Hardwood Floors and Area Rugs

[joy]

Our house is being renovated. It’s a three story city row home (so tall and narrow). Our first floor has had hardwood floor but the upper floors have had hideous shag carpet from the 70s.

BYEEEEE.

We now have hardwood on the upper floors and will get brand new hardwood on the lower floors by the end of the renovation. (We are expanding the kitchen, moving stairs, digging out/finishing our basement, etc).

We need area rugs everywhere because our kid, warmth, and sound absorption. When we pulled up our previous area rug before the reno started, it had all but melded to the hardwood under it.

What do I need between my rugs and the floor so as not to hurt this new floor? Does the quality of the area rug matter or does the pad under it matter most?

Help me not ruin my floors. Also, recommend area rugs. Our bedroom, my kid’s bedroom, our basement, our guest room, our living room, and hallways will need some.

[Sweetjane]

This is what I use. Those waffle weave plastic ones will leave marks on your floors, I do not recommend them at all. P
www.amazon.com/stores/MohawkHome/page/B3B256A1-A70B-4AD0-9C8F-CCF29250F54F?ref_=ast_bln&store_ref=bl_ast_dp_brandLogo_sto

[wasabi]

I don’t know how helpful this is, but Costco has 8x10 Ruggable rugs right now for $300, which seems like a great deal considering most seem to be at least twice that on their website.

[joy]

Nov 8, 2024 17:44:57 GMT -6 wasabi said:

I don’t know how helpful this is, but Costco has 8x10 Ruggable rugs right now for $300, which seems like a great deal considering most seem to be at least twice that on their website.

::gasp::

Off to Costco

[lucylou]

I’m not sure about the floors but I love Magnolia rugs. I have several and the thicker pile holds up so well.

[pixie]

Just food for thought, ruggable rugs even with a pad under are thin. I’m not sure they’ll give you the sound buffering/warmth aspect you’re looking for. Full disclosure we have one under our dining room table and I hate it.

[joy]

Nov 9, 2024 7:45:47 GMT -6 pixie said:

Just food for thought, ruggable rugs even with a pad under are thin. I’m not sure they’ll give you the sound buffering/warmth aspect you’re looking for. Full disclosure we have one under our dining room table and I hate it.

This is good info. Thank you!!

[Sweetjane]

Nov 9, 2024 7:45:47 GMT -6 pixie said:

Just food for thought, ruggable rugs even with a pad under are thin. I’m not sure they’ll give you the sound buffering/warmth aspect you’re looking for. Full disclosure we have one under our dining room table and I hate it.

They generally get poor reviews and the corners tend to roll up, I've heard. But at least you can return at Costco.

I mostly have old hand knotted wool rugs, bought second hand or passed down. I love the faded worn look, but it's also means I need a thick pad.
Home Goods had some really soft polyester ones that o got for the back door. They were like $25 and have rubber backing so basically I can toss them in a year.

[piratecat]

Nov 9, 2024 7:45:47 GMT -6 pixie said:

Just food for thought, ruggable rugs even with a pad under are thin. I’m not sure they’ll give you the sound buffering/warmth aspect you’re looking for. Full disclosure we have one under our dining room table and I hate it.

They have a thicker pad and also thicker rugs (larger sizes won’t fit in a regular washer). We have regular pad/regular rug combo and thicker pad/regular rug combo and they’re quite different and I find the latter combo to be pretty plush and comfortable. I’m generally a fan of washable rugs with kids.

[gallagher]

Just jumping in to say avoid pottery barn rugs. I love their look but both of the pretty pricey ones I got from there faded very fast from sunlight coming in.

[joy]

Well, my sweet child is insisting on some wild, long stranded, boldly colored rug that is cheap as hell from Wayfair. I picked a nicer one with an abstract pattern and she had the gall to say it was “too much.”

I did find some good choices for the other rooms and options for thicker pads that are also sound absorbing.

Many thanks for the thoughts in here!

[Peekaru]

We have (old) hardwood everywhere, so we are rug rich.

I’ve purchased rugs from Home Depot, Costco, wayfair, overstock etc- my only recommendation is no pad and 100% wool or silk rugs. I can use a bissell extractor on the wool that I can’t on cotton or poly which means I’m replacing them less often. I could clean kid barf out of my wool rug, but had to toss my poly rug. Same with cat barf and pee!

[fire]

Wayfair has a big sale going on. I just ordered one that is indoor/outdoor for ease of cleaning with the two giant dogs.

[joy]

Nov 10, 2024 16:27:57 GMT -6 Peekaru said:

We have (old) hardwood everywhere, so we are rug rich.

I’ve purchased rugs from Home Depot, Costco, wayfair, overstock etc- my only recommendation is no pad and 100% wool or silk rugs. I can use a bissell extractor on the wool that I can’t on cotton or poly which means I’m replacing them less often. I could clean kid barf out of my wool rug, but had to toss my poly rug. Same with cat barf and pee!

Why no pad?

[Peekaru]

Nov 11, 2024 9:06:22 GMT -6 joy said:

Nov 10, 2024 16:27:57 GMT -6 Peekaru said:

We have (old) hardwood everywhere, so we are rug rich.

I’ve purchased rugs from Home Depot, Costco, wayfair, overstock etc- my only recommendation is no pad and 100% wool or silk rugs. I can use a bissell extractor on the wool that I can’t on cotton or poly which means I’m replacing them less often. I could clean kid barf out of my wool rug, but had to toss my poly rug. Same with cat barf and pee!

Why no pad?

This may be a function of my old floors with sealant, but the pads leave marks that I had to sand to get out.

i think a carpet pad may be ok, but the rubber grippy ones are a disaster.

[Bluebird]

RugsUSA is a great resource for reasonably priced large rugs, just prepare to be completely overwhelmed by the thousands of options.

[joy]

Nov 11, 2024 10:49:25 GMT -6 Peekaru said:

Nov 11, 2024 9:06:22 GMT -6 joy said:

Why no pad?

This may be a function of my old floors with sealant, but the pads leave marks that I had to sand to get out.

i think a carpet pad may be ok, but the rubber grippy ones are a disaster.

So I think this is what happened with our previous carpet! It had two things underneath: a plastic mat and softer pad. It was the plastic mat that stuck to the floor when I pulled it up. If we were keeping the floors then I would have had to sand it get it off, too!

EDIT: Interestingly, it didn’t happen in our previous house with 100 year old pine floors.

[sullivan]

This rug pad is the best. I also have had good luck with Loloi brand rugs. Easy to clean and have held up well with two puppies and three kids. They partner with influencers a lot and have pretty decent deals. Plus lots of options in different sizes.

[starrynight]

We're on our second 100yr old house and also have lots of rugs!

I've had some hits and some misses ordering online, and I'm not really sure why some have held up and others haven't. My daughter's 5 yr old Pottery Barn rug is in much better shape than a 1yr old Savfavieh one i ordered off Amazon. I cant wait to replace it. I like our runners from loloi (purchased from amazon).they're very thin though, not plush. I would not purchase a Ruggable again. It just looks cheap and wrinkly.

I don't know if you are working with a designer for your renovations, but it was really helpful to go through rooms to have her term us what sizes we'd need where. No standard size would work in our living room, so we had a local carpet store cut & bind a rug. It wasn't my most budget-friendly rug but also not crazy, and sure looks a lot nicer than my aforementioned Savfavieh rug. For big Box, our Home Depot will also bind rugs, our Lowe's won't.