We are building a one story ranch with a long hall next to the garage. There's a mudroom area by the friends entry, then a large laundry/utility/craft room, guest room, and powder room, before you hit the foyer and spread out into the family room.

The home is on a slab and we're building it accessible due to my husband having bad knees/back--the whole reason we're building is because we can't handle the 2 story any more, and him missing 3 months work and unable to walk much was only a few years ago.

We have a 5 month old and will be getting doggies and kitties after we move. Another child likely. I'm working from home so the house is getting more daytime use than many.

We are carpet people, lived-in-look people, people who designed a house with a master off the kitchen and completely open between kitchen and family rooms. Not formal. Stylistically contemporary to modern. We are not hardwood people. I know, it's tragic ;)

We're tiling the baths, entries and kitchen in the new house. Had planned on carpeting most of the long hall, but I keep wondering if I'll regret not tiling it. It's been awhile since I lived in a ranch. Our current house has hardwood in the foyer and smaller hall-like area, so we've not dealt with heavy traffic in a carpeted hall.

I see three issues here, the practical, the tactile and the aesthetic. From a practical perspective the tile would make sense. Our bare feetsies would probably prefer carpet. I suspect in Tennessee a large expanse of tile would look out of place, though we're going with a beachy color scheme so we're probably looking out of place regardless. It is a long hall, one of my original thoughts was that it needed broken up to look better. But if we don't tile it all right off, it's never going to look right if we try to go hard surface in there later, since we're using the same tile on both ends of it.

Thoughts? Personal experiences? Many thanks.