After years of these rugs showing up on social media feeds, designer blogs, and targeted ads, I finally broke down and bought a washable area rug from Ruggable.

Then I bought five more.

I do have one major regret…but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Let me give you an honest review of my Ruggable rugs. I have four larger ones, placed under a bed in each bedroom. I added a runner with the premium rug pad for the front entry. Lastly, I grabbed a runner for the kitchen.

Overall, I am mostly pleased. I needed something that could be cleaned easily (we are a pet-friendly B&B after all) and muffle the sounds of people walking. Kyle wanted something that allowed a person’s feet to hit the floor without actually touching the hardwood floor.

Buying six rugs within a few weeks seemed hmm, how do I put this? Expensive. Even with the coupons I found, it felt like a blind investment. Will I like them? Will they fit in my washing machine? Will I like the styles as much as the traditional rugs I found? Will they feel or look cheap? Why can’t I find them in person to know I am making the right decision?!

The delivery driver dropped off a couple of boxes (must have seemed standard at the time). Then, a few days later, a couple more. A couple of weeks after the first trip, she delivered the last of the boxes.

She looked at me and said, “You must really like these, huh?”

I looked back at her and said, “I don’t know yet. Sure hope so.”

Now that the mats are unrolled and the rugs are on display, I am pleased to say that I would probably make the same decision again.

Sure, I might swap out a design or two (some look more high-end in person than others) if I could go back in time, but being able to wash the rugs from the front entry and kitchen has been amazing. We clean them a few times a year.

After washing, they air dry and attach like velcro to the mat to be put back in action. They also spot-clean really well. Fluids don’t absorb quickly and they don’t seem to hold smells, hair, and allergens like some rugs do. The hardest part is aligning the rug top to the mat and then sliding them under the beds. This is a 2-3 person job, depending on the size and placement.

Speaking of the mat, that is my biggest regret. For the front entry, I upgraded the standard mat to a premium one. It is super cushy and thick. Our dog loves to lay on it. It feels nice and plush and cozy. In comparison, the standard mat feels lousy and cheap. For all the money I spent on the rugs, when they lay on the standard mat, they don’t look expensive.

So, I either regret buying the premium mat in the first place or I regret not buying a premium mat for each room? I’m not sure, but if they offered some type of “Standard mat buy-back” program, I would probably run the numbers and consider it.

Have you had a washable area rug before? Tell me in the comments, what do you think about it? 

UPDATES:

December 2023 Update: Now that we’ve had the rugs in place for a bit, I have a few more thoughts on the matter. The rugs fit fine in my household washer but finding a spot to air dry them has been a little challenging. We ended up laying one over the drying rack and either placing it in the sun or in the bathtub to drip dry. The process of cleaning a rug takes at least a day since the rug can’t go in the dryer. We’ve shifted gears from washing after every mess to spot treating, which, let’s face it, is what you could do with a regular rug.

We also updated a rug in one of the bedrooms to a larger size. With this purchase, we upgraded the mat to be more plush and it is so much more comfortable. If you plan to sit on the floor to play with your kids or dogs, I definitely recommend the thicker mat!

December 2024 Update: First, the positives… The rugs from Ruggable have held up very well. After all the pets, dirt, and life that happened to them, they’re in great shape two years later. In fact, we have a nonwashable rug in our master bedroom that doesn’t look as vibrant, clean, and new as any of the Ruggable ones, even though it is the newest rug!

We still love the washable runners for high-traffic areas (hallways, kitchen) and frequently wash them. The stitching is in good shape and it’s easy enough to roll them back into place. I highly recommend a washable runner to everyone. It’s a big game-changer for us!

Turns out, we dread washing and reinstalling anything bigger than a 5×7. It is a major pain because removing and reinstalling the rug takes more time and effort than we expected. Realigning the rug to the pads is a frustrating time spent on your hands and knees and it is hard to find a location in the house that is bare/big enough to assemble the rug and pad together (you need a clear flat surface at least as big as the rug to assemble the pad to the rug). After we assemble the rug, we roll it up and take it to the bedroom to unroll and place it under the bed. This gets tricky because one person has to lift the bed while the other slides the rug under. It works best with three people. Thankfully, we haven’t had to do this more than twice a year.

As far as the rugs holding up to pet accidents, I’m still TBD on this one. We’ve been able to spot clean easily enough. Unfortunately, we had a guest stay, and the room reeked of dog urine after they left. We thought it was a couple of spots we could address individually, but after a week (and things had only gotten smellier), we pulled the rug and pads out for deep cleaning. The rug had to be washed twice to remove the smell. The pads are made of rubber or plastic and can’t go into a machine, so we hosed them off with soapy water and let them dry in the sun. This removed the smell from both, thankfully!

December 2025 Update: It’s been three years since we installed most of our Ruggable rugs. We wash the area rugs 1-3 times a year. We wash the runners 4-8 times a year. Most everything is holding up well. I still regret not purchasing the thicker rug mats for the bedrooms. I still hate replacing anything bigger than a 5×7. It still requires 2 people and 2 days to clean the rugs under the beds. The entry runner is just now starting to show wear and tear on the edge seams, but it’s nothing too bad. If you want to come see for yourself, you can stay with us!