This is the “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” dilemma.
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Exactly. We need to refinish the first floor hardwood, but that’s a dust and furniture-moving nightmare (no stopping points), so shouldn’t we do that first, then paint (again, few stopping points), then carpet, and on and on.
We decided to just do the upstairs carpet now.
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That’s what my spouse says about my plants AND my endless home projects…
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We like carpet for bedrooms. It’s just softer underfoot. (I know that many people do hardwood and then add an area rug… but that seems wasteful and a trip hazard.) And based on comments from apartment dwellers, where hard surface floors are more practical, it can get noisy.
My opinion is probably contrary to popular opinion, but wanted to post to say there are still some carpet fans… especially for bedrooms.
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Yup. My husband loves his bedroom carpet. 
Definitely personal preference. But how is an area rug “wasteful”??? Most likely carpet needs to be replaced more often than hardwood floor…and an area rug even if replaced after several years can be relatively inexpensive.
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Agree that an area rug can be relatively inexpensive (and a good way to change up the decor). My point is that is seems wasteful to pay for a beautiful hardwood floor and than mostly cover them up with area rug(s) … and in the bedroom a big bed.
One time we visited an open house where there was a huge area rug in living room, only a small border of hardwood showing near the walls. Made me wonder if anybody ever puts an ugly carpet-base floor in center with just a hardwood border.
Personal opinion varies. So far resale, I can understand leaning toward hardwood (or other hard surface) floors + rugs. We’ve been in our house 30 years, all the same carpet except family room where the berber we selected for just that room was shot in less than 15 years, especially at the seam. Will need to make decisions at some point.
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We are in the process of doing a cheap reno to our den. Replacing the 18 year old carpet that’s been barfed on 50,673 times by the cats, the couch, and painting the walls and some of the trim. The built in shelves we are hoping to not repaint, as well as the shutters.
I like carpet in there, because I like to sit on the floor quite often while watching TV. Padded carpet is just more comfy to my rear end. Same for our bedroom. I don’t sit there as much, but I do get down and stretch.
We were disappointed to learn that Berber carpet is out. There wasn’t any at Lowes! We think we might have found the best alternative, but boo…
Note… the reno was supposed to happen next spring. Then H got to looking at couches and found one on Wayfair. Soon that led to… We shouldn’t wait too long on the couch or it might not be available later… Maybe we will do it after Xmas. Then, it got to maybe before Xmas… Couch was ordered over the weekend, carpet and paint are almost there… Wouldn’t surprise me if it was done by Thanksgiving. 
H is NOT a procrastinator.
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There is certainly a design science to placement and size of area rugs. Many people buy too big or too small.
In one house we sort of did what you are saying. We had beautiful hardwood floors but wanted to balance the living room with a rug. (additionally, if you have hardwood throughout a level of floor (like all throughout the main floor) that can design/aesthetic wise be A LOT of wood to look at - just as wall to wall carpet throughout a floor can be - or would be to me. But instead of an area rug we had a piece of carpet - probably like 9 x 12 binded off on the edges. Only did that once and then preferred the styling and variety that area rugs bring to a room.
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I knew someone who did exactly what you described @Colorado_mom . They were designing a new home, and in the living space, specified a wood border only, with the center area prepped for carpet & pad. This could potentially limit room layout options, but it worked for them.
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Some renovated Marriott hotels have this setup. Wood-looking tile or LVP everywhere except the bed sits on top of a carpeted area. This works great for places where there’s not a lot of options for furniture placement.
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While sitting o the stairs to put o my sneakers, I decided to take photo of my living room… area rug over the carpet.
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We have original hardwood in most of the house, but it’s carpeted over in the bedrooms. Previous owners put in heavy-duty padding which does a great job of muffling the squeaky 58 yo floors. I pulled the carpet out of my sewing room and discovered just how noisy the floors really are. Have an area rug over hardwood in there now. Still very noisy. No one sneaks into their rooms from a late night out around here!
I added an area rug over our primary bedroom’s wall-to-wall and the area rug slides everywhere. Got some carpet tape and will figure out whether to tape the area rug to the rug pad or to the underlying rug itself (or both). Suggestions welcome!
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If you haven’t already, try a pad that has a grip side (random example; no experience with this model). Or, a grip that goes under your pad (another random example).
Problem we had with the gripped pads is the flooring didn’t age like the uncovered flooring so we couldn’t completely remove the rug without resanding/staining but then you have to do the entire floor again or replace with another rug that is exact size or a little larger. This was not an area that got sun so I didn’t think the color change would happen with the rug but it did anyway,
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When I bought a new living room rug (on wood floor), husband insisted on moving the old rug to the bedroom. It continually bunched up so we ended up getting this pad, which has worked beautifully.
Incidentally, this is the old and new rugs. Think the new one fits better and lets the wood floor show more.
Old
New
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Beautiful sunny room! I love both rugs. Nice how a swap can change the vibe of the place.
We’ve not had issues with the area rug over carpet in our living room. I think it is because limited use (usually we are in the family room, just like the view of the living room as we pass near it) as well as the coffee table and piano bench helping to hold it down.
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Our cats have been taking turns examining the carpet squares, seeing which ones would be best to barf on…
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LOL. Good thing I was not sipping my coffee when I read that!
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Oh they are trying to stir you towards the option that would showcase their “gifts”’more prominently. 
Cat barfing was definitely a big consideration when we picked our carpet color.
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