Hi, Thanks for the suggestions. I have owned the home for 2 years and the carpet is at least 12 years old it has paint stains (po was an artist) and some pet stains. I know the new carpet is good quality since the offer is from someone who is in the flooring business. I want to spruce up the space anyway and this would allow my child to play on clean carpet for the cost of installation. We are doing a lot of projects and really could use the monetary savings. I like the idea of cream since it could work with my floral wallpaper up in the bathroom. I know gray is pretty but I think the natural trim may look off with it. Off to check teh galleries...

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

So many times on this forum we read suggestions on staging, clearing out excess furniture, how to take the best of pics, opening blinds, etc. Like a prospective buyer doesn't typically have any foresight or imagination. Then, to suggest somebody sell a house with used carpeting in it and offer an allowance for new? The two ideas are incompatible. Myself, I wouldn't care one if somebody offered me an allowance, but I could tell you if that carpeting wasn't new, it would be yanked out before my furniture went in. I have a hangup about living on somebody else's carpeting, just like I would have a hangup about sleeping in a bed somebody else used and nobody changed the sheets. I have ripped out too many decent looking carpets and seen what was laying in the padding underneath, blech. Carpeting is going to be cheaper than all but the cheesiest laminates. Good laminates cost as much as hardwoods. Do not try to install laminates or hardwoods unless you have some experience. Regardless of what the clerk at the store tells you they don't just snap together effortlessly. I don't do box store carpet. I have priced them there for comparison and find after they tack on all their little service charges and hauling away charges, that you pay just about as much as you would if you went to a higher end carpet installer. I have used an independent installer for many years now, and if I am selling a house, I just drop in a few weeks in advance, and have him out to measure up the house/room. They often have really large commercial jobs where they have ordered in overage and will sell it installed at a very reasonable price if you aren't insistent on picking out one particular pattern. I have gotten really good high-end carpeting like that for box store prices and expert installations. The aroma of clean fresh carpet is like a pheromone to a potential buyer. Even if they don't particularly fancy your choice in patterns, most will live with it for awhile and it's something they don't feel they need to do before they move in.

Thanks for sharing; I enjoy reading these lists every year. They give me flashbacks to the BHG and HGTV decor boards, circa 1999/2000 ... experts and posters alike were very sure and very giddy that stainless steel appliances would be “out” by 2000 .... but go ahead and get them if you want to ruin your kitchen and life!!! :D I so wish I could go back and reread those old threads. Granite countertops were also predicted to go out of style VERY SOON (2001) and never be seen again. I don’t mind the idea of trends. They’ve been around forever. Cars, decor, fashion, etc. Some new things are introduced, some old introduced as new again, interesting conversations are had, sometimes they can be inspiring, some people rebel, they almost always go too far, people want to barf just looking at another [whatever was run into the ground], and it starts again. I majored in sociology, but also worked in the design field, so can get very long-winded and super boring on this sort of subject. Anyway, I love earth tones, have always decorated that way. I love warm tones, wood, etc, but can certainly appreciate other styles, too. Marketers always try to herd us all into an either/or mentality. I’ve always believed there’s plenty of room for everything, as well as lots of ways to work with a mix. And I’ve managed to find new treasures for my earth toned surroundings, even during the cool-toned gray, frosty blue, and white era. ;) ETA: See! I warned you I’d get boring! Y’all are thinking, “Nobody asked all that”. :D