LogFAQs > #967492275

Carpet feels nicer on feet and is quieter, but pretty quickly gets dirty and is a pain to properly clean (and if you don't, it stops feeling so nice). Hardwood (along with most hard flooring options) is easier to clean and move furniture on (with appropriate precautions to avoid scratching), but is harder and colder. The result is that what's popular tends to flip back and forth between carpeting and hard flooring as enough time elapses that society forgets what they disliked about the other option and start to think it would be an improvement over what they currently have.

Rugs are a nice happy medium. They feel nice underfoot and help to dampen noise, but are much easier to clean and replace as needed than full carpet would be. The downside is you can't have those benefits all the time (unless you buy a whole house's worth of rugs, but that's silly), but nothing's perfect.

faramir77 posted...

You could have laminate or vinyl planking installed 10 times for that same cost. I don't get the appeal to hardwood floor.

Laminate in particular is pretty bad if you've got pets or small children or are otherwise likely to end up with occasional liquid spills on it, since it tends to soak up water and warp very easily. Vinyl's better for that, but is still less durable in a lot of ways than hardwood. I'm generally inclined to lean toward thinking hardwood's more expensive than it's worth, but there are benefits/drawbacks to pretty much any option.