Wooden floors throughout 3 storey house, how much carpet?

[Honesttodog]

we are buying a house (squee!) with wooden floor throughout. Stripped original floors, pale varished wood. Not stained.

I would like carpet in our bedroom but otherwise not sure how far to go with carpets. The floor looks cool in bedrooms and we are happy to buy rugs but am concerned about noise, and more importantly, heating bills! 2 kids under 5, would I be mad to keep wooden floor in their rooms? I would love to put runners on the stairs too but would then have to do all landings - does it look odd to go from carpet to room with wooden floor? Does it feel like you're walking into a kitchen...?

Want the house to flow nicely, obv. love the idea of rugs everywhere, but hate the idea of noisy stairs....

[lljkk]

Kids will be hard on wooden floors, rugs okay as long as something (?furniture) holds them down firmly. Runner on stairs essential for safety & noise reduction, definitely.

I grew up in wood floor houses, they never seemed that noisy, but would be colder in UK. 2 of our bedrooms have laminate floor 2 have carpet, no unpleasant transition sensations.

[GooseyLoosey]

No carpet anywhere in my house, but lots of rugs - lovely, large, thick gorgeous rugs in the bedroom.

Not overly noisy, but then I have soundproofing under the boards. Kids never really cold and run around the house in bare feet in winter. They have grown up with me banging on at them to be careful on the stairs, but we have had slippages over the years.

I would keep wooden floors everywhere and splash out on rugs - easier and cheaper to change when you want something new. It looks lovely having the same flooring running all over the house.

[newpup]

We have a three storey house with mostly wooden floors. The previous owners put carpet on the stairs and in the guest room and dining room. Carpet on the stairs is great, definately keeps footnoise down but wish they had left wooden floor in the dining room not sure why you would put carpet in there! However, it was a new carpet and a lovely expensive one so we could not justify ripping it out and it stays but I will floorboard the room when the carpet needs replacing.

[Honesttodog]

Ok, think I will go for runners. the bare stairs terrify me a bit, DS is only 18mo and already a fast-moving handful!

[lolalotta]

We have original floorboards in the house we are renting at the moment, far more practical than carpet with small children in my opinion! So easy to clean!!!! our floorboards aren't gappy though, they are nice and closely set together, so no drafts! Ours were sanded and varnished just as we moved on and they still look good 6 years on...

[ATouchOfStuffing]

I had runners and got a bit annoyed hoovering AND wiping the hardest part of the house to clean. Does look good though...

[dragonflymama]

We have all wood & tiles in our house....kids also used to bare feet and take stairs cautiously. We have thick rugs dotted around for winter warmth, although house generally pretty warm. Stairs do gather a lot of dust / fluff / mini tumble weeds, so be prepared to hoover plenty if you get runners.