We made the plunge and bought new carpet even though the cats aren’t dead yet. The downstairs carpet was SO gross that when Alice was crawling, her knees and the tops of her feet would turn brown. I was always embarrassed when babies came over. And I couldn’t really steam clean it because it was cheap berber, so it would unravel. So it just got worse and worse.
And the upstairs? Well… It was very very light tan. So if you sneezed, it would stain.
NOW, all carpeted areas (except for bedrooms) is sort of a mocha-colored frise (very low shag), and it looks SO much better.
And it has that new carpet smell, too.
We finished painting the living room last night, so the living room is almost returned to its original, upright position. Just in time for Christmas. Yay!