Flooring

Almost all the carpets in our house are looking *ahem* tired, but the hallway and stairs in particular. I'm just casting eyes over various options, wondered if anyone has any opinions on different options, think the stairs, landing and bedrooms will need to be carpeted, but very tempted for wood/laminate type in the hall and downstairs.

Any comments on having hard floors (we have fitted carpet throughout apart from kitchen & bathrooms at the moment) and how things wear - i.e. are we better off waiting a bit and saving for something a but more costly, or are there some attractive/hard wearing/cheap(er) options which I might not know of? (I know, I don't want much, do I?!)

Thanks for your help folks,
Nelly x