I would do hardwood in both with a beautiful large area rug in the living room area

You mentioned you're doing your kitchen floor too; where is the kitchen in relation to these rooms?

Im so sorry. NOT the kitchen but the dining room and living room. thanks for catching my typo.

Husband likes carpet so Im trying to meet him in the middle. I really dont want to worry about wearing a path between the kitchen/ entry and the spiral staircase/ deck. Thats where my present carpet wore out the most. Altho the kids are gone now.

All hardwood.

In that case I would do just the area in the dining nook with hardwood and the rest carpet. ie, draw your line from the edge of the bumped out wall on the right to the left wall (in your first photo). It looks like there will be a fairly narrow strip of carpet on the dining room side of the stair pony wall but I think that's ok.

Well actually I would do all hardwood. But if I had chosen to do both, that's where I would draw the line!

I've also seen it done where the line is drawn from the corner on the right (again in the first photo) to the left corner of the stairwell, so on the diagonal. In your case it doesn't look like that would leave a big enough walkway of carpet at the top of the stairs, but I wanted to throw it out there so you can tape it out if you want to give it a try.

I can't see where it would hit on the TV wall, but I would draw the line from the stairwell 1/2 wall (the one on the living room side), across to the end of the tv wall, if that's possible. If it's off by a few inches, then I'd go from the end of the tv wall to wherever it hits on the stairway wall to the right.

Thank you Linsey. I think the main walk area to the stairs and patio door needs to be hardwood. What do you think about running hardwood to the back of the stairway railing and after the first built in cabinet ends in pic 2. I have a feeling my living area is going to appear smaller.

In pic 2, on the far right, is the entry from the kitchen. The cabinet begins there. Could I start a line from this side of the cabinet and run it straight to the stairway wall? It would fall 1/2 way into the stairway wall.

I think rather than drawing your line and dividing the stair wall, you are better off to do hardwood in the whole and get a rug that runs to with 18" of the walls. You could get carpet bound to use as the rug. I know it's not your husband's first choice, but it will be better for your home's value I think if the floors are cohesive.

Another possibility could be to do the diagonal from the corner of the tv wall to the dining room side end of the stair wall. Do you have duct tape or blue painters tape? It might be good to pull it out and tape off some scenarios so you and your husband can visualize better.

Thanks. We have a lot of wood in the space. Is that going to be an issue? wood cabinets and wood floors?

No, I don't think so. Pick a tone that matches your built-ins or your panelling. Or you could paint those built-ins... LOL and so it begins...

lol lindsey! I hope it doesnt open a barrel of monkeys!

If you need a case in point to sell DH on a rug, the house I helped my sister reno and sell had new flooring throughout. We did an engineered wood for the entire first floor other than the utility room (tile) and carpet up the stairs and in the bedrooms. Her home sold the first weekend it was listed for $3k more than the previous highest price in the neighborhood. Two doors down, the house went on the market weeks earlier at a price $90K lower and is still on the market 4 months later. It needs some new WTs and paint, but the big ticket is the flooring on the main living level -- carpet and 2 different woods. No way to fix it without pulling everything out and starting over.

I would also do hardwood throughout the entire space. If there is a particular carpet that your husband likes, you can have that made into a large area rug for the living room.

i too would do wood over the entire floor. But to answer your question, the only options to me are to line the wood with your cabinet or the back of the spiral staircase railing.

One of the great thing about rugs is that you can really clean them. You also get many more choices of styles, plus you can still turn carpet into a rug. When you pull up your carpet you will see how disgusting carpet is. My wife had ours professionally cleaned at least twice a year and it still held a ton of dust and pet fur when we pulled it up.

You also dont have to do the wood all at once. We did a few rooms each time and it was fine. Even if you dont get all new wood, when the carpet wears out you can replace with wood.

Personally I would try to get as much wood as possible so would align with the staircase railing since it seems to be further into the living room.

Thank you all for your input. This is a wonderful website. We have decided not to chop up the room and split the flooring. That is one thing we agree on. As of yesterday, we are leaning towards carpet. It's so soft and warm underfoot in a cold climate. We do plan on selling within 10 years. Is carpet a horrible mistake? Does a person base these decisions on what they want or what's trending?

Double my money with hardwood? Really? Hmmm...that's an interesting thought. Thanks!

I think the previous poster meant if you invest the money you save by putting in carpet instead of hardwood, that invested money will double in ten years. This is speculative, I'd check with a financial planner before banking on that (pun intended).

It is unlikely simply adding hardwood could cause the value of your home to double and unpredictable over a ten year span anyway.

If sale is ten years away, do what makes you happy now.

Thank you both for clarifying that. I thought it meant it would double the price of what the hardwood costs today.

:-) It would be so nice to be able to foresee the future value of home improvements with that much clarity.

Realistically things are too unpredictable over ten years. Maybe you choose the "wrong" colour. Maybe there is an innovative new product that is the industry standard. Maybe the underlying downsides of carpet (pun not intended that time!) get solved and everyone wants it. You simply cannot predict it.

With a 10 year plan, go with what YOU WANT! You will need to update the flooring in 10 years anyways. If you want carpet, go with carpet. Enjoy the carpet and when you are READY to sell, bring in a Realtor to give you update hints to help you get back as much money as you can.

This works out well if the majority of homes in this climate come with CARPET. It is an easy "swap" that can update a room in an afternoon.

Go with the carpet you want today, knowing that you WILL UPDATE the floor in 10 years when it is time to sell.

Excellent. Next challenge?

another vote for hardwood everywhere with generous sized bound rugs on top. i hate paths worn into wall to wall, i hate stains in wall to wall where someone spilled coffee and you cant rotate the rug to put the spot someplace else.

actually what i really hate is worn paths in wall to wall carpeting in real estate listing pictures. are you promising you'll re-carpet your house before you sell? : )

Hardwood everywhere and a tasteful rug where your husband wants carpet. Use a high quality rug felt rug pad.

Thanks to you all! Does anyone have input on what color of hardwood would work best with all the wood I already have? Matching it or contrast the existing wood?

#1 photo in your original post…what is the flooring in the hallway?

Before you do anything, consider paint the vertical paneling the same color as your walls.

I should add that the mosaic tile flooring ends just to the left and then there is carpet down the hallway.

I would just go with a diagonal board from the corner of staircase to corner of wall and stop with the wood from dining room in the board and start carpet on the other side.... I think that would look the best if you want to go with both! Good luck!