2 different types of flooring in a through lounge?

[fatfingers]

We are redecorating our lounge/dining room at the moment. It was originally 2 rooms but at some point prior to us buying the house it was knocked through into 1 long room.

We are looking at flooring and although I initially thought the idea of using hard floor in one half of the room (the dining room) and carpet in the other half (the living room) would look rather 80's, I visited a friend's house the other day and they have used different flooring in their open plan living room/kitchen. It actually looked really good. What do you think? Has anyone seen or done this?

we have original floorboards in one half, marmoleum in the other. its not what i would have chosen - beneath the marmoleum there is concrete floor - but it works okay. our space is clearly two rooms with a knock through rather than one space. i think keeping the flooring the same makes life easier decor wise and makes the spaces "flow" and seem larger...

I can't picture it myself - go for one floor covering.

I have sanded floorboards in my two-rooms-into-one, and although they are lovely, I am a bit wistful for a little bit of carpet (when on the floor all day with ds, 9 mths and crawling!). I am going to get a huge rug I think, to add the comfort factor, while still having one type of flooring.

in our last house we had one through reception- carpet in about 2/3rds of it and wood in the rest(next to the french doors and dining table)

there wasnt any other practical solution- small kids spend all day on the floor so needed carpet- couldnt possibly have carpet in the dining area/next to the back door.

practicality won out for me! it looked fine although this was a 1970s house- maybe it depends?