap. So I'm wondering if replacing our bedroom carpets with wall-to-wall wool carpet is the way to go.

I definitely want to replace the stair carpet with hardwood, and probably the upstairs hallway, but am considering something like this to replace the bedroom carpet. I think my dislike for our current carpet (in terms of looks and ease of cleaning) may have more to do with the pile than the fact that it's carpet. So the jury is still out, but I'm going to do more research before we make a decision. It's been interesting to read about others' preferences.

Here are a couple examples of the low pile, wool, wall-to-wall carpet options I'm going to look into:

I think the cats will snag those because they are looped. I also had the second in a stair and small office area and it was fine when I lived there but when I saw the apartment at a subsequent sale there were several small sections that had snagged on something and pulled out completely.

I would consider a dense low-pole velvet cut as an option.

I had W2W carpet and now have LVP with area rugs. There are pros and cons to both.

W2W:

Pro: warm underfoot. Not a small consideration in winter, even in temperate Northern CA.

Con: Dust sifts thru the weave and the paddings. In 10 yrs it'll be pretty disgusting how much allergy-causing dirt is hidden underneath, where you can't see it or clean it up, but your sinuses will know it's there.

Pro: Vacuuming one consistent surface is easier than switching between smooth surface and area rugs.

Con: Unless you get 'trackless' carpet, you and everyone else will see the impressions of feet and traffic patterns as soon as you put away the vacuum cleaner.

Pro: A tip an estimator told me - even cheap carpet will feel better underfoot and last longer, if you pay for a good padding. He was right.

Smooth surface:

Pro: Easier to keep genuinely clean....

Con: .....BUT conversely you need to spend some time Swiffering dust up, either wet or dry, or both (I do both, in addition to vacuuming).

Con: No matter what smooth flooring you pick, installation is the major cost and quality of your installer is critical. The majority of complaints here are from poor quality installs. Underlayments, transitions, layout design, picking the wrong flooring for your specific environmental conditions - if it can go wrong, somewhere and somebody has experienced that problem!

Pro: A smooth surface flooring can show off a beautiful rug, or by itself be an important part of a room's decor, in a way a bland W2W can't do. The difference in the look of our MBR, when we changed from beige W2W to an LVP with a golden oak pattern, was actually a shock. We thought it would be nice, but it was SPECTACULARLY, noticeably better.

Con: Even LVP is cool under foot, the way wood or sheet vinyl is, but not as bad as tile or stone. In summer it's great....not so much so in winter, LOL.

HTH.

I hadn't thought about the looped carpets being snagged by cats but that's definitely a huge consideration :( They seem to leave our living room rug (which is an antique wool rug with looped pile) alone, but maybe that's because they have an entire floor of frieze to dig their claws into!

I'm really sick of the high pile, so maybe that's why I'm leaning toward the opposite extreme. I also love the chunky look of the looped pile. Here's another one I drool over:

I don't think I've ever seen velvet cut carpet... Anyone have examples of what it looks like? I would love something low pile but with a little texture.

With proper upkeep carpeting can be fine. I have low pile carpet, dyson vacuum that I use twice a week and a professional carpet steamer that I own, that is used twice a year and for touch ups after parties or whatnot. I really can't stand a dirty looking floor. We don't have a dog, so many that is part of the ick factor? The dog hair? I have very bad allergies and with this cleaning schedule I don't have any issue and the Dyson is very powerful, if you don't have one you will be shocked what comes up when you first get it. I have carpet upstairs and hardwood and travertine on the main floor. We live in cold climate and I really dislike walking on cold floors, even with my carpets it's inevitable on the main floor.

A vote for hardwood here. Plenty of experience with both. I like that I can actually see that my floors are clean. If you could see what a Swiffer can pick up on a daily basis, this decision would be easy.

Hardwood with area rug under bed so your feet hit that when jumping out of bed. I keep my slippers just off the rug.

Warmth, hygiene,....I'm a fan of both so quite a dilemma! :) I chose HW for our bedroom simply bc I think it looks better! I've always been a form over function gal so there ya go!

Hardwoods all the way. I have carpet in my bedroom now and it is a beast to keep clean. Our new house will be all hardwoods. We have a rhoomba and it's amazing on the hardwoods.

I told my husband that when we have the wood floors installed downstairs, the latest rhoomba is part of the deal!

Recently I checked the post that says the carpet can make your warm warmer.. it just sounds weird but there should be some truth about that. Maybe it's caused because the floor is causing cold, in case it's true, it would be worth it investing it in a long term.

Recently I checked the post that says the carpet can make your warm warmer.. it just sounds weird but there should be some truth about that. Maybe it's caused because the floor is causing cold, in case it's true, it would be worth it investing it in a long term.