Etiquette of taking shoes off at the door for guests?

[GYoIsReallyHavingABaby]

Hello
I've just got new hall and dining room wood floor (its bamboo so reasonably susceptible to damage) that was a lot of money to us so we'd like to keep nice for as long as possible.

The front door opens onto hall and goes through to dining room so we take our shoes off in the porch the before the front door.

Does anyone else have a "no shoes rule" and how do you deal with it with guests?

I feel awful asking people to take off shoes on way in... I'd always do it in other people's houses out of respect/ politness and I'd make sure I didnt make host feel awkward about it but a few guests over xmas have made me feel really bad for asking!

Lol at bum smells.

Whether my guests choose to have their shoes on or off, their comfort will always come first in my house (and as I said earlier, a few germs never hurt anyone).

Right, if you don't wear shoes in your house but wear slippers what do you expect guests to do, pad around in their socks or tights, getting freezing feet while you are nice and cosy. Thats fine if you have shagpile or underfloor heating.

Oh and I used to have a real problem with my feet, I would be so so embarised, honestly I would make excuses to leave or hide in the bathroom, they were very honky. I would not have been able to go to someones house if I had known I would have to take my shoes off.

I can never understand why people are so houseproud that it comes before everything else! Politeness to guests and their comfort should come first IMO.

I have a particular pair of shoes which have a tiny, fiddly strap. Have been known to struggle for several minutes to get them fastened, which makes me think twice about how often I would need to remove them, lol!

I wouldn't want to offend but as it is not what I was brought up to do, nor what I have encountered except very occasionally in my adult life, I never think about it until I'm already IN someone's house! As a part of my job I deliver heavy boxes of goods into people's homes, am usually asked to take it through to the kitchen - it would be really awkward to remove my trainers at the door and pick up the box again......

Do the no-shoes-please households have exceptions for delivery people/the health visitor/those who have difficulty in removing footwear due to health or age reasons?

I'm not trying to be difficult, just to understand and to be a more helpful guest in future

I always make people take their shoes off, but don't think I have any friends who wear shoes inside anyway. I don;t understand why its an effort to take shoes off. Its very British to leave shoes on. Brits are generally filthy imo.

Yeah, we are filthy.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

It is the difference between a house and a home. It isn't worth having a carpet that you are going to spend your life worrying about. The worse thing about taking your shoes off is that it can be very cold.

Yes but the OP wasn't talking about a carpet - she was talking about hard flooring ...

I am a filthy brit too - feelthy leetle brit -

Filthy Brit...has Hoover...what's the problem?

This feelthy brit has hoover and mop and floor wipes and 5 bathrooms. But still not clean enough I fear ...

This is a very divisive subject on MN. I err towards the "tis rude to make people take their shoes off, why have a 'delicate' floor?" side, though can't really get worked up about it. I prefer not to wear shoes at home and just go with the flow at other people's houses. I do find it annoying to have to take knee high boots off if I am wearing a dress or skirt. Ruins the 'look' .

My charming neighbour upstairs, on the other hand, takes delight in clomping around in her stilettos night and day to our immense joy. It really adds to the sound track of a classic French film Scrubs to hear 'stomp stomp stomp' above our heads all evening. I was tempted to buy her a pair of slippers for Christmas.

Ah, I forgot the hard floor bit. My answer is I wouldn't put a delicate floor in the hall. Or I'd cover it with a runner. Otherwise you're just asking for trouble. We have quarry tiles in our hall.

I have a cream carpet and am very strict with me, my dp and dd about shoes on in the house!

My family are all aware that we don't wear shoes in the house because of my lovely carpet (our hoover broke a while back and all I'd do is sweep the floor with a dustpan and brush- hence why I became strict over the shoes inside thing).....

However nobody takes their shoes off when they come over and I think by asking them to, even though they know already that I want them to, is rude.

I'm sure they pretend to forget to take their shoes off because they think I'm being rude ( and TBH I think it is a bit rude to ask especially if they really don't want to).

At the end of the day, when they go I just get out the hoover!!!

But my dp's stepmum used to INSIST that we took shoes off in her house, even when I would say "oh my feet stink/ are dirty from being outside" etc,she would make me wash my feet as she said she hated the thought of walking around in other peoples' dirt!!! I'd only just met her and was shocked...

So last week she comes to my house, walks past a pile of shoes and treads mud all up my stairs and landing- and couldn't care less!!!

I was so mad!

I agree if I choose cream carpet then its not practical... but if you tread wet mud in someone's house you should apologise, offer to clean it. (I wouldn't have let her, but expected her to offer)!

I dont ask guests to take off their shoes when they come into my house but I was when DP came into living room with pram and wheeled it right across living room leaving dubious brown lines on the rug... we had to have words...

cream carpet in a high traffic area in a country where it rains all the time and people are allowed to let their dogs foul all the pavement and allowed to puke all over the place due to drunkenness and urinate in public seemingly with no reprecussions.

i just don't get it.

it's just another thing to worry about.

I want my guests to feel welcome. Most notice we don't have shoes on and take theirs off - or have a no shoes thing at their own houses. But I wouldn't ask them to take off shoes - a bit anal I think. And frankly some are more toxic with their shoes off.

Crikey. This old chestnut again. They're guests. You make them feel comfortable not yourself. Live with the dirt either way (soil or sweat): their choice.

God Lord, how rude.

I can't imagine placing an object above a person.

unless it's an umbrella

good point, well made

If the OP has a hard floor, then her guests are definitely going to end up with cold feet! I can have some sympathy for people with a cream carpet (not that I would place it above a person)but a hard floor should be easy to clean.

IMO forcing your guests to do anything that makes them even slightly uncomfortable just negates the whole point of having folk round (to have a nice time).

We are about to move into a house where there is a cream carpet IN THE HALL [for the love of God why? emoticon]. It will no doubt look terrible 6 months after we move in, but then we'll rip it up and put hard floor down.

We have a shoes off policy - now we have a crawler its not going to change!!!

This thread is obviously a MN acid test - every single poster who I generally agree (Quattrocento, expat, Ronaldhino amd others) with agrees with me that asking your guests to take off their shoes is bonkers. So I must be right. So there.