Carpet or hard floor in living/dining room

[tingalayo]

The house I'm moving to has a living and dining room combined. I hate hard flooring in living rooms and would massively prefer carpet in there, but I also can't work out the logistics of having carpet in the dining room if you have kids. We have a 3 year old, hope to have another baby, and have no pets. Should we:
a) have hard floor throughout, with a massive rug that covers the entire living area
b) have carpet throughout with some kind hard-wearing rug under the dining table
c) carpet half the room? Not sure whether that would look good but the room is a simple rectangle so there would be no problem working out where the line should go.

Option a.

Option c.
We had carpet in our dining room when we moved into our house, with a baby and a toddler. It was gross.

Option a

Me too for option a

Option a.

Carpets under where children eat get disgusting

We have c). It was like that when we moved in. I quite like it because it makes the living room part feel cosy, and delineates the space a bit more.

a - of course, theres no debate

We have separate dining and living rooms but still have hard flooring in the living room and have a massive rug that goes under the front legs of the sofas and arm chairs but doesnt go right to the edge

This means I chop and change the rug regularly when I get bored without it costing an arm and a leg to get a carpet fitted and means I dont have to move all the furniture to do so

Option A. This is what we are going for now. I thought about carpeting because it would have been easier (because someone else would be laying it) but I can't bear the thought of it getting completely trashed. The laminate floor we've got now has been down around 25 years and, while it's looking a bit dated, it's not in bad condition really. Even when the kids get a bit older, it means when they've got friends constantly in and out traipsing through the lounge that it just needs a quick wipe down.