don't wear high heels in the house, unless you must/have company. i had a neighbor girl that used to wear them every morning while she got ready - put the damn shoes on when you leave the house. anyway, that was my own personal complaint. a lot of ugly rugs on here: http://www.rugsusa.com/rugsusa/control/main but there are a few winners, esp if you are looking for something neutral. bamboo rugs are always a cheap find, especially if you can get into a place like homegoods out on long island or in new jersey.

The reality of living in a building with wood construction (townhouses, brownstones, low-rise, etc.) is that you will hear every footstep from your upstairs neighbors. And indeed, I have had my share of c*nty neighbors who would do anything in their power to make my life miserable; I'm sure they would have done an Irish jig wearing Dutch wooden clogs at 3AM if they had their way. Anyway, being that you are a concerned and sympathetic neighbor, I think you should consider wall-to-wall carpeting with THICK padding. Anything less would be ineffective against noise mitigation and would therefore be throwing good money after bad.

And I second the motion: take off those damn shoes when you're at home!

Hi Anna,

I'm glad you're taking your neighbor's complaint seriously so the situation can get dealt with before it gets ugly. I can relate...to your neighbor. I was driven out of my condo (which I had bought and lovingly restored) by noisy upstairs neighbors and now am back to renting.

A few tips. As someone else suggested, it would make a big difference if you get in the habit of taking your shoes off in the house. It sounds like a hassle but it's not that big a deal (I do that now for my downstairs neighbors in my new apartment) and it also keeps the house cleaner. Think of what you step in by accident on the street. Want that on your bedroom floor? Me neither.

Any area rug will only address the noise problem if it is padded. So buy whatever fits your taste and budget, and then invest in thick padding beneath, not just a cheapo rug pad. I would bet that your downstairs neighbors would happily split the cost of the rug pad with you.

The bass noise is a little trickier. I assume your docking station is up off the floor. If not, raise it. Where are the speakers located in relation to where you are when you listen to music? Do you crank it up when you're in the kitchen because the speakers are far away? Smarter placement might help.

In my experience noise problems are cumulative; your neighbor will be a lot happier overall, and more tolerant of some bass noise if you make a serious effort to address, say, the footfall noise. Good luck.

FLOR!

They come in all textures, colors, patterns, are mostly recycled and recycle-able, easily washable and way cheaper than area rugs.

http://www.flor.com/

I had the same problem with my upstairs neighbors who did not carpet the wooden floors. I pointed out the bylaws require 1/4 inch padding with carpeting over 75% of the floor space. They complied and once that was accomplished I seldom hear anything. I believe the padding is the most important, probably more important that the carpeting, so get the thickest you can afford. Oriental carpeting stores usually stock high-quality, thick padding that can be cut to size.

I don't agree that you need wall to wall carpeting. Padded area rugs in high traffic areas should help a lot.

I also forgot to ask if you know your neighbor's floor plan in relation to yours. If your ipod is above their bed, that's a problem. Likewise if your highest-traffic areas (perhaps the no doubt hard surfaced walk between to the bathroom I see on your floor plan) are above their bedroom, or home office, dealing with noise in that area will be a higher priority for them.

A little bit of your time investigating and addressing this will do wonders for neighborly relations.

Shoes are only so noisy. I hear my neighbor in his bare feet. He stomps on his heels quite a bit. There's a fair amount you have to get used to if you take a downstairs unit. Coins hitting the floor? No problem. Weightlifting? Problem.

Remember to compromise, not solve. Part of this is the neighbor's burden too.

Compromise: yes, totally. It's great that you are taking their concerns seriously. If everybody puts down rugs or carpet (and curtains and other fabrics in the room to tone down noise), takes off their shoes when they're home, keeps the blasting of music to a minimum and during acceptable hours, shuts their windows when they've got the tv cranked up, and then agrees to cut their neighbors some slack for anything they might hear in return, it makes life so much easier.

But then, after living under a 400 lb woman who used a makeshift at-home stairmaster in the apartment above me, I'm pretty glad the worst thing my current upstairs neighbor does is occasionally blast pop songs before 11pm.

from my experience:
FLOR won't do it. too thin. no cushion. not good with pads.
as someone else mentioned: it's really all about the pads. they have some good ones that will last a long time (but aren't cheap).
i agree it's not all about the shoes. our upstairs neighbor is a very nice petite woman who is barefoot at home but marches as if she's off to war.
we got 2 pretty thick, neutral looking (ribbed) wool rugs at cb2 on sale: 8*10 for $300 each. good luck!

Oh, forgot to say, I love that floorplan! Looks like a great apartment. Congratulations!

Since you own now, what shape are the floors in? If you love the look, you could also consider replacing them and putting down good insulating pads beneath. We have cork floors, but there are also cork underlayers for hardwood floors that would probably help a lot. Also, I agree you should find out if some areas are more crucial than others for the neighbors.

Put your iPod dock at eye level and a bit away from the wall to keep the noise from carrying. You'll also be able to hear it better at lower volumes. And yes, padding is the key for any carpet, as is taking off your shoes (which can wreck the finish of your floor anyway, much less all the dirt you may be tracking in from the street).

buy bulk carpet padding for your area rugs...much thicker and cheaper than traditional sized rug pads.

Like the other poster below, I was driven out of an apartment I loved by a noisy upstairs neighbor. It felt awful to have to sell the apartment and leave my home. It's great that you are trying to mitigate the problem.

In most apartment buildings, you can hear almost everything in the upstairs apartments. I made an arrangement to install carpeting in HIS apartment, which helped somewhat, though my friends thought I was nuts. The real problem was that he liked to do pretty much everything at 2am.

Thus in addition to seconding the other suggestions above, I'd urge you to be particularly quiet between 10pm and 7am. You don't mention time of day but most people tolerate more noise in the waking hours. Also, to state the obvious, if the neighbor's bedroom corresponds to your bedroom, it might make sense to make the bedroom a quieter zone.

Buy the carpet padding at Home Depot made for under wall-to-wall carpeting and cut it to size. Very cheap. This may be the same stuff plasticransom speaks of.

If you live below noisy neighbors and own your place, an extra layer of gypsum board on the ceiling will really quiet things down. This isn't cheap or easy, but will make a difference in the long run!

Agree with KatieD but if you're renting then another bet would be a layer of thick sound insulating material under soundproofed laminate which would be easy to install. If you go the carpet route, remember that you still have to install a layer of soundproofing material underneath to make it more effective.

You've said "we" so I presume theres more than one of you

I've had a thought about this noise issue - one of you go downstairs to your neighbours and one stays upstairs - use your mobiles or landline phones to communicate and get the upstairs person to do stuff - put music on, walk about - do the normal stuff you do - and actually listen to what the neighbour hears - you will then know how loud is too loud for your music and also if the neighbour is just making a fuss over nothing it will be pretty obvious!

I agree with Violetsrose -- it's necessary to understand what is being complained about. For some people, *any* sound is too much sound.

I'd also suggest not carpeting (traditionally) if you can help it. Like everyone says, remove your shoes. I would never live somewhere with built-in carpet (ugh!), but I love area rugs and I have several of them. When you figure out where the high-traffic area(s) are, double up on the rugs. For example, for a long time I had a rug I bought in Morocco (which was pretty substantial) on top of a larger rag-ish rug from Ikea.

As to the sound of the iPod, figure out a better placement -- which is probably away from a wall -- and make sure you don't turn it above a certain point (experiement with your downstairs neighbor, and this will also let you know if they're over-reactive or if you really are playing your music too loud).