to expect you to take your shoes off in my home?

[BelleTheBeatnik]

That sounds so much more confrontational when I use direct address! [bublush]

I'm not criticizing those who don't remove shoes in their own home, but do the British automatically do it at other people's houses?

Asking this question is a life-long supporter of slippers, by the way. [bugrin]

I personally think there is something vaguely ridiculous about standing there with a glass of wine trying to have an adult conversation with a group of people all in their "stockinged" feet! Of course I did it readily, but not saying I particularly like it. But obviously I am rude, dirty and have no respect for people's homes.

A sign of how crap the party was, is that you were home by half seven!
Mostly even shoes-off fanatics say they wouldn't expect this to happen at an adult party.

Well it was a kind of family friendly, kids and all party, but I agree anyway!

I think you lot may aswell just concrete your living room!! No point in having nice soft carpet if your just going wear dirty outdoor shoes on it

How would that work, LST? Most of us say we take shoes off in our own homes, we just don't expect guests to.

Twas a joke. Everyone was getting everso uptight. Just lightning the mood.

Having concreted living rooms would defo last though thinking about it

I have nice soft carpet upstairs. Downstairs I have flagstone, seagrass, wooden flooring, tartan carpet and tiles.

I'd like tiles in my kitchen.. But I'd also like underfloor heating and I can't afford both

All of my floors, upstairs, downstairs and inbetween are proper solid Scandinavian wood floors (what with being in Scandinavia and all that). I soo miss thick soft carpets that your feet sink into. :(

I had new carpet in my stairs and bedroom last week! We're still at the feet sinking un stage. I hard wood floors downstairs though x

That's what I miss most, bedroom ones. Getting out of bed when it's -20 outside requires soft, sinking, warm carpet for the toes. Not wooden blocks of ice.

I bet it looks loverly though!

How funny! When i see the awful muck on our streets - I wish we could be a shoeless house but we do forget.
However, if we ever do implement a shoe off policy it would be for us and any really regular house visitors.

I would never ask people on a rare visit to do it - because I dont think it would suddenly flood us with germs...and destory our house climate.

I cant stand people barking at you to take shoes off before you have even got in the door.

Then be v precious about it - but you find utter filth somwhere else in thier house!

Interestingly, I was looking for a new bedroom carpet recently and came back empty handed because most carpets were cream or a variation of cream. The proprietor told me that other colours are so unpopular these days.

We already have a cream one - with a large stain from a radiator leak, and OH leaves black bits on the floor from his socks.

we have cream in our bedroom, an off cut donated by PIL, covered in stains, I cant be bothered with it. Everywhere else floor boards and rugs.

I just cant get worked up over it! I thikn when things are brand new people take extra care over them, but usually life takes over and you just live...I cannot bear houses where the soft furnishings are put first and people live round them

Grrrr! Don't get me started on socks! Hoover packed up and we were without one for a few days, and would have got away with it if it wasn't for his bloody socks shedding fluff everywhere. My socks don't do it though! Would have been far better if he'd kept his shoes on!

When my dd1 was crawling, we were selling our house, one day she started to scream and there was blood pouring from her knee. We take our shoes off in the house and I hadn't broken anything and we'd just had a viewing. There was a chunk of glass lying on the floor.

I can only assume the viewers/estate agent had brought it in on their shoes.

At our current home we have a front porch, and my guests seem to take their cue from the pile of shoes that everyone leaves in there(despite us having a shoe/coat cupboard).

I dont' expect adults to take off their shoes - our hall and kitchen/family area are tiled and none of our carpets are especially pale. I do expect children to though because they tend to climb over furniture. Come to think of it the dc's teenage friends still do but if we had people to dinner, I wouldn't expect them to take their shoes off - that would be daft. DH and I tend to wear slippers but wouldn't if we were entertaining.

When we had Swedish au-pairs and their parents used to come for a weekend though, even if they stayed at a hotel they always brought their slippers with them.

We are the same Marilyn. Once the visitors have tripped over the piles of shoes in the hallway they seem to understand we are generally a 'shoes off' household. I would not demand someone take their shoes off though, just most people seem to do it anyway.

never have been to a house where it was expected to take your shoes off. I find it rather weird that people have a "no shoes" rule unless they live in japan or similar. I imagine it's people with very little in their lives apart from their perfect but impractical and ridiculous white carpets or over the top germ phobias. Its probably not, but in my family/social circle we would think someone is a freak/up their own arse if they had a "no shoes" rule. I have creamy carpets but i just clean up after people have left.

Where I live in Switzerland it's normal but we usually keep a supply of hotel slippers for guests... It does make a difference to cleanliness although I still lie to keep my shoes on if possible especially if I'm dressed up.

"I imagine it's people with very little in their lives apart from their perfect but impractical and ridiculous white carpets or over the top germ phobias."

Or people who have moved into a house with impractically pale carpets that are a pig to clean and who can't afford to replace them. I don't think it is being precious at all to not want to spend hours cleaning mud stains out of carpets. I'm not concerned about germs on the floor.

Had a (mildly) embarrassing experience with shoes off. I was picking up an old school friend who was staying at her parents house at xmas. They always had a no shoes rule when I was a child. I knocked on the front door, my friend opened it and asked whether I would like to come in and say hello to her parents. So I took my shoes off at the door, expecting to be ushered in to the living room for some Christmas cheer and reminiscing, but both her parents came out to the hall and briefly said hello and goodbye and I was standing there on the scratchy doormat with no shoes on. I think they thought me odd.

Actually just realised that is a really boring story.

After the "taking shoes off" area there should be one of those disinfectant foot bath things like they have at the swimming pool :o