Have you considered getting the carpet cleaned? Once now, once just before putting it up for sale.

Do comparable houses (within 10% or 20% of your anticipated selling price) have hardware or carpet in bedrooms? Look online at their MLS photos and how many have carpet or hardwood.

If you want to show a photo of the carpet, add a piece of white paper to help the camera color balance.

Without seeing the carpet can't say if the cleaning idea would be best. If there's a chance you will be asked to replace it, I would do it now so I got some use out of my money. Bedrooms need carpet of some sort so if you did do wood floors then you are buying an area rug that may or may not fit your new space. Save your money for your next move wall to wall will sell.

I wouldn't waste money on doing upgraded padding, or upgraded anything carpet. The cheapest carpet with the cheapest pad, and right before selling, is all that I would do. You're just giving money to the homeowner otherwise.

Buyers can 'expect' all the want but fact is they won't PAY FOR IT so all you get for your money is a 'faster sale'?? ( By a day in this market).You said oak floors. How do you know a buyer wants oak? You don't!!! So go with a not too spendy carpet (I would not go cheap for cheap sake) and if they 'expect' wood they have the freedom to choose. It is no fun ripping out brand new ______ that a seller was told to update and their guess and likes were not they buyers!!! Focus on clean and no deferred maintenance. That is what a buyer cannot over look.

We replaced carpet in two of our three upstairs bedrooms right before we sold our last house. Brand new, decent carpet (all for the photos and the sale). The buyer ripped it all out and added hardwood.

I don't mind the expense but the waste is just terrible. :(

I've seen a lot of brand new carpet thrown on the front lawn when new owners move in.

Yeah - When we sell this house in a couple of years, we are just going to clean what we've got and sell it as-is.

Most buyers want to rip out carpet and do hard surface flooring, and also change any taste specific things that a previous owner has done. That's why things like new carpet just have to be thick enough for FHA certification, and not be an offensive color. It's the "new carpet smell" and the idea that the home has been maintained that is the selling point. Not the actual carpet. It's sacrificial to the sale.

Thanks to all.

The old Berber gets caught in dog nails and vaccum cleaners. The vaccum cleaner unraveled it in 2 places, so we have to replace it. It still cleans up like new with a home shampooer, not even a professional one.

I hate spending $5-$8 on new carpet when I know they will hate the color or may want wood. What a waste! Too much trash going to landfills now. If they lived in the house for 6 months, they may get over the "wood only" thought. My living/dining/kitchen wood floor is a lot of wood to take care of with 1,500 sf of wood floor. The rest of the house (2,000 sf) has carpet or tile. Since we are lakefront, the people who buy this house could be buying it as a vacation house only or as a full-time home. Our lake's homes seldom come on the market. They usually stay in the family.

We have a fairly new housing addition (I call it the commune) with multi-million dollar homes with California people buying the homes. They are overpaying since they are used to higher prices than our lower Oklahoma prices. Those homes are very close together with no garages or storage barns. 99% of them are NOT lakefront and have tiny yards. The few that are lakefront or have a lake view cannot walk down to the lake because they are on a cliff. My house is very close to the water, has a gentle slope, lots of trees, and has 1.25 acres. I am hoping to attract some of those CA buyers.

Since 2012, we have been remodeling the house. The only thing left to do is change the master tub to a walk in shower, then tile the master bath and hall bath with the deep soaking tub, change the carpet and refinish the oak floors. Our kitchen has quartzite counters, custom solid oak cabinets, stainless steel appliances, oversized refrigerator and freezer built in, warming drawer, drawer microwave, double french door gas & electric ovens, and a Blue-Star rangetop. I think the kitchen and open floor plan will sell this house if nothing else does. We gutted it...new wiring, sheetrock, and plumbing. Roof is 10 years old.

There are no comparable homes in our housing addition or the two additions nearby. Three homes next door are only 2,00O sf to 2,300 sf and have not been remodeled. One home that is 2-3 miles from us is larger, but on a 75 ft cliff. No access to the lake.

I am leaning toward ANSO High Performance P.E.T. carpet from Shaw. The color is called Sea Ice or Paris Sky. A multi-tonal carpet with a silver-blue, medium brown, and off white yarn. It will be easier to clean since we have two small dogs. No point in putting high dollar nylon carpet in here.

Would that be a good price to spend....$5-7.00? I could spend less money, I guess, but I have not liked any of the other colors. That is including installation. Oklahoma prices are not very high.

PARIS SKY- Slightly blue-silver, med tan, and off white. In different lights, sometimes looks more tan or more gray. The colors are true-to-life on my computer.

