Design Dilemma: Choosing a Pet Friendly Rug

We love our pups. But gotta be honest – I do not love the mess they leave behind. So, after three years, we faced a new design dilemma. How do we choose a pet friendly rug for the living room? See, as cute and fluffy as Bogey and Cam are, both prefer to rub their entire bodies (and faces) all over soft surfaces. And both had accidents on the rug (it happens). This led our current rug, which used to be white and taupe, to resemble more of a beige and taupe. Don’t let the pictures fool you; this thing was pretty nasty up close.

To be fair, my husband and I contributed to the dirtiness of the rug too. The front of the rug is the direct path from the front door to the sliding back door. And who takes their shoes off to walk from one door to another? Not us.

I headed to Google to see what I could find about pet friendly rugs. Design Sponge’s article on tips to pet-proof your home is a great starting point. However, I struggled with this because the number one tip was buy a dark-colored rug. I didn’t want a dark-colored rug. And while I wanted a pattern, I didn’t want it to compete with the other patterns in the room. In addition to these, I identified a few more attributes for this purchase.

My Criteria:

• At least 9×13. The previous rug is 7×10 and it’s too small. But I was on a tight budget when I bought it and it absolutely served its purpose.
• Color variation. I love the bold pattern and soft lines on the previous rug, but it didn’t have enough color variation to hide dirt.
• Low maintenance. Our current rug required steam cleaning a few times per year to look decent, and we constantly spot cleaned. No more.
• Affordable. While I’m willing to invest, I was having a really hard time justifying spending a substantial amount on a rug that I know dogs are going to pee on, poop on and rub their faces all over.
• Able to clean. Low maintenance was important, but it also needed to be able to be cleaned. I ruled out jute and sisal for this reason.
• No shed. I originally started looking at wool rugs, but so many of the reviews talked about shedding. We have enough fur to clean up, so I really wasn’t looking to add to that.

With the criteria in mind, I set out to search. I ordered some samples from Dash & Albert and came really close to purchasing one of their indoor/outdoor rugs. In the end, the looped texture made me really nervous that the dogs would pull on it. I fell in love with this rug from Front Gate (also available elsewhere), but the price was just more than I wanted to spend.

In the end, I decided on the Ballard Designs Marina Rug. It’s indoor/outdoor, so easy to clean, but is a flatter weave than the others I looked at so no fear of pulls. The pattern is busy, but it’s smaller scale so doesn’t compete with the larger patterns in the room (specifically, the poufs). It’s not the plushest rug in the world, so I ordered a nice, thick rug pad from Amazon. It’s still flattening out a bit, but so far, so good. If the dogs do their absolute worst, I figure we can take it outside and hose it off.

This is just a sneak peek, but I’m hoping to share some new wide shots of the living room updates soon!