Your experiences with natural fiber area rugs

[caribbeanmama]

Hello all,

I would like to purchase two area rugs, one for under the coffee table in my LR and another one for under my dining table in my DR. I have been looking at wool, cotton and natural fiber (sisal, seagrass, jute) rugs. I love the look of the natural fiber rugs in the Pottery Barn catalogs, but with three kids, I don't know if this is the way to go.

Also, I saw some sisal rugs at Ikea today and they felt scratchy. I have been told that seagrass rugs are softer, but are more difficult to clean. Can you share your experiences with these rugs? Where did you buy yours? TIA

[jerigirl]

Do you have any cats or dogs? IIRC they can be attracted to the sisal rugs. May cause them to scratch/destroy the rug. Maybe someone else can give more info on that. I thought we were told something about that while rug shopping a few years ago.

[shawnandangel]

I would not recommend a natural fiber rug. We have a large area one in our living room and professional cleaners will not clean it. If you have dogs and they have an "accident" it stains permanently. I haven't found anything to get it out.

I agree they are incredibly scratchy as well and am looking to buy a wool rug before the baby starts to crawl/walk.

[caribbeanmama]

Thanks for the responses ladies. I am definitely reconsidering going with wool or cotton.

[pastrygirl]

I bought a wool rug for my toddler's room, sight unseen. I love the way it looks, but it is very scratchy. It's a reversible rug, so there's no pile on it (not sure if that's the right word). I wouldn't enjoy going barefoot on it because I'm very sensitive to itchy materials.

I've only had it for a couple of months so I'm not sure yet about durability. We don't have any pets and nothing messy happens in my son's room... yet!

[713abc]

We bought our rug for under our breakfast table at frontgate.com

I've been very happy with it. It's an "outdoor" rug but great for inside too. Soft and very good quality from what I can tell so far.

http://www.frontgate.com/jump.jsp?itemType=PRODUCT&itemID=14899&fromNewSearch=true&mercadoResultId=2&nrpAltSearch=false&altText=null