We are currently renting a house in NY that has all hardwood floors to include the bedrooms. I love the hardwood upstairs. All I have to do is use my swifter to clean them and every so often I use hardwood floor cleaner. It's amazing how much dust accumulates under the bed and in the corners, something I didn't realize when I had carpet. We are moving back to the house we own in Va and are currently picking out hardwoods to install in our bedrooms there. We have accent rugs that we use on the floors.

We have hardwood in the master bedroom and we like it. It's not a huge room, so no rugs either. I will second the comment about the amount of dust that collects under a bed or under bedroom furniture, especially with cats and dogs. The floor duster takes care of it and so it is easy to keep clean.

We left carpet in our son's bedroom. He and his friends like wrestling and goofing around on the floor.

You will eventually place area rugs over the hardwood, especially during the winter time.

Personally, I like the warmth of my carpet in the bedrooms, and hard surface in the heavily used rooms.

There a lot of variables involved in choosing flooring for bedrooms. We just put in 1300 square feet of laminate including 3 bedrooms, but left the master with carpet.

Here are the reasons why we chose laminate for the 3 bedrooms:

1) One teenager still home...when we pulled out the carpet, the backing was full of stains...yes, they eat and drink in there so it was a no brainer that it wouldn't be carpet again.

2) Both sons are over 19 so their time left at home decreases every day. Once their rooms are converted, I don't want to be tied to any color, etc. Hardwood/laminate help with providing a neutral base.

3) Continuity....On that side of the house there are 3 bedrooms, hallway, and a full bath. Bath is in tile but all the other rooms flow into a hall then into the great room which now looks wonderful as a seamless floor. So if one becomes a home office, it will be much more continuous.

Here is why I picked carpet for the master bedroom:

1) I am over 50 and I wanted a more soft feeling underfoot when I get out of bed. Our bedroom is off a back hall so the continuous feeling is not as important there.

2)My jewelery collection! Don't laugh, but chasing down beads that drop and roll on hard flooring would be painful. No way can I now easily retrieve them from under a king bed. With carpet, drop and they stay right there.

3)We don't eat or drink in our master bedroom. So the odds of spills is pretty low.

4) I keep my bedroom very cool even in winter. In the middle of the night in a frigid NorthEast winter, carpet will feel much better than hardwood.

Just my thoughts...good luck!

I sell for one of the carpet manufacturers. I stopped by my sister's house one afternoon. She had just replaced the carpet in three of her bedrooms for her boys (she has four). The boys were in the driveway playing basketball. When I got out of my van, they could see the carpet samples. One of them said, "we sure wish we had our carpet back." They loved playing on a floor covered with carpet. Just a thought.

Carpet definitely for the quiet sound and warmth on the feet. But, having just moved into a house 3 months ago with hardwood floors, my DH can finally breathe normally again. I can't get over how much dust and dirt collects on the hardwood floors. All that dirt and dust must have been collecting in the carpet at the old house. It was very light carpet and didn't look dirty but it must have been.
The hardwood is so nice to look at though. If you want the warmth under your feet just get an area rug for the sides of the beds. Gives you the best of both worlds.

Yes, and the static properties of the carpet, contained it there, until you vacuumed it up, removing it. Unlike your wood floor, where every step kicks it up becoming airborne.

His cure is purely psychological. Seriously.

If you vacuumed as much as you run the swiffer...

Sorry Floorguy....I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. Most vacuum cleaners are simply not powerful enough to remove what is sitting on the carpet. The fibers tend to trap more than the vacuum can remove. I know that dust just sits on hardwood, but at least it can be very easily and completly removed. And besides...most people don't vacuum as often as they probably should because most of the dust and dander is not very noticable. With hardwood, you do notice dust and get rid of it quickly. I have hardwood in my bedroom for the first time in my life and LOVE it.

Independent studies have proven it.

When I was a child, my mother had to remove the carpet out of my bedroom and clean my hardwood floors frequently or I would not be able to breath and cough all the time with my allergies. Then we moved to a home that had carpets and my mother did not remove my carpet. I had Bronchitis 4X a year and always had allergies. When I moved out of my home and then after college, I found an apartment with hardwood floors and at last I could breath. The key is cleaning the floors frequently. With carpets there is just too much dust that gets trapped. I know my little dogs and me will be better off when I remove these carpets. I have two installers I am meeting this week and trying to finalize things. I am still confused and have two favorites.

P.S., My dogs do not shed and have hair like me and I wash them frequently so they don't contribute to my allergies.

In my home, I have beautiful Smartstrand carpet, beautiful hardwood flooring (I enjoy woodworking and I definately like wood), ceramic and laminate. One of the things I have noticed with my wood floors is that it hides dirt real well. I clean the our wood floors from time to time, and am amazed at how much dirt is present that I don't see. To me, this is a problem. I am living in a dirty room and don't realize it. I can vacuum the stuff that gets tracked in from outside, but the floor is still dirty. Sounds sort of like the carpet complaints from the above posts. So, wood is not the perfect floor (I don't think there is a perfect floor), and remember I like wood.

To everyone that thinks carpet is bad for your alergies, see the attached link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Scientific facts dispel carpet

Dwalton - your final selection for your bedrooms may just come down to your own personal preference. There are some beautiful options out there for wood flooring. Carpet gets a bad rap sometimes, just know that there are some awesome styling options for carpet these days and what I have in my house feels so good. Good luck with your shopping.

Here is a link that might be useful: A link you might be interested in

The article that is trying to dispel the so-called carpet myth is written by Carpet And Rug Institute president Werner Braun. I'd want to see the actual scientific research, not a skewed presentation of the facts he wants us to read (and believe).

There were unbiased studies done 10 years ago, in Sweden.

If I were on my old win 95 machine, I'd have a link for ya.

Susan - read the following that is linked within the CRI article. This is not written by Werner Braun. It is written by Mitchell W. Sauerhoff,Ph.D., DABT.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sauerhoff article