Area rug options...Earthweave, Ikea???

[ellairiesmom]

We are having concrete stamped & painted in our basement to replace the icky carpet we removed & encapsulate the asbestos tiles underneath. We need to carpet the stairs & then throw down a few area rugs for playing on. I am waiting on more info from the folks over at Earthweave. I looked up some Capel rugs (although so far, they are out of price range) too...but since we will need 2 larger area rugs & 1 smaller rug, I am trying to find options that are local to us/affordable, but safe for my toddler & newborn on the way to play on...

So, we have an Ikea 20 mins away. I was looking on their website & they seem to carry rugs that are either 100% wool or 100% polypropylene. What do we think about these options? I am more trusting of Ikea since I believe most of their items pass EU standards-am I crazy?

Examples:
Wool
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50110261

Polypropylene
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10138587

anti slip for under rug
Fabric: 100 % polypropylene
Surface coating: 75 % natural/ 25 % synthetic latex
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10097129

And do we know anything about Mohawk carpet?
http://www.mohawkflooring.com/carpet...d/default.aspx
They use recycled plastic bottles (PET). Wondering if this could be a safe option for the stairs?

[theresa1]

I am also interested in finding some safe area rugs that would be soft, economical, and nice to play on also.

[nurturebaby]

You can install earthweave as wall to wall on the stairs if you want (didn't know if you knew that already!

Pay attention to the material in the backing of the carpet/rug - this is as important, if not more important than the rug material itself. Look for natural fibers like jute. If you really want to get nutty about it, you'll have to talk to the carpet installer about the glues they'll use, etc and options with that (there is a special tape that can be used instead).

We have a capel area rug in the nursery (the organic one) - it's beautiful and we got a great deal on it - our local retailer runs a program where they will give you 15% off of any internet price you can find. I found it for cheap on the internet after a bit of searching and ended up getting it for half of what the store was asking!!

Earthweave sells a natural latex rug pad that I would use over anything I could by at Ikea.

I can't remember the brand name, but we ended up getting wall to wall wool carpet in our basement - it's not earthweave, but was more reasonably priced and is of good quality. We went with an (expensive, but more reasonable after negotiating!!) 'safe', non-toxic thick carpet pad underneath to avoid the bad off-gassing.

Good luck!