We have solid oak flooring in hall, lounge, kitchen and dining area, (all open plan), but carpet in bedrooms, landing and on stairs. Natural wood flooring is warm underfoot and easy to clean. We have a dog and his nails do 'click' on the floor and scratch it, and I have scratched it moving furniture around, but that's just life. Some people pay a small fortune for old, worn flooring with a patina. It's everyday life that created that patina. I'm not precious about my flooring, it's just a floor! In our previous house we had laminate flooring and bare wooden stairs. If something heavy was dropped on the laminate it chipped and the chipped areas were razor sharp. I loved our wooden stairs but it was noisy when the children were there.