How long are you planning on staying? If you don't see moving in the next 5 years,I would suggest speaking with your landlord about replacing the carpets with something that would benefit both of you like laminate or engineered hardwood. Even if you put it down in just the common areas and split the cost it may be worth it. I hear your pain, my husband refuses to take his shoes off and I have two dogs, the floors are a constant battle. If the square footage of the common areas are not huge- laminate floors and even some engineered can be only a $1/square foot. I just installed all of my own floors- so it may be the cost of a few rugs in the end. You may even get the landlord to pay for the product if you install? It is good for resale on their end...

Not a fan of rugs over carpet. I've done it and the corners on the rugs always flip and the rug creeps into a topography of hills and valleys. I felt I was always trying to straighten it.

It also says, "hey I put a rug over the carpet." You don't really want to draw attention to the capet which the rug will do.

Renting a steam cleaner just is not the same as getting your carpet professionally cleaned. My parents recently got their carpet, also a beige tone cleaned, and it looks great. They have had their carpet for 15 years. Good Luck!

In consideration of the landlord you should have the carpet professionally cleaned. It is your mess.

Professional cleaning, ftw. It'll be cheaper than area rugs, too. It's easy (good companies will move all your furniture for you) and it's amazing how clean they can get the carpets.

Try mixing in a bit of bleach with the cleaning product next time. I think too many area rugs in a carpeted room look a bit silly and definitely can end up drawing attention.

I agree with WHITEA26. Hire a cleaning company to come out. You'll be amazed at the difference. Renting a steam cleaner is pretty much a waste of time and energy.

I also agree that having carpets professionally cleaned make a huge difference when compared with renting a steam cleaner. I'd give it a try, but shop around to find someone with a good reputation.

Also, if you have stains, I used a combo of 1 cup hydrogen peroxide with 1 Tbs dawn dish sop and it worked wonders on a coffee and red wine stain...took a lot of elbow grease though.

I agree with others; get a professional to clean your carpets. And get your husband to take his shoes off. Is it really that hard to just take your shoes off when you walk into the house? I mean, your kid crawls on that carpet.

Are there hardwood floors underneath?? We lived with some NASTY berber carpet for a year and since our lease was up we asked the landlord for a few maintenance items and included a suggestion to pull up the carpet (we saw peeks of nice hardwood beforehand). He said yes without hesitation. They aren't perfect but they are WAY better than the horrid carpet we had. Good luck!

My in-laws used to struggle with keeping their light berber carpets clean, renting a steam cleaner every 6-ish months and they still looked dingy. Once when they were renting the cleaner yet again and bemoaning their carpets to the rental staff, they were advised to try cleaning the carpets with just water. If you're cleaning the carpets that often, the soap can build up in the carpets and leave a residue. They started cleaning only every 3rd time with any solution and it helped with the dinginess...

Professional STEAM cleaners.

This will sound odd, perhaps, but do you have a really good vacuum? I had extra-thick white carpet in my home when I bought it (all gone now, thank goodness) that i had to live with for several years. I had it professionally cleaned one or two times a year, but it never seemed clean enough until I upgraded my vacuum to that brand that "does not lose suction". In fact, I remember vacuuming the freshly cleaned carpet with that thing and pulling out a full canister of powder-soft dirt. Steam machines just push fine dirt deeper into the pile and padding, and then when you walk on the carpet all that works its way up again.

I have done the carpet on carpet thing in my current apartment, and it has made a big visual improvement. I will agree with the post that the carpet always needs to be straightened, but if you have a coffee table on it, it doesn't move much. Anything looks better than just old brown carpet. The plus side of area rugs, they can change with the season and is a great simple way to change the overall feel of a room.

We've done the carpet on carpet thing for our house. one thing we've noticed that made a huge difference was to have the 2nd carpet cover as much as possible. So if our room is 11x11, we got a 10x10 rug. The couch/chair/table keeps it down so we have not had the problem of the edges flipping over.

My husband sometimes doesn't take his shoes off. But he has certain paths (from the doorway to the fireplace, for example) so i'll have a long runner that he can walk on which will keep him off the main carpet. That limits the debris and dirt that he's tracking in to those main areas.

-Rini

When we got our new carpet a few years ago, I asked how often I should have it professionally cleaned. I was told that if you have a high-quality vacuum cleaner and use it regularly, you shouldn't need to steam-clean very often. (For me, that's a big "if" !!)

I know that doesn't help your current situation. But perhaps check Angie's List for a very good professional carpet cleaning company. Their equipment is so much better than the rental machines, and I think the companies that use a truck instead of portable equipment can be even more powerful. Get it really clean once, and then change some your regular cleaning routines and shoe-wearing habits.

