I have gray carpet in my bedrooms. It is a flat weave from Karastan with a tone on tone stripe. I think it is the most forgiving carpet I've ever had. I do have an Irobot (recent purchase) because of the vacuuming. I have a long haired blond tabby that sheds like crazy, so I have to vacuum all the time. Of course, he sheds on the hardwood too. If I didn't have the cat, the vacuuming would just be maintenance.

Absolutely no problem changing up the carpet. Things to watch for......make the transition in a doorway, an opening or along a visual break in the rooms (like the corners of the walls). I would stay in the same colour range, but just go to the other end of the spectrum rather than change the colour completely.....like light grey going to dark grey, not light grey going to navy blue. You want the separation but an easy transition on the eyes.

I'd like to suggest that the most important thing here is more about who is using the room. If It's a child's bedroom use lovely children's curtains - there's so much around and any pattern could pick up the wall and floor colours. If a guest room and not used often I'd suggest a beautiful velvet or good quality Linen and forbid the little ones from going in to that room!!!!!! alternately a blind attached at floor level could be raised or lowered so the view is still there but with privacy from waist height perhaps. Good luck. Bee

We are a little biased, but wood floors are versatile, durable, clean, and timeless. Whereas carpet will eventually need to be replaced, high quality wood floors can last forever. You can install radiant heat under the wood floors if you are worried about them being too cold during certain times of year, and you can easily install area rugs over the flooring. Wood flooring is also more versatile than it has ever been so you can create any look. As an added bonus you can easily sweep and mop your wood floors, whereas with Carpet you don't always know what is lying below the surface. Good luck!