the wood looks pretty nice to me.

I think it's fine to leave the floors bare where the dining table & desk is. First of all, if there's going to be rugs everywhere, you'll be covering up all that lovely wood. Second, I just don't find rugs/carpet all that practical near food (so difficult to clean). It's not that practical under the desk area either - I prefer being able to roll around freely in my desk chair, so in my case, I decided I would rather have no carpet than some super industrial one that could stand up to the beating I was going to put on it.

In any case, if it starts looking really bare, you can always get a rug later!

Gorgeous room! My sister has a similar space & she placed an area rug underneath the couch (exactly where you said you would place yours) and left the dining area without a floor covering.

PS: What is the green paint color you used? Very modern and fresh.

keep the wood, add a rug.

I agree with the others -- beautiful wood floor, and no, you don't "have to" have a rug demarcating each space. I'd go for one rug sized to tie the couch, coffee table, and any additional seating together (somewhere between 5x7 and 10x12 depending on the size of your furniture and the arrangement).

I've always thought rugs under the dinner table were annoying to clean under, anyway.

i think adding a rug to the living room area is a good idea, its high traffic and you'll want to to be comfortable, warm and inviting... however the desk area, you might want to get a desk carpet, like the floor covering you see at an office, similar to this... to keep from damaging the wood floors... and again, no rug for the dinning area, add felt feet to the chairs to keep them from damaging the floors.

good luck!

Why would you want to cover those beautiful wood floors?

Area rugs (not huge ones that cover the whole floor) would be appropriate.

I would do as you said and get the rug for the "living room" area only. Live with it for a while and see what you think. If you end up feeling like the dining room area needs to be demarcated or that the floor there needs some protection from wear, then I'd go with something like those Chilewich mats.

...not only is a dining area rug impractical, it often steals from the appearance of the dining table and chairs .
I support the concept of using a(large) rug to anchor the living room setting.

I don't know about rugs--we don't have them on our floors, but if you are going go with a wheeled chair for the office--make sure you get castors that are compatible with your wood floors. Otherwise, it'll do an enourmous amount of damage. As well, all furniture not on a rug should have those fuzzy protectors.

I love the idea of just showing off the floors. They look like they are in good condition. Unless there are serious issues with the wood I would just leave it as is.

If you really want something on the ground for your feet, why not use FLOR tiles?

Thanks for the comments, everyone. I don't know why I was so hesitant to commit to just an area rug in the living area, I think I was hung up on the idea that it wasn't balanced, somehow. But yes, you're all correct, it's tough to keep a rug clean under a dining table, and yes, thank you for the suggestions about protecting the floor under the desk chair, I knew I was forgetting something. I'm really in love with the floors, but because I've never had anything as nice as these I'm terribly nervous they won't stay that way should I leave them bare. But I'm very lucky to have them and hope to be a good caretaker; many thanks again for your input.

Area rug for the winter, remove it in the summer. No matter what you do, don't roll around directly on a wood floor.