SEA ICE and OCEAN- sea ice is lighter and has a silvery blue with tan. Ocean has more blue-green with the same tan.

Sea Ice and Ocean close-up. Ocean is on bottom.

Paris Sky and Sea Ice are 99% identical. I could live with either one.

Too dark? Too many colors? THANKS!

Thanks for info. Is there a way to "borrow from Peter to pay Paul" by using some of the existing Berber carpet from (say) a closet to replace the two unravelled areas?

On color choices: gray is trending out in California and other coastal areas. Various shades of beige and tan are trending up. Blue is always a more personal choice than neutral colors.

Look at popular or upscale home and furniture websites to see what colors are being shown. Restoration Hardware's website is a good place to start. https://rh.com/us/en/interior-design Veranda skews much more traditional but it is also showing beige, not gray https://www.veranda.com/

Or try Room and Board: https://www.roomandboard.com/catalog/living

Even the Home Depot carpet webpage is full of beige now:

https://www.homedepot.com/services/c/carpet-installation/b76e9e302

I wish we could steal the berber from the closet! The previous owner was 93 years old. He never did anything right or to code which is why we had to rewire the house and remove and redo all drywall in the living, dining, and kitchen.

Every room had a different color of carpeting.12 x 12 bedroom had pink. Master bedroom had oatmeal berber. 3 closets in master bedroom had all different colors: 1 indoor/outdoor blue, 1 off-white plush, and 1 pink Saxony.

The master bedroom had a partial oak floor, but we have no idea why. When we removed the kitchen's black marble floor, we used the oak from the bedroom that matched the living and dining rooms.

I have no idea why they used marble on the kitchen floor or why they had 1/5 of the bedroom floor as oak. The wall with windows in the photo is built like a giant bay window. 24 ft wide.

You would need a really talented psychic to predict what ”future buyers” would want & even then it would be a crapshoot at best. If it were me I would just install something reasonably priced & something Icould live with for next two years.

They want oak that matches. Oak is readily available everywhere and can be stained to match the hall.

You are mis-projecting about your ”future buyers”. An over improved taste specific older home with 8’ ceilings is not what ”CA folks” want. They want either all new with 10’ ceilings, or old and shabby that can be torn down, so they can build the big giant modern house.

And NO ONE wants carpet.

Any pro installer can find narrow plank red oak, straight from the mill or from a to the trade distributor. That is the only option that makes sense.

You can’t generalize what a CA buyer wants. I purchased my home a few years ago , it’s an “old” but not shabby beautiful CA MCM with 8’ ceilings. I prefer those 8’ ceilings over the 10’ & 12’ ceilings in my second home. Generalizations are often wrong or based upon mistaken assumptions.

Do oak. That blue carpet is just hideous. Beyond hideous. It’s a huge turnoff.

No carpet. Especially not *that* carpet. Do oak.

Someone escaping high priced CA for Podunk Lakeville, where their dollar goes a lot further, is going to want to purchase something shiny where the money shows.

Agree with the above - if you can swing it, do oak. If you feel you MUST do carpet, don’t let Covid gray within 300 feet of your house.

I also agree with the above. Do oak.

You can't go wrong with continuing the existing wood floors but it's definitely more expensive. What's behind your two year timeframe? Could that become longer or shorter? Would impact the decision on flooring cost.

If you go with carpet, I would do only a beige-ish neutral, no color if you are truly doing this for the person who will buy the house. You saw your own reaction to colors in carpet that aren't your colors. The color variation has definite appeal for dog owners but IMO, looks old. You can always put an inexpensive or washable area rug over the new carpet to preserve it and when you're ready to sell, toss the area rugs.

If you're near a town that has a Habitat RE-Store, check there for carpet. The one in my city always has huge rolls of new carpet that are donated by builders (leftovers from big jobs) or carpet stores (discontinued or leftovers from big jobs) for cheap. You'll have to truck it to your town and find a local installer, but it may be worth the cost to do that.

Not that carpet. It's fussy, fuddy duddy, and garish, all at the same time. Not going to work, period. Not fatal as a bound rug though, over wood. Because that can be removed and let the wood appeal.

Glue down Stanton Anywhere Carpet. Looks like sisal, but even better, lots of colors and patterns.

AI Overview

The Stanton Anywhere Collection is a line of high-quality, durable carpets designed for both indoor and outdoor use, featuring unique patterns and various woven textures made from 100% UV-stabilized Royaltron polypropylene fiber. This collection is known for its versatility and resilience, with styles that offer indoor/outdoor functionality, anti-static and anti-microbial properties, and durability to withstand heavy traffic, making it suitable for a wide range of applications including homes and commercial spaces.

