We chose carpet for much of our house, due to our very young kids (really wanted wood). We decided to go against everyone’s advice and got a very light sand-colored Stainmaster. A relative who shall remain nameless spilled a full glass of red wine on it last Chrstmas, and it came out with almost no effort using baby wipes. The carpet was new a year ago, and it looks exactly the same now as it did then. This is with a dog and a 3-year-old and all the peanut butter, mac and cheese, and juice boxes he can throw at it. So far we are very impressed. The original owner had carpet in the master bath which hadn’t been changed in 12 years. That’s what you call a biological weapon. We replaced it with porcelain.

Dupont sold the Stainmaster brand and has come out with something better that supposedly requires only water to clean, although that’s all we use to clean our existing carpet, and it looks flawless. I do, however, think about the stuff that makes it through the carpet and just sits there on/in the pad, evolving into something too terrible to imagine. That’s okay, it will end up as a rental in 2 years anyway.