I grew up with wall-to-wall carpets and it never crossed my mind that anything else would ever be "the norm".  Nowadays however the emphasis seems to be on bare floors.  Whether they are natural floorboards scrubbed and/or painted, or specially designed flooring that takes only a few hours to put down over the floorboards, this type of floor "covering" is what people seem to be going for, and I have to admit, that it does have its advantages.

It makes a room feel bigger and more airy.  When you walk into a room with just hard floors, it feels clean.  If you have spills on it, they're easy to wipe up.  It's wonderful if you have allergies to dust and so on, because it doesn't seem to create the problems that a carpet did. It's great for kids and pets as it just takes a brush to sweep away all the paper cuttings and pet hair, but there's one place where I confess I miss having a wall-to-wall carpet.  My bedroom. 

There's something about a wall-to-wall carpet in the bedroom that's luxurious.  At least it feels that way now when I haven't had one for a number of years!  Getting up in the middle of the night and stepping onto a cold floor isn't quite the same as sinking your feet into the rich pile of a carpet. 

A wall-to-wall carpet would bring warmth to the floor.  It was a place I loved to sit.  Give me a cushion on the floor and I'd be much happier than sitting on a chair.  Now the carpet is a thing of the past, consigned to the interior designers idea of "retro"!  There are some instances where I understand that.  But I think that there are some areas of the home where a wall-to-wall carpet does still have much merit.  Apart from my missing the luxury of a bedroom carpet, the other main area is the stairway. 

We live in a two story house with a stairway between the two floors.  This stairway would benefit greatly from having a carpet running down it.  The main benefit being noise reduction!  The noise of two children running up and down can be deafening at times.  I know there are arguments on safety issues with stair carpets, but as someone who was raised in a home with two stairways, one carpeted, one not, I can attest that I'd sooner fall down the carpeted one even with the risk of a carpet burn!

Ahhh wall-to-wall carpets!  I remember a time when they were thought of as being the ultimate in good living - and now they're a remnant of the past.  Fashion often comes full circle, so I'm waiting for the day when I can once again place a wall-to-wall soft carpet on my bedroom floor without feeling as if I'm living behind the times!