We are getting too old to live so far from our doctors. (2 hour drive one-way.) Plus, we are tired of the heat in summer. We are moving to a state that has all 4 seasons. We are now having tornadoes in February with 90+ degree days. We open the in-ground pool in late April and close it in late October. The pool is a lot of expense and too much work for us now. Where we live, we can only swim in May and October. In June through September, the water is too hot to swim in. The pool is a waste of time spent and money.

Lakefront homes rarely come up for sale. We have 12 ft ceilings in the living/dining/kitchen area which is all open floor plan. I now hate open floor plans. I thought that I would love it.

We also have a huge, private, covered boat dock with one large slip for a pontoon or fishing boat and a second slip for one of those huge boats. Boat docks are grandfathered in now, so no one can get a new covered, private dock now. Single slip docks that are already on the lake can only be purchased by home owners who own lakefront homes. They must be bought from previous owners since no new ones can be built. ONLY community docks are allowed to be built now. Costs about $40,000 for a single slip and double slips costs twice that and are not allowed now. We have had people ring the doorbell and ask if we would be interested in selling. That would never happen in a city suburb.

So, we have over an acre of lakefront, easy access to the lake that is NOT on a cliff, a protected cove, grassy yard going to the lake (no huge bolders), huge covered private dock, the largest home in the housing addition. The house will sell quickly even if the new owners bulldoze it. However, most of the buyers buy homes as vacation homes so I doubt they will want to bulldoze it. Plus, there are plenty of ranchers that retire and sell thousands of acres, and want to live on the lake. It will not matter if the house has 8 ft ceilings in the bedrooms or carpet. I prefer 8 ft ceilings and carpeted bedrooms.

I have been looking for flooring contractors within an hour drive from me, but cannot find any professionals. We got one estimate this week, but the trip charge is as much as the labor and material costs for oak in the bedrooms. Plus, it will take more than one trip. They would drive for two hours to get here, install the floor in one bedroom, move furniture in/out, return drive of two hours, then do it again the next day, and that does not include staining the floor. I have another appointment next week for an estimate for oak flooring. I have not given up yet, but carpeting will be easier and cheaper.

Thanks for all of the advice. City people have a different perspective and a different availability of professional contractors. I still have a couple of months before we are ready for flooring.

You house clearly has lots of fine features and a fabulous lakefront setting with dock. You'll find a flooring option that works for you.

Please don't GLUE anything to your floors! No matter what you decide to go with.

Anso PET is polyester with less crush resistance than a nylon carpet, Traffic areas are most vulnerable. Woven polyester doesn't show as much crush.

Are you familiar with Flor? New designs are great. Shipped to your house and you can install it yourself or easily find a young friend who doesn't mind crawling around on the floor in exchange for a good dinner or a night of baby sitting. No gluing, they lock together.

Each tile is ~2.5 sq ft. so the one below which is $18/tile or $14.40 with 20% for first orders and signing up, is $5.76 sq. ft. But there are a lot of designs at all price points. Some even less than that.

If the pooches mess up an area, just pull it out and put a new one in. Purchase an extra box of course. https://www.flor.com/ Great ideas on their website.

Flor was sustainable decades before it was a thing. Just ship back the used squares and they recycle them. Nothing in the landfill.

You'd never guess some of the designs are carpet squares. Get on their mailing list to take advantage of sales and free shipping offers.

Karastan Live Artfully is nylon with 70 oz. face weight per yard. It's dense with a pile height of 1/2". Matches well with wood flooring.

We put a Karastan carpet down in our last home that was a little darker than that photo. It was horrible to keep clean and looked horrible after 2 years even with profesional cleaning. Living in a city is different than living in a rural area. The dogs are not the problem except for the hair. Shoes on the carpet is the main problem, and I cannot get my husband to remove his shoes.

I am still looking for someone to refinish the oak floor and redo the oak hall floor so if I find someone, they could probably install the oak in the bedrooms and closets.

A local flooring company (the only one within a half hour away) removed some of the oak floor after there was a leak, but they did not replace the oak correctly. It is pretty obvious because they did not stagger the planks correctly.

The most practical color for a carpet is the color of local dirt. If you do make another trip to the carpet store, scoop up a couple tablespoons of dirt from the yard and put them in a ziploc bag to take with you. In my area, carpet shops also sell both factory-finished and site-finished hardwood floors so they have contractors they recommend for installing floors that match existing hardwood.