We (meaning hubby)) just installed new hardwood floors on our second floor, I was planning on area rugs, but they look so gorgeous as is, I decided to go it alone.
I bought a microfiber dust mop and just give it a dusting once every two weeks. I love not having to vacuum.
Downstairs, I have area rugs and love them, but truthfully in the LR and family room they are only 8 x 10, cause I wanted the floors to show. In the Dining room the rug is 9 x 12.

We have rugs in our LR and DR. Kitchen has throw rugs, breakfast area is bare. Family room is carpeted, so no help there.

Most men start out with the idea that it's crazy to spend money on a rug to cover up the hardwood that has cost so much, to begin with. :) Mine did, but now he loves the rugs.

We just installed wood floors too, and I have a large round rug in the back of the room, a rug in front of the fireplace, and a runner in the sitting room, and hallway. The wood still shows quite a bit.

The rugs help protect your floors, especially in high traffic areas.

Plus, I do feel they bring a room together, and add color.

We don't have an area rug in the dining room, it looks nice bare.

Do you have dogs with claws? Do all your chairs have felt pads? Do you ever sit on the floor?

I collect flat weave rugs, and while I like my century-old redwood floors, I like the rugs more.

We do have an inside minature dachshund but I keep her nails trimmed. We also put felt pads on all furniture legs before we reloaded the room. Even with all that I do see a few scratches here and there. I guess I'll live with the naked floors a litte while but I still think I would like at least an 8X10 rug.

My advice would be not to rush to add rugs - I learned this the hard way. The exposed flooring changed color so much that I was unable to go rugless later.

I changed my hardwood flooring 2 years ago (pulled out the faded stuff and did some other rooms) and have yet to buy new rugs because I didn't want the same thing to happen.

I love the look of my hardwood floors, but have area rugs, mostly for the sound softening. The hardwood alone makes the rooms acoustics sound hollow.

We live in a 109 year old house with original wide-pine floors in New Hampshire. The floors are FREEZING for much of the year, so rugs are pretty much mandatory because we don't really like wearing "house shoes". We do also like to get down on the floor and play with the dog so we like our area rugs thick and cushy, and as judiegal says, it does help soften the acoustics in a room. Couldn't care less if I tried about scratches from dog nails, shoes, whatever - IMO wood scratches and that's that, if you can't deal with that get tile, plastic or carpet. When we were selling our previous house, we took the area rugs out to show off the relatively-new (2 year old) ashwood floors and the echo was pretty annoying, especially since we took down the drapes on the realtor's "orders" as well. There were slightly darker areas where the rugs had been but they disappeared with a couple of weeks of being exposed to light. This problem is much worse with some wood species than with others - it's a particular problem with many of the exotics.

I do prefer rugs that leave a fairly large margin of wood around the perimeter so I get the best of both worlds. For instance, this is the living room of our previous house - a 12x12ish room with a 7'6" diameter round rug:

{{!gwi}}

Our dining-area-converted-to-sitting-room is about 12x16 and it has a 10x12 rug in it because the 10x12 was somehow way cheaper than the same pattern in the 8x10 (clearance - less than $100). It's much too big for the room and although it's a nice rug and gets the job done the colorway isn't quite "it" so it's temporary until we redo the kitchen (mostly open to this room).

I really like rugs in the living areas, but not the kitchen or halls. You could always use rugs seasonally, as was traditional. Since it's still late summer, you could wait a few months so the floors get the full attention (and light, so they age evenly), and then look for some rugs for winter. Then, just store them during spring and summer for a different, lighter look and a chance to enjoy the wood again.

I love my rugs in the DR and LR... they separate and define the spaces and make them look cozier, while making the entire area look larger. The part of the floor that is not covered give the feeling of lots of free space.

I do and love them. I feel like they add the perfect finishing touch and that they define the seating area~