Carping About Carpet

     I enjoy running (more like shuffling) around the house barefoot although my old feet have not only betrayed me, but demanded support, arch support.  I also don't mind being asked to take off my shoes at other people's houses, I'm comfortable that way, but I don't care if guests or residents wear their shoes in mine.  I'm all about comfort (ask anyone).  I want my guests to do whatever is most comfortable for them--shoes or no shoes.  My main reason for that is that I am running a home, not a carpet preserve.  I know a carpet gets more dirty and worn when people walk on it in shoes.  I want it to get dirty and worn.  In ten years I will be tired of the carpet and want to replace it, but I am biologically wired not to replace anything until the old one is broken.  Unless someone's boots are tracking in mud or manure, tracking in dirt is just contributing to the cause of someday getting new carpet.  You're welcome.
     Wood floors are very popular now but that doesn't solve the floor problem.  Many people are so fussy about their wood floors you would think they have to be cleaned with platinum.  Some of them are so protected with rugs you can't even see the wood much less get it dirty, like those (reportedly) beautiful wood tables that owners perpetually cover with pads or tablecloths.  If no one will ever see the wood you might as well save your money and buy press board.  But, to get off the table and on the floor, I prefer carpet.  Our home didn't come with buried hardwood floors that just need refinishing; we would have to start from square (foot) one.
     My daughter prefers to put wood and tile in the houses they remodel because they have two dogs and carpet, although/because the dogs love it, gets nasty in no time.  But as we have seen in our rooms with tile, vinyl etc. the dog hair just rolls itself into fanciful clumps and hides under the furniture.  It's still there and even more alarming in bunny size.  I prefer carpet because, unless you have a heated floor, it is warmer.  This is Montana.  Warm trumps pretty.  Yes, the carpet collects dog hair, but that just makes it warmer.  When we bought carpet for our first home, a trailer (we were too poor to call it a mobile home) in Helena , we were smart enough to buy a remnant that matched the dog we had at the time.  You can reverse this process if you are between dogs and match the dog to your carpet but you may have to avoid the more bizarre shades of carpet. You should probably do that anyway, no matter what the decorating programs or polite guests tell you, bizarre is ugly.
     So feel free to walk in my house in your shoes--or even mine.  The carpet is there for the comfort and convenience of the people in the home, not the other way around.