I'd stick with carpet in the bedrooms. Much less expensive and perfectly acceptable.

If you can afford it, I would redo in wood. With so many people having allergies these days, wood would appeal to more potential buyers.

Have you looked at what is currently selling in your area? I would start there. Sometimes it is not so much getting a return, but being able to sell fast when you are ready and/or need to sell..

I would want hardwood everywhere. I'm not a carpet person, and would rather have rugs.

Personally I strongly prefer hardwood everywhere. But if you are primarily concerned about resale, it's a local question. Some places all the houses have carpet so it's not a downside.

My bedrooms have hardwood, with area rugs. I replaced the wall to wall in the master when I bought the house with hardwood.

Definitely follow the advice above and find out what is popular in your area and price range. You can check out photos from sold listings online. If you are friends with a realtor, you can ask her/his advice.

Once you decide, the same advice will apply when you are trying to choose a particular wood floor or carpet type.

In addition, depending on when you're planning to sell, carpet may have to be replaced again.

Our first 2 houses had hardwood everywhere, with area rugs in the bedrooms. When we bought our third house, it had wall to wall carpet in the bedrooms that was 9 years old. We tore it out and replaced it with hardwood floors before we moved in.

The previous owners were clean people and even had a weekly cleaning service, but there was still lots of dust/dirt you could see, when we tore up the carpet. Yuck!

Hardwood, without a doubt. Area rugs can always be placed (and more easily removed to be cleaned or replaced) to soften rooms.

May move in next year and starting to look at houses. Whenever I see carpet, I think cost to rip it out and replace, or put in HW.

Last week we just replaced the carpet in our bedrooms plus the hallway and stairs. I wish we'd done it sooner! We're not selling anytime soon but in general I think wood floors are an advantage. If a future buyer really wants a carpeted bedroom, that's much easier to do at move-in than the reverse.

I prefer wall to wall carpet in bedrooms, it's quieter and softer on bare feet. And if these rooms aren't used often you likely won't have to replace it should you sell. Buyers generally want to make the house their own anyways, if it comes to that you could always add a flooring allowance when you sell, then they can pick their own or use that money for some other improvement.

I grew up with hardwood floors in my bedroom and, once I could control the flooring, it is wall to wall carpet.

I think it really depends where you are located. Wall to wall in bedrooms is a classic standard and I would be hesitant not to stick to that unless you are in a very warm,year round climate.

Many people prefer carpet in bedrooms. Since the hallway is already hardwood, you could use remnant pieces for each bedroom vs a single carpet for all. It gives each room its own character, especially if you're considering painting.

For bedrooms, I would do carpet due to expense. I wouldn't go through the trouble and price of installing hardwoods for resale. If it were a living room or dining room, then I would consider it, but not bedrooms. We have hardwoods in all bedrooms but the master was carpeted when we bought the house. We like carpet underfoot and while we could have redone the hardwoods, we replaced with new wall to wall. I really don't think your resale will be that greatly affected with carpeted bedrooms.

My DH and I will only buy homes with all hardwoods, when buying if the house does not have them we factor that into what we are willing to pay.

What localeater said, except that for us the floors only have to be mostly hardwood. A certain amount of tile is acceptable. Even Pergo-type floors are okay for some rooms. But we consider wall-to-wall carpeting a defect when house-hunting.

It really depends on your neighborhood and what other houses (that might be competition when you sell) tend to have. There are "carpet in the bedroom" neighborhoods, and there are "all true hardwood" neighborhoods. Find out what yours is.

I disagree with the neighborhood idea. I have seen a mix of hardwood or carpet in bedrooms, at all price points in the same neighborhoods across several states. Carpet in bedrooms tends to be done as a cost saving instead of doing hardwood or tile (Florida area) to match the rest of the house.

We just replaced the carpet in the master with more carpet. I could have type of flooring I wanted (DH is a carpet/wood installer) but I just prefer the look and feel of a low pile carpet in the bedrooms. I like wood and tile and have plenty of it but the bedrooms are carpeted.

chispa, the carpet we just put in our master bedroom was WAY more spendy than any wood flooring. A lot of the carpet DH installs in high income neighborhoods cost more than wood (Texas).

Yes, my parents very much prefer carpet in bedrooms--well, my dad does. It was one of his few requests when they built a custom house. They could have afforded hardwood, so it was not a cost savings decision at all. He just wants carpet for his cold feet in his bedroom.

In the neighborhood we live in now, every house I have been in has hardwood throughout (except bathrooms and occasionally kitchens). In the city we are moving to, all of the houses we looked at had carpet in bedrooms--that was across three neighborhoods. I have lived in a heck of a lot of houses in multiple states (dad and dh both military) and there are definitely regional variations in what is typical for flooring and often, though not always, trends within a neighborhood.

