Stairs: carpet or runner?

[ThisCatCanHop]

We’ve just finished a loft conversion and need to decide what to do with the stairs. Most of the floors in our house are sanded wooden boards (including the first floor landing) and the current stairs have a runner on them which has got fairly trashed and needs replacing. I’m inclining towards replacing with a runner rather than a carpet but slightly concerned about cost and am struggling to feel inspired on Pinterest! Does anyone have any suggestions?

Also, are loop carpets completely out of the question with a cat?

Id like to know this. How does the top step get dealt with in either option as we want hard flooring upstairs including the landing but something softer, either runner or carpet on the stairs.

@soupyspoon if you have a hard floor, they literally nail the runner to the vertical bit of the top step but don’t go over the top, if that makes sense - based on our current one.

Google genesis stair nosing.

It's bascially a flat aluminum strip with a kind of C shape attached.

The flat bit is screwed down to cover the edge of the flooring at the top of the stair, and the curved c shape bit covers the top step nosing and the top edge of the runner, if you cut the runner you can tuck it under the bit of the C shape to prevent the frayed edge from being visible, but note if you do this then you need to install the runner from the bottom, like I didn't.

I dont like threshold strips, and certainly not metal, I wonder if there is a wood type.

You can buy wood ones, that is very helpful