First, check your local renter laws. It might simply be time to replace the carpets.

And if it isn't time to replace them, then hire a professional.

Long shot, but if the carpet is wool, you could have it dyed. My parents had this done to wall-to-wall carpet that went from a mustardy gold to a deep paprika.

My husband has horrible allergies. When we signed a lease on our current house, it was hardwood in common areas, carpeting in the bedrooms. Nightmare for allergies. We struck a deal with the landlord to split the cost 50/50 of putting hardwood floors in the bedroom so the whole house would be hardwood. It is some cheap bamboo flooring from one of those 1-800 flooring people who run non-stop commercials on TV. It is tacky flooring but a hell of a lot better than the carpet. A seriously worthwhile investment. Especially if you intend to stay for any length of time.

Professionally cleaned by Stanley Steamer. I do it every two years for my carpeting which is about 8 years old. My carpeting still looks great. They charge about $100.00 for 3 rooms, very reasonable in my opinion.

Talk to your landlord. I get one free professional steam cleaning every year, when I renew my lease. Your landlord may offer something similar.

I'll second the suggestions to (1) make sure you have a good vacuum, (2) vacuum at least once a week, and (3) hire professional carpet cleaners.

I was amazed at what a difference a PROFESSIONAL steam cleaning made. BUT, if you do it, pay extra to get a Scotchgard finish. Especially if it's your first time steam cleaning. Carpeting with the factory-applied protector taken off never stays as clean as the carpet did when it was new. I have a friend who owns and rents a bunch of condos and she told me it's useless to clean without a finisher.

I was amazed at the difference a professional clean made after 4 years in my last rental. I asked my estate agent to recommend a company. In Australia it's pretty much expected that you will get the carpets cleaned at the end of your lease to get back your bond, going with their recommendation was the best option because if they had any questions about the quality of the service they took it up with the company.

I suggest since your husband is the one that refuses to remove his shoes, he deal with the carpet!

We just had carpeting installed, and the carpet guy said that regularly walking on it in bare feet creates more problems than walking on it in shoes. And that makes sense -- if your shoes are dirty, you're going to notice it whether on the floors or on the carpet, and you'll wipe your feet or take off dirty shoes. And even then, a lot of that kind of dirt is easily vacuumed away. But people don't perceive that bare feet (even freshly cleaned bare feet) are depositing layers of oils onto the carpet, which are impossible to vacuum away. So don't zing the husband too hard for not taking off his shoes.

If I was the landlord I wouldn't be keen on replacing the carpet, it's only 4 years old.

Perhaps you can cut a deal with your landlord on professional cleaning, which should do wonders and good for your landlord too. It will extend the life of the carpet they invested in. Along with a no shoes, must wear socks policy (Bee for Brian is right about oils from bare feet) it will go a long way in keeping them looking lovely and keep you happy. My grandmother had area rugs over carpet in high traffic areas like the main hallways. They were always rippling up and easily tripped on (over saxony plush). In the living-room with furniture placed on the edges holding it in place perhaps a nice patterned rug wouldn't be bad but I've never layered carpet over carpet myself.

I just spent the past 2 years working for a property management company, and I'd suggest the professional cleaning option. A lot of people got mad when our apartment complex required proof of professional cleaning at move-out (or we'd get the prof cleaning) -- but it truly makes a difference.

Carpet is not usually replaced in the apartment of a current resident, unless it is significantly old. If, at move-out, your carpet is useful for the new residents, we wouldn't replace it. (I learned so much -- even the cheap carpet costs so much to replace)

Managers of a big complex would definitely not negotiate with you about the carpet. If you rent from a small-time property, then maybe! Stanley Steemer is great, but I know local small places can also be very good and less expensive.

Maybe use this as an excuse to buy a Dyson? Oh, to have a Dyson...

Try and find a used carpet shampooer on craigslist. then, use hot tap water and white vinegar. I just did this on my shabby looking builder grade cheap apartment carpets, and they look amazing! better than they looked after the "professional shampooing" that was done when we moved in.
I had Stanley Steemer come in years ago to a different house, they told me that carpet shampoo just makes for dirtier carpets, since there is not way to remove all the soap residue from your carpets. It just gives dirt something to stick to.

the thing about old carpets....if you use steam cleaners like rug doctors then most like you have heavy residue in you carpet that continue to catch dirt, hair, old skin and dust mites. First pay for a professional carpet cleaner to come out before covering it up with an area rug. the reason is the area rug will get dirty and dirt will go thought the rug and put more dirt on a already heavy residue spot and it will make things a Lot worst.