Before we had dogs, we installed an almost WHITE runner on the stairs, as well as the upstairs hallway and bedrooms. (The main floor is walnut stained dark hardwood floors with some area rugs.) Even though we don't wear shoes in the house and are careful of cleaning the dogs' paws when we come in from the outside, the runner, especially, is still looking pretty dirty. We've had the stairs runner cleaned but the day will soon come when no amount of cleaning is going to work. The upstairs hall and bedrooms are still looking good and do not need replacing.

My question is: Would it look odd for the stair runner to be a different darker, more forgiving color/pattern? It would immediately meet the upstairs hallway though we could not have it run up the final riser (which is painted 'white' - trim color). Should we remove the upstairs hallway carpet which has 'softwood' floors stained the same dark walnut as the upstairs and continue the runner there?