We don't have a dog, but we do have grandchildren. The floors throughout our house are stained concrete, and we have three areas where we have used FLOR tiles as rugs. One is a long and wide runner down the main hallway, another an area rug in the master bedroom, and the third is an area rug where we stand at the sinks in the master bathroom.

They have a great catalog, but their website also shows everything. The carpet squares are removable, washable, replaceable, and very high quality. Lots of colors and textures. I probably sound like a commercial and I don't mean to, but we get lots of compliments on these area rugs. Most people don't realize they are squares until we tell them.

Here is a link that might be useful: FLOR carpet tiles

okhouse, thanks so much for your info. When I did a 'carpet tile' search everything was about basement flooring and I need living room quality. Did not really think there was such a thing. Do you have pads under yours? For wall to wall I'd need padding. Going over to look at the FLOR site...many thanks:>)

Leahcate, We do not have padding under our FLOR tiles. Whenever we have had carpeting, in previous homes, of course there has been padding. However, these tiles don't seem to need any padding. There is a backing on them.

I hope you have fun looking at their website. Every time their newest catalog arrives I think "Now where could I put more of these in our house?"

Good luck! Let us know what you come up with.

okhouse, since you actually have them, I'm wondering--do the edges look at all sliced and raw or are they covered? Can you see the side-view of the carpet tiles from a distance? That's my only concern...we're getting hardwoods in a formerly carpeted room and the FLOR tiles would be perfect if they don't look raw on the sides.

Another FLOR user here. They look fine on the edges.
Here is a link to another discussion of FLOR. The pic is of my LR.

http://www.thathomesite.com/forums/load/decor/msg1213113218816.html?12

oops here is the link

YOu can order three samples or FLOR (about 5 by 8 inches in size) for $5.

I would recommend quality polypropylene area rugs and buying a carpet steamer to have on hand for when there is an accident.

I have a dog and cats and a polypropylene area rug--it stands up to the animal abuse and the steam cleaning.

My friend bought a custom-sized faux(poly) sisal for her FR because she has dogs and the vomit/diarrhea issues.

Jim

Flyleft, The edges on the FLOR tiles look great. Different styles/textures have different edges but all look fine, unnoticeable, very finished.

We have three different styles: master bedroom, sunflower colored shag; down the hall, a rich soft plush in four different shades of brown in a random pattern of squares; and in the master bath, a muted small stripe which is similar to an indoor/outdoor feel but very comfortable to walk on in barefeet.

As I mentioned somewhere, no one ever thinks these are modular rugs until they get to the master bath, and those do look like individual pieces, but still very attractive.

The platform bed in the master bedroom is built-in, so the rug could not go under it. Therefore, the FLOR tiles were excellent because we fit them around the bed and it just looks as if the bed is "floating" on a large area rug.

However, I do not think these tiles replicate the look of a thick, rich living room carpet in a traditional room.

Thanks, delta & ok. I wasn't thinking they'd look like a handknotted wool rug! I was thinking that they might look more like a neoprene doormat looks on the side, iykwim. Glad to know they don't. We have three cats, including one senior lady who barfs if she eats more than 1 tbsp at a time...which means we want a floor covering that is tougher and easier to care for than the carpet that's there now.

I hope Johnmari sees this. I'm hoping the first post will go away. In my duplicate( yikes, so sorry!) post re. this subject she suggests Milliken. I know high end hotels and offices use it and it's been around a very long time. Thanks johnmari, I'll check that out...pretty sure the no padding FLOR look wouldn't work.

Leah -- FLOR certainly isn't for everyone, but they do have quite a variety of colors, styles, and pile depths. I was wondering how the no pad element would look and function in my house, too, but I must say that we are delighted. Plus, there is no padding to get soiled. We keep a box of spare FLOR tiles under a chair in the LR. If we ever find a stain that is too hard to clean (hasn't happened yet), we can just pop up a tile and replace it.
Don't know if you have gone on FLOR's or Martha Stewart's websites, but it might be worth a look.

I am so glad you asked this. I am trying to figure out what to put down when we finally clean out the finished basement and make it a play room.

Hi,
Sorry I don't have anything to add about the floor tiles. But, be careful about using the pumpkin for your dogs upset tummy. Our vet recommended it for our older cat last year for the OPPOSITE problem. Don't want to get too graffic, but it really helped her "slowed down" system ;)

delta, seems there are no local FLOR or Milliken locations, and I'd need more than a few ordered samples to know how it would look in my LR. I'll look at Home Depot, as seems I remember seeing Milliken there, maybe. The pics at both the FLOR and Milliken sites didn't look like they'd work. Really great idea...too bad :>/
Homebody re. cat probs. Hmmm, interesting, as it has worked wonders for my dog's diarrhea in the past. Not an issue now as she's all better...good thing, as seems there is no canned pumpkin to be had anywhere.

leahcate -- what kind of look are you envisioning?

