We're trying to not wear shoes in the house. Hubby is in construction, and we have wood floors. Rock/nail/staple/? in shoe + wood or laminate floors = ugly floors. Plus, why on earth would a housewife/hubby INVITE more dirt, sand/clay, rock, and other organic material into their home? Isn't that counter-productive to the cleaning process? Plus, dirt and sand will break down the foam underpad, and most vacuums out there do not suck up all that dirt. I personally keep my feet in socks AND slippers. Hubby just wears socks. Outside we wear shoes. I will occasionally go barefoot on the front lawn in summer, but will always wear shoes to and from.

We don't demand guests to take off their shoes if they don't go thoughout the house. Thankfully, all our friends have the same no-shoes rule. My F-i-L did recently track dirt clods from the front door to the back door, and I teased him about it, as it's from them that we got our no-shoes rule! (Why he used the front door anyway, who knows. We got the back door as primary from them too.)

I personally think it'd be rude of the guest to track all that stuff into a person's house. Regarding the guests being embarassed, if they're in shoes, they more than likely are wearing socks too. So, no embarassment. If they're in sandals, they're already showing off their feet anyway, so obviously no embarassment. I personally HATE people looking at my feet, and I don't even like my hubby looking at them. However, I still respect my friends enough not to track dirt into their homes.