Wear only socks in the house and there will be less dirt on the stairs. Some people do this but I need to wear supporting shoes.

Anything you put on top of the carpet will take away from the beauty you spent hard money to buy.

I agree with not covering the carpet (which will also likely decrease traction).

Keep a pair of slippers or sneakers (I usually wear Crocs) near your primary entry door and switch to them when you enter the house. Dirt stays in the mudroom where it's easily corralled.

very pretty carpet! I agree, no shoes for one..and do not use the rug doctor..that type of cleaning makes carpets too wet..I use Chem -Dry and I am very happy with them.. here is a link , hope this helped a little :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Chem Dry

2 of my adult sons moved into a townhome together, and the carpet on their stairs was off-white. I knew that was trouble, so I ordered a runner from the Improvements catalog which was very near the color of the carpet. It was kind of a chamois like fabric, so it stayed in place, but was easy enough to remove if they were having company (although, being males, they didn't really care!). When they moved out, the carpet was perfectly clean. It wasn't slippery like plastic, either.

Would Runner on top of the carpet stay in place? I have a 3 year old that walks up and down, so I am not sure how much it will stay in place :) and the risk of falling may be too high I think...We do follow the socks-rule , but we have hardwood throut and the dust on the flooring gets easily on the socks and very easily onto the carpet...