I run a "hardwood/laminate" central - if you are creative with it, it can work pretty well. This year, I ran mine literally around the entire room - it ended up being large enough to require additional power drops. If you use the furniture strategically, you can hide a good deal of the wires and such. Still, some will always be visible - the best you can hope to do is camo them. The cool thing about it this year was that I can easily see how it could be transformed into an elevated 'around the room' layout - all I need is the benchwork. I find myself saying things like "I could add another siding if it weren't for the d*&% couch..." and "That piano cost me O-72 curves...".
The downsides are obvious - things can get trampled. Track is hard to clean in many places, and it seems to get dirty pretty quickly. With wood floors, things get loud, but real trains are loud, so that one doesn't bother me. I put mine up in a room that we almost never use - the kids and dogs never go in there, so that helps. It does look a little odd to the casual observer.
Mine didn't come down last year until almost March. This year I may leave up the long loop that runs around whole room - the inside loop will have to go at some point. I already have the logistics worked out - I can squeeze in one long siding; maybe two. That would leave me three trains to run - I only have four in the layout now and I switch them out a lot.
Caveat: I jut like to run trains. I'm not an operator - I think that would get old fast on the floor.