Funny, I've never had anyone ask me to take my shoes off upon entering their home. Once when beginning to enter my Asian neighbor's, I asked her if she'd like me to remove my shoes. She said "no" and noticed she also had hers on. She had tiles only floors. Nor have I seen any signs out front of anyone's home. What I *have* heard from a carpet salesman is that the oils from bare feet is hard on carpet fibers and that it's better to wear sox if you don't want to wear shoes. When my girls were crawling and toddlers the things they would find to put in their mouths would freak anyone but they never were sick, save one ear infection. :cool:

Hi,
In the area in which we live, nothing is wrong with asking someone to remove their shoes in the foyer, or whenever they enter the front door. Most people take off their shoes without even being asked. I do the same when I go to someone's home, if I see they have good looking carpet.
Most people are not offended by this; and if they are, they wouldn't become good friends anyway.
You might also consider buying "runners", or even "throw rugs" to lie on your new carpet.
The suggestions about what color carpet to have installed not to show dirt is a little late for this posting!
New carpet costs a lot of money; depending on what you installed. Don't think twice about asking someone to take off their shoes; just do it!
Best of luck,
fredg

Hey Melody, Of course you have every right to tell someone to take off there shoes. I would definitely put a sign at the door I wouldn't make it to cutesy because some people may not take it seriously. I look at it like this, its your home you want it to look as nice as possible and you're the one who has to pay to clean up other peoples mess that they leave on your rug. I don't think that's fair to you at all. And if people don't abide by it I would just tell them that you just got a new carpet and don't want it mucked up, anyone who can't respect that isn't respecting your home. I would never walk into someone's house with nasty shoes, I always ask if they would prefer me to take my shoes off and if they say yes, I do, simple as that. And as far as hard wood floors go, I have them and it doesn't really make a difference. They get pretty messed up after, a few times when people walk across them with yucky shoes. :D

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Originally Posted by becky92029

Funny, I've never had anyone ask me to take my shoes off upon entering their home. Once when beginning to enter my Asian neighbor's, I asked her if she'd like me to remove my shoes. She said "no" and noticed she also had hers on. She had tiles only floors. Nor have I seen any signs out front of anyone's home. What I *have* heard from a carpet salesman is that the oils from bare feet is hard on carpet fibers and that it's better to wear sox if you don't want to wear shoes. When my girls were crawling and toddlers the things they would find to put in their mouths would freak anyone but they never were sick, save one ear infection. :cool:

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I have wall-to-wall carpet that I get professionally cleaned once a year. The cleaners always say oils from barefeet are bad for carpets, but socks are OK. Stocking feet are comfortable and easy on carpets. The only drawback is you wear out your socks quickly. :D

Stocking feet at home rule! :)

In my house as a kid, sock feet around the house was the rule for us and for guests. Of course once in awhile some guests would have smelly feet, but it wasn't the end of the world.

I still take my shoes off at all times in our apartment, but since we didn't pay for the carpet, I am not 100% a tyrant about it with guests. I prefer that they take shoes off, but it's not worth the effort of arguing about.

When they enter your home, simply say "Would you please mind removing your shoes? We just had very expensive new carpeting installed." Any decent, cordial person should understand that. After all, it's your home and you make the rules. Similarly, when you are a guest in someone else's home, you comply with whatever requests they may have (shoes off, no smoking, no pets or whatever.) When one is a guest in someone else's home, one has the responsibility to defer to the host's house rules, even if the guest personally disagrees.

Where I come from everyone removes their shoes when they walk into someone's home. It's just manners - plus the fact we would all feel really bad leaving dirty marks on carpets. Luckily the majority of my friends and family have Laminate Flooring so it's not really a big issue. But above everything else when I am at someone's house or at home I am more comfortable without my shoes on!

I agree... I always automatically remove my shoes when I enter someone's house, unless they say I can leave them on. I'm surprised actually that your visitors don't immediately offer to remove their shoes, especially since from what you say, they are filthy! Where I live, it is considered very impolite to just barge into a person's house with shoes on. In winter (which is most of the year here in northern Canada, haha!), many people have a basket of house slippers next to the boot mats in the foyer, so people can remove their boots or shoes but still be comfortable if the floor or carpet is cold.

From my standpoint, it's certainly not inappropriate to ask people to remove their shoes when they enter your home. Personally, I don't even directly tell them to remove the shoes. I greet them at the door, offer to take their coat and hang it up, and simply say something like, "you can leave your shoes on the mat, and here are some slippers if you like." Easy and not at all offensive to your guests.

My husband refuses to take off his work boots indoors. We live on a farm and I do my best to hoover the carpets and wash the floors everyday. He does a lot of building during the day so you can imagine the state of his boots.

When I remind him he removes them, but if I am not around, he will wear them all over the house. If I walk in the house bearfoot when I come home, the soles of my feet are black within minutes, the floors get that dirty during the day.

If I show him my feet, he says to avoid getting black feet, I should also wear my shoes indoors... It is driving me mad and his lack of respect for my cleaning everyday is making me hate him. What shall I do?

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Originally Posted by deebeee

My husband refuses to take off his work boots indoors. We live on a farm and I do my best to hoover the carpets and wash the floors everyday. He does alot of building during the day so you can imagine the state of his boots.

When I remind him he removes them, but if I am not around, he will wear them all over the house. If I walk in the house bearfoot when I come home, the soles of my feet are black within minutes, the floors get that dirty during the day.

If I show him my feet, he says to avoid getting black feet, I should also wear my shoes indoors... It is driving me mad and his lack of respect for my cleaning everyday is making me hate him. What shall i do?

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Make a rule - he only wears shoes indoors when he's cooking dinner. Make sure no shoes indoors applies to everybody. Post signs and insist. I am required by law to wear certain types of footwear for my job but I will remove my shoes to enter a home if the owners insist. In agricultural settings such a rule can have health benefits by reducing the exposure of the residents to manure and fertilizer laced soils.

You should take off your shoes when you are visiting someone else's home its shows them that you have respect for them and their home. It's the same for your home, you want people to take off their shoes if your home. Only thing that I have is when peoples house is nasty and they do not care. I will still ask do they want me to remove my shoes. I have slippers for my guest or socks. The slippers I get at the dollar store and I buy a big bag of ankle socks. The slippers are rubber so it's easy to clean them. I but them in the laundry sink and soak them is soap and clorox. I have about 8 pairs sm, med, lrg and exlrg. I just keep them in my hall closet next to the door.

Just ask people nicely to remove their shoes when they arrive and say, "hope you don't mind- new carpet!" If they don't want to, don't push it.

You can also tell people when you invite them "feel free to bring your socks or slippers - we just got new carpets so I have a new "no shoes" policy in the house".

And I'drecommend you only host casual events - I, for one, do not like walking around other people's houses either barefoot or in stockings - if I'm in dress shoes, I'm not taking them off, policy or not!

How many actually allow shoes on their capets? Take slippers with you to wear when you arrive. But above all, get your shoes off