Another vote here for carpet, especially if you live in a 2 story and your weather is cold in winter. We installed hardwood all through the downstairs and it's beautiful, but I want warmth and comfort in my bedroom and that means a soft warm frieze under my feet.

In my neighborhood, there is some carpet in bedrooms but it is over hardwood. At least eugenics it gets tired or stained, it can just be removed and the floor cleaned and polished. A house with hardwood floors still allows a future owner to carpet if that is what is preferred. Putting in new hardwood and trying to get it to match existing, is harder.

You can still have your "warmth and comfort" with hardwood floors or tile floors!

We have large wool oriental rugs in all our bedrooms and the great thing is that they, and the area beneath them, can be cleaned thoroughly. You can also rotate the area rugs yearly to prevent wear on the main walking paths.

I just can't get over the filth that is under wall to wall when it gets torn up ...

Years ago everyone had wood floors. Then wall to wall carpet was the big thing. Now the trend is wood floors - although with a mix for bedrooms still wall to wall. Who knows what will be the trend a few years from now? I think there are buyers that would like carpet, those open to changing something to make it their own, or those that won't look at all if not all wood. Get what you would like to live with. I would never have wood floors in a bedroom again after years of having them. I find carpet more comfortable and less maintenance. I work with someone that bought a house all excited about the wood floors. They are now carpeting them.

I know you asked about carpet types for resale, but have you considered a high quality laminate? We have all wood floors here. In our vacation house the first floor is hardwood and the second floor is laminate, which I am sure was installed for staging the house. While I prefer hardwoods, the laminate is quite nice and might be worth looking at.

Marles, while what you are saying is true, it is far easier to install carpeting over wood, if that is your preference than it is to do the reverse.

For us personally (and that includes any home we would consider buying), hardwood. I never want to go back to carpet.

Chispa we do have a rug over the hardwood in the living room, and again, I love the look and functionality, but it's no where near as comfy to me as our carpet upstairs. I don't think the OP can really go wrong as both options serve a very good purpose.

Thank you to all who chimed in. I probably have about 800 sq feet of bedrooms that require floor covering (3 bedrooms and a bonus room). Only one of the rooms gets much use now that all the children have grown up. And since I'm in that room, which we use as an office, the carpet there is starting to bother me due to the daily wear and tear. If I change that out, I need to change all the other rooms upstairs out.

We have sunk a considerable amount into our house already with kitchen and bathroom renovations, so I'm reluctant to spend more for little to no return. Our house is already at the very upper end of home values for our neighborhood, after our upgrades.

On the other hand, I would like the freedom to be able to place our house on the market quickly if our employment situation suddenly changes. That's why I'm having a difficult time figuring out the most prudent course of flooring action.

I don't think you have to change out all the other rooms. I would do the room you spend time in and make it nice for you.

My bedroom floor is hard, so I have a nice runner next to my bed to the door.

Both have advantages. I lived with both hardwood and carpet. Oh, and tile too:)

Can you match the hardwood to the existing one?

You also can leave some rooms carpeted, some-redo in hardwood.

As for the colors..we chose very nice light beige, when we were changing the old carpet on the second floor where the bedrooms are. Went perfectly with the rest of the space and all. It was probably too light though because the traffic lines appeared pretty soon and looked..well, lets say now it's clean and is light beige again:)

The stager loved it))

Now one of the buyers surprised us with the comment she doesn't like the carpet. But not the fact that it's carpet-the fact that it's beige. She thought it's a "dirty" color, which is technically true-colors can be "cleaner" or "muddier". But I was very surprised. It's a very common choice around here actually, and all of the house(except for several accents) is on the "muddier" side. She liked the house, but not the carpet.

I wonder what color she'd prefer, within the existing scheme..purely out of decorating interest.

One of the neighbors had white carpets..for 25 years no less. Everywhere, living areas too. I don't know how they did that..Well, no shoes policy, cleaning often..yet still. Hard to believe.

I'd change it right away though. no matter how wonderfully clean it was

So..people will have their preferences. Do what makes the most sense in your place and to you, and future buyers can redo the flooring to their liking if they're going to be so bugged by it.

we redid the living areas right away..don't get the carpet in the dining area. Also was stained and whatnot.

Waited for several years to change the second floor then.

I don't understand this quest for a "perfect house"..find a home you love, and then, fast or slow, redo the elements you don't like, if there are any. Highway is hard to move, also neighbors' houses lol..changing flooring is kinda doable..

My kids prefer carpeting in their bedrooms. I like hardwood in the master. If these are secondary rooms, I'd go with the cheaper option (carpet).

I agree to check what's preferred in your area if concerned about resale.

My personal preference is carpet. We put hardwood in the master bedroom of our last house. It was beautiful, but hard and cold, especially in the winter.

We will probably be ripping out our master bedroom carpet in our current house within a year or so. Believe it or not, I'm leaning toward hardwood again because of resale value and longevity. Perhaps I'll get a very large area rug.