For my new construction ranch-style house, I initially planned to use hardwood for the majority of the main floor, and carpeting in all 3 bedrooms. But I am having second thoughts about using carpeting in the bedrooms, as it will break up the look and flow of my open floor plan.

My present home has light colored carpeting and tiled floors. I'm very fussy about housekeeping, and my floors are cleaned weekly so I never see much dust around. However I have a feeling the new construction residence with its mahogany floors will be a lot more work to keep up, which is part of my concern about using it in all 3 bedrooms.

The elegance of hardwood cannot be disputed, but my experience with hard surface flooring of any kind, is that dust tends to visibly float around on it until it is cleaned, whereas carpeting holds the dust until it is vacuumed. To me, that makes the hard surface flooring always seem dustier than carpeted areas. I imagine myself having to run a Swiffer over the new mahogany floors every couple days, which would be a daunting task in a house as large as the new residence is.

As for the walk-in closets, any time I have tried clothing on in a store that has hard surface flooring installed in the dressing rooms, the clothing tends to pick up dust off the floor like a lint magnet. Whereas in carpeted dressing rooms no such thing occurs. So the debate ensues over whether I want the same situation going on in my new house with the Master Bedroom walk-in closets.

Somehow, I can't see carpeting the Master closets alone just to keep the dust down, unless I am also carpeting the Master Bedroom too. The Master Bathroom, which is sandwiched between the bedroom and closets, is tiled.

Some people say that carpeted floors create more dust than hardwood floors. Others say hardwood shows dust immediately and creates more of a maintenance issue. I don't know who to believe or what to do. Any feedback will be very appreciated. Thank you!