The carpet was "let's sell this house and use the cheapest methods possible to dress it up" grade carpeting and looked awful after a couple of months. Now that we have both dogs house trained and the kids are older, we think it's time to get rid of the disgusting carpet and replace it..but with what?
The dogs scratch up hardwood so that's out. We considered tile but being below ground, how cold would it be and how hard would it be to add in heating? Would it be worth the expense/effort? We also considered manufactured flooring but how does that hold up to the grit that gets tracked in and dogs that like to run and slide? How hard is it to install on a concrete floor?
The other problem we have are the stairs, which are currently carpeted. We had thought about extending the hardwood from upstairs but had MAJOR issues with the trim pieces not being stained the same color as the floor and Home Depot refused to order additional wood for us...2 years later I'm not sure we could get matching wood.
If you did go with tile, what color would you suggest with a red brick fireplace? It has charcoal mortar and is the bricks are aged (red, black and white).
