I prefer wood floors, but only if you can use nice area rugs in the hallway and each room to soften and warm the effect. If not, then I think carpet would be better than bare hardwood with kids and dogs clattering about on it.

I prefer carpets, because they are softer, especially in kids rooms, as they sometimes fall from their beds. We do take off our shoes though before we go upstairs, and we do not bring food upstairs

I prefer floor, its easier to keep clean and in case someone should get sick on it easier to wash up , only get rugs for the side of the bed ,you can even air those out when you house clean.

Kris, this is a very common question for our team. As you mentioned the two surface are completely different. The aesthetics of a fine wood floor will usually catch someones eye before carpet will. It also adds value to your home while making an easier to clean surface. If you are concerned about acoustics I would suggest a few smartly placed area rugs. We obviously make wood flooring and are a little bias :-D

Consider wood flooring installed over one of the many "sound deadening" systems available nowadays.
Older methods were to install 6mm cork and flooring over.
If you nail the flooring, some of the efficiency is reduced, because the NAILS will still transmit some of the energy (sound), but our experience has been that it's still reduced substantially.

Another option is to "float" the flooring over a foam pad type sound reducer... (which in most cases is relatively inexpensive). Although our flooring is produced for the "old school" type install, we've had many customers float our stuff.
As far as the pragmatic aspects... WOOD flooring is something that will NEVER wear out, if maintained properly... and when the carpet is gone... so is about 70% of the dust you see around the house... which is more carpet fiber than dirt. (shhh!...the carpet folks will have a cow if they read this).

By the way... to amsbury... wood is slightly cooler to the touch in warmer seasons, but it's a great insulator as well, and during winter, it will typically maintain the surrounding temps...
Now... TILE is a different story cool in the summer but COLD in winter (might as well tick off the tile folks as well... haha).

Thanks for the info. Select Hardwood Floor Co. the flooring will be installed over concrete. What is the "old school" install for concrete?

We had a two story with the stairs and 3 bedrooms upstairs carpeted, bath floors tile, and the upstairs laundry tile. The downstairs was hard surface. I never had any cleaning issues and never regretted it. Sound transference is definitely an issue and I would vote carpet stairs and upstairs.

Wood costs as much as carpet. Go with wood. Easy to clean. You'll never see a stain, etc. Adds value to your house as well.