I raised 3 joeys and 2 cats on a Cavalier Bremworth pure wool carpet and never regretted it for one minute except for one colour choice. The living areas were in a deep brown which I would never recommend - as portpiro said, dark colours show every speck of fluff, dust, pet hair and anything else that comes into the house. The bedroom areas were an Arctic White and were so easy to keep clean - regular vacuuming and a deep clean annually or occasionally spot cleaning of any accidents. I had 40 years of wear from these carpets - probably won't get anything like that these days though. http://www.cavbrem.com.au/tools/products.aspx I think if you choose mid brown/grey colours in a tweed or a self pattern, you will find this does hide any stubborn marks, but with wool, I just didn't have any. I note now this firm has brought out a range of very nice looking carpet tiles. If these are easy to interchange, they could be very useful in bedrooms especially where only a small area of flooring gets wear while under beds and furniture stays pristine. I also found when replacing my carpet recently that nylons and synthetics were not necessarily that much cheaper than wool but although they are more stain proof, they do build up static electricity that will attract dirt and make the carpet much harder to clean. This is one carpet from their Turkestan range that I really liked for durability

Just read your post again... Wool does 'fluff' a lot ... Staircase may be a 'high traffic area' - do you want carpet on it? (Without it could also be higher noise though) We have carpet upstairs (wool in lounge and synthetic in hall and bedrooms with wooden floor in kitchen separating carpets). Also just wooden floor for staircase and downstairs. I'm amazed at how much dust gathers on stairs, but easier to sweep clean than to vacuum)... Definitely recommend keeping some offcut pieces to use as mats ... Reduces dirt of rest of carpet. The carpet shops can get them trimmed/'edging' and you can attach some plastic 'non slip' backing.

Hi L O When looking for carpets, ask your retailer to give you information about VOC's. Depending on where you are, I would recommend any Godfrey Hirst/Feltex SOLUTION DYED NYLON carpet if you are in OZ, or both those and Cavalier if you are in NZ, as a first point of call. Google VOC's in relation to carpets and you will get a myriad of information which covers testing that has been done as far as use of chemicals etc goes ( or non use, in these cases). The lower the VOC the better. There should be no side effects to SDN's, or a triexta carpet (which is made from derivitives of corn sugar). All above are particularly good if anyone in the family suffers from allergies etc. AND SDN will not attract carpet beetle. Sadly, wool being a natural fibre is susceptible to this pest. Any more specific help needed, just ask.

We installed mid priced, wool carpet in the bedrooms of our new place. 18 months on: we only had a little bit of fluff and only for the first few weeks; it feels wonderful underfoot; and it’s really easy to keep clean. Also, no static. There were artificial fibres that were both cheaper and more expensive. It was simply that this one ticked our boxes Friend in the industry told us: underlay is important, don’t skimp on that read, and trust, the label on the back, it tells you what room/traffic area it’s designed and tested for etc. if you buy from a reputable retailer, fibre is less important than it used to be, they’ve all improved make it clear to your retailer what your priorities are, so you’re comparing apples with apples