[Ramius]

You know, I gotta say, I'm with you on that. This house in Bellevue is actually the first house I've had that was pretty much all hard floors, wood or tile. The TV room is carpeted but that's all.

I've noticed that they're astonishingly easy to clean. The dust and dirt seems to collect around the edges, and I can walk around the border with the handheld shopvac and a long tube and get pretty much all the dirt.

Then vacuum the rugs or take 'em out and shake 'em and presto. If the rug gets nasty you just get a new rug. Presto.

I'm liking wood over tile, only because in this climate they don't get ice-cold in the morning like tile does. In southern latitudes I can see doing the reverse.

[Rose in RoseBear]

Do what SuziQ and SirKit are doing ... radiant heat pads under the tiles, at least those in the bathrooms.

Ooooo ... toasty warm floors!

[SuziQ]

Oh, and you can also put the heating grids under wood, though it needs to be engineered wood, because it is more stable than solid wood floors.