A living room with a hardwood floor is best with an area rug, sized appropriately to room and furniture. A big expanse of wood? Not very inviting and a design opportunity missed. Heat? Well. .......depends your house temperature, hvac , and foundation. With ANY floor.

thanks! i do have area rugs as my last property i had wood engineered flooring but not sure if floorboards in new house will have gaps and thus add to heat loss. i think restoration will include filling of gaps

You can't "fill gaps"

What type of wood floor is under the edge to edge carpet? If you can see the basement or crawl space? You need new flooring.

What's "BEST" in flooring is region dependent as well as COMPLETELY about preference. For warmth in the north wall to wall gives you the most. Those that do anything else then add $$$$$$ and energy use to their bills by adding in floor heating. Wood floors should not have gaps between the boards. If you see gaps you might be seeing the sub floor--which isn't meant to be used as is.

If you fear a possible drafty or cold floor it should be dealt with from underneath. If you are on a concrete slab you won’t have drafts but if a crawl space or basement is under the room it should be checked for adequate insulation.

I am not sure what you mean by floorbaords so maybre post a pic of those . If you mean the same wood floor as the rest of the house then they just need to be finished to match . I do not think wood floors are any colder than carpet it is the temp in the space that is the source of warmth . I really silike wall to wall carpet anywhere but a nice area rug does 2 things it is nice to walk on and provides another design elemnet in a space. Have you actully seen the floor under the carpet ? Often people chose to cover wood floors with carpet .

I’m in the Uk and the house is a victorian cottage. the owners previous to my seller had wooden floors and these were covered up by the last owners. I sent a photo to a floor restoration company and they said “they are floorboards that have previously been sanded, stained and sealed.” i had just referred to them as wooden floors. I will try to post a photo. Thanks

The issue may be less the floors than what is under them and what kind of heating you have.

Our lake house has a full basement with insulated ceiling. We have oil fired forced hot air heat. The ground floor has wood floors. We have no drafts. I don't think carpet would make it any warmer.

Do you have a basement? Are the ceilings insulated? Do you have central heating?

If it's 100+ years old there probably isn't a subfloor, just floorboards laid on the joists. That would explain why there are gaps. It also probably explains why the previous owners laid carpet on top of it. I had a house like that and after living there almost 12 years I concluded the only solution was to move. :-) My house had a basement. I wouldn't say the floors were drafty, but they were uneven and very creaky. It would be a big job to fix that.

Im not sure there are subfloors. there are timber joists and no basement. i have gas central heating

Is there a crawl space? Do you think the floors are insulated?

That is nothing but an old sub floor. Those are not "floor boards" ; they are a base for a new hardwood floor, assuming no mold, no rot. etc. Hardwood flooring would be installed over the sub floor........assuming stable base, joists, etc below.

No different than this

Unless you're in the Arctic? Put a floor in, get an area rug. .......No different to heat than edge to edge and a better long term value. Match the other flooring in the remainder of the house.

Thats interesting you say that Jan as i sent that photo plus photo of previous floor before carpet and a floor restoration company said it could be restored at a cost of £900

Friends bought an old house in Washington, DC and were proud of the refinished wood floors in the kitchen. I could see the remnants of linoleum under the cabinets. Pine was commonly used as a subfloor for hardwood or linoleum. It can be sanded and finished, but was not done so originally.

UK friends have bragged about wall-to-wall carpet. I assume it was a luxury at one time, and cut down on drafts.

In your case, adding hardwood, assuming the base is solid, is the best, and historically accurate, choice.

My thought is you won't lose much heat thru your floor as heat tends to rise upward and be lost thru windows, doors and roofs. You say you have floorboards but that may, in fact, be flooring decking. If so, you will need to install actual new flooring on top of the decking . Carpet is an okay option for bedrooms but for high use and high traffic rooms wood, engineered wood or LVP is a better option. And, yes, as other posters have said, rugs are great for adding softness and warmth to rooms with those types of flooring. Good luck!

@Top M - You will get much better help if you use the https://www.houzz.co.uk/ website. Most people living in the USA have no idea of the issues faced by homeowners of UK "character properties". Example; while loving the look of old flag floors, we just cannot conceive that they are laid directly on the ground...lacking any basement/crawlspace/moisture barrier.

@chiflipper thanks but according to my browser i am on the UK site so it is odd that im getting replies from the US. I’m new to posting so maybe I’ve done something wrong along the way

I think your browser lies. I also think that is ordinary sub floor, NEEDing a real floor. I think the person who advised otherwise may need glasses : )