Hi delta,
Have been looking (in the world of real carpeting) for a cut/loop that resembles sisal somewhat. Cut-loop vs. loop only as it's better able to take effects of dog nails, which is probably not a big concern, but if a loop does get pulled it can simply be cut to blend with others.
Oh, meant to thank you, chijim, for your polyprop suggestion. Somehow I cannot imagine an outdoor material looking okay in wall to wall, but I'll check it out.

Hmm, if you are open to simple, sisal-like stuff, I don't see why you couldn't find some brand of carpet squares that would work. Maybe the Milliken brand, if FLOR isn't to your liking.

Here's what I wrote in the duplicate thread:

We had Milliken's carpet tiles in the MBR at our previous house (DH was adamant about carpeting the bedroom, but we had a couple of pets with somewhat unreliable digestive systems so there was NO way I was agreeing to w2w, we had just torn out almost 900sf of disgusting w2w) and I would not hesitate to put them in a living room. The lines between the tiles disappeared after a few weeks and it looked just like a nice frieze carpet. Were I to put carpet this house it would be Milliken again. They were idiotically easy to install so we didn't have to hire anyone, and price-wise they were on par with a midline w2w carpet and pad from somewhere like HD or Lowes (no labor) - we bought the top of the line version. I intentionally padded (sorry) the square-footage estimate so we had most of a case left over for replacing irreparably damaged tiles, although I would probably have just traded one from an unobtrusive location.

One of the things I liked best about them was the built-in moisture barrier - there was a nice thick, dense padding on the bottom, then a moisture barrier, then the carpet. No vile stuff soaking into the padding and the subfloor (although we sealed the subfloor with a thick odor-blocking sealant first anyway, since there was plenty of yuck soaked into the plywood). It made really horrible things very easy to clean up.

When I ordered Flor's samples they were little 4" squares. I was unimpressed - very thin and hard, and most of the samples I got were pretty scratchy. Lowes has some exclusive Flor patterns, IIRC. I do warn you, you will be on their mailing list FOREVER - their catalogs and postcards even followed us when we moved.

Additional notations - where it butted against the wood floor, we simply used a nice wood threshold stained to match the wood flooring to cover the raw edge of the carpet (it tucked under the threshold strip), just as you would do with ordinary wall-to-wall carpet. I also found the Milliken website's dealer locator to be completely useless - I ended up just going through the phone book calling carpet stores, but I ended up purchasing it online (I think it was fastfloors.com). At the time there was a distinct lack of interest in the product by dealers, which I thought was pretty stupid because they had a perfect target market in people with pets and messy kids! Home Depot and Lowes both carry a pretty small selection in stock but more colors/styles are available by special order.

Actually, the cool thing about pumpkin is that it's good for regularizing unhappy digestive systems in both directions - speeding up the slow and slowing down the fast, if ya get my drift. It's the same rationale as taking a routine fiber supplement, but it's a lot easier to get the average dog or cat to eat nice sweet pumpkin than to get them to take Metamucil. LOL Weird that you can't find canned pumpkin though. There's loads of it to be had here in NH. I have several cans in my pantry that I just purchased in the last couple of weeks - we really like pumpkin custard (sort of like pumpkin pie without the crust, it can end up being a pretty nutritious dessert!) and DH has been bugging me for pumpkin cranberry nut bread. Pumpkin ain't just for the winter holidays, we eat it year 'round!

Oh, johnmari, how'd I miss this? Thanks so much for reply. Yep, I agree re. dealers and Milliken. Probably not enough profit for them? It seems it would be great for pets, but I am such a see and touch it shopper. Still I will check at the box stores. My closest HD had none displayed.
Choosign carpeting is as hard as mattress shopping in how the names are changed by all the companies...grrrr. I don't know about others, but I find it very hard to discern with my eyes and hands the differences between $30 and $50 carpets by samples on boards with backing.
Hmm, maybe pumpkin is back? None of my regular( Kroger's, Von's) had it a week or so ago, and google 'tells me' there was a big shortage last fall. Well, I put her on oatmeal or rice and boiled chicken and she is back to normal.
Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for your reply. :>)