My carpet is almost exactly the color of the carpet in #3 though mine is really good carpet. It's a nice color and shows nothing. Number 1 is also nice. The people my mom bought her house from had carpet that looked just like that put in two of the bedrooms. Even though it was very cheap it didn't look very cheap unless you looked closely. Though #3 looks good in the picture, cheap plush carpet looks cheaper in person then cheap frieze. So if #3 looks cheap in person, go with #1. If #3 looks good in person, go with that one. No berber, lots of people don't like it.

The diamond pattern. The wood-slats one atop a wood-slats floor looks strange to me--if you have a lovely wood floor, why would you want to replicate that pattern in a rug, which is what it would look like you were doing? And the 3rd option is too bland, not IMHO worth spending extra money to have a rug hand-cut when you could probably find that online or in a store (altho I understand the problem of color-matching). You've decided on this avenue for sure? No solid-on-solid pattern, for example? Here's what I'm talking about (just the design pattern, not necessarily the color): http://www.homedecorators.com/P/Martha_Stewart_Living_Chrysanthemum_Area_Rug/810/ http://www.homedecorators.com/P/Optics_Area_Rug/420/ http://www.homedecorators.com/P/Aberdeen_Rug_I/860/

Have to say, I am not a fan of runners on steps. It's so easy to keep the wood floors clean as opposed to a rug which will flatten down in time, collect dust and dirt, and require a vacuum cleaner up and down steps. Also, in my experience, carpeted steps can be a hazard tripping certain shoes. Maybe just carpet your bedroom.

See what they look like in the house. Agree that darker patterned carpet on stairs is better. They get so much use, and the type of steps tend to twist the fibers.