Help me find a healthy area rug....

[bigteamug]

We want an area rug for the living room -we have hardwoods, and I want to add a little color and have a softer surface for the kids to play on.

We were about to buy a wool rug that DH and I both like (not easy to find...), but it is wool with a backing. We have a similar style one in the entry, and it smells. Did some research, and it is a very common complaint with that style of rug - probably has something to do with glue/backing - does not relate to animals, wetness, etc, it is the glue/backing. Not an option. And now that I know what smells, it will be gone as soon as I can find a replacement for the runner, as well.

What are my other options and what are the pros and cons of each? Dhurrie style? (not nearly as soft) Healthier wool ones - probably a wall to wall cut and edged (usually not as colorful, and wouldn't they have a similar glue issue?) Perhaps hand-knotted don't have the backing and wouldn't smell? Then again, they might be in another stratosphere price-wise...

We want something roughly 5x8 ft, and I guess we'll need a rug pad under it as well. Needs to be med - dark tones so that it doesn't show every little stain, we have no animals at this point, so I don't need to match a fur color. And I guess if it has a matching runner, that might be a plus...

Thanks!

[Chamomile Girl]

Do you have an IKEA near you? That is where I would go to look at wool rugs. We got our hand knotted rug there for a song because it was a second. Never had any smell issues or other issues really, and we have dragged it to like five houses and used it on hardwood and carpet. Knotted wool is the way to go because it will last forever. My grandma has rugs that were passed down from her mother. They are like 100 years old and they still look great (and she has 8 kids and one of those rugs is in the dining room under the table!).

[homemademom]

We bought a hand-knotted one at www.overstock.com that was very affordable. You have to weed through pages of rugs to see all the patterns, but once we found it, we were very pleased.

[bezark]

How about jute/sea grass?
We have a really nice, thick 8x10 or 11' jute rug from Ikea with a $30 5x8' cotton rag rug layered over it. We got the rag rug from TJ Maxx or Marshal's, can't remember which. The one in our living room is white, but we also have one in varying stripes of brown in the dining room.

The cotton rugs can be machine washed as well.

You can see a bit of the living room rugs here.

[quantumleap]

We got a really nice wool rug from Ikea as well. It doesn't have a backing, and is totally reversible, which is sort of nice for when you get sick of looking at the same thing all the time (or move in to a new house with different coloured hardwood!). The only time it has ever been smelly was after I borrowed a friend's steam cleaner to use on it, and the whole thing stank of wet, slightly dog-ish wool (we have a dog) until it dried again.
Anyway, yes, check Ikea. Ours is about 5'x8', and I can't remember how much it was, but it was definitely under 100$. I think it was about 60-70$?

[mamadelbosque]

We have three big area rugs from LL Bean that are now probably 3 yrs old (got them when DS1 started crawling - he's 3.5+ now), and they've held up wonderfully and are beautiful, and do not stink. They were expensive though...

[mich]

Thanks for the ideas. I also need a new rug soon.