I have a wool area rug over my hardwood. I am forever having to vacuum up the wool fibers from my hardwood. It seems to never stop shedding

we have an incredibly dense, synthetic rug which has worn extremely well-royal millenium...we put it in our dining room-is 9x13 and although it doesn't get alot of foot traffic, it does have table and chairs on it, is vacummed regularly and has had cat vomit cleaned up from it numerous times!!!(cleans up beautifully!) also have a nice synthetic by front door which is heavy and wears and cleans up great and does get alot of traffic.
i love beautiful wool rugs, but for a high quality, dense rug, it would have cost much, much more than this rug did. we have a similar density 4x6 wool rug which wears really, really well, but would have cost an absolute fortune in a large size.
we have a less dense 8x10 karastan which is ~15 yrs old now and is definitely showing it's age...it doesn't shed but has gotten a fair amount of traffic and shows it...
i would say it's much better to get a denser rug than to get a thin, large cheapo rug...that is constantly buckling or flipping up on ends, etc. high quality synthetic is a good choice.

We have young kids, babies and vomiting cats in our house. I stick with synthetic until those issues go away. Synthetic cleans up like a dream. I just got mine cleaned and the guy said I could hose it down in my driveway if I wanted. You could get a thicker cushionier pad. With my new rug I got a pad from HD but the rug seems a bit "thin". I will shop around for a thicker pad.

Sounds like synthetic is the way to go for multiple reasons. Even among synthetics though, there are several types. Does anyone know what specific synthetic is good, not as good... etc.?

I have a feeling the propylopene (or whatever...) is the kind you could hose down outside. I think that's the one that is marketed as indoor/outdoor.

A very long time ago, Olefin was considered a good durable synthetic for upholstery. Not sure if that's still true currently or if applies to rugs as well.

In my mind, machine made rugs differ mostly in the density. Olefin, polypropylene, nylon - the synthetics have the same characteristics. Easy to clean and uniform in color and pattern from rug to rug.
My rug reps call the very inexpensive synthetics, "see through rugs". When you shop, feel the heft of rug and density of the pile.
You should be able to find a decent 5x8 starting around $150-$200. The lower priced machine mades can have good color and design, but they will be thinner.

deedee

that price range for 5x8 seems good. I saw 8x10's at the box store for not much higher than that and I was not impressed. Looks like I'll be visiting a local carpet store for better quality choices.

Too bad its not the sort of thing you can buy online. So much more selection and perhaps better pricing online. But for a decent size rug (shipping $), not worth experimenting online I would think. Even color and pattern really need to be seen in person. I wonder why area rugs are so prevalent online? there's thousands.

Speaking of carpet quality, I just had my wall-to-wall removed to install hardwood. It was a very good quality dense carpet and pad. The amount of dirt that got through to the subfloor was incredible!!! The installer said that is always the case. Hard to imagine what a poor quality rug would let through.

I bought my last rug from home decorators - free shipping. You could buy the smallest rug and check out the quality and color, return and get the bigger rug. Just an idea.

I have a viscose runner that I love because it's so easy to wash--I stick it in the washer machine. I was about to throw it out thinking it was about done...I stuck it through a couple washes and it came out perfect...

I have an affordable animal print rug I bought from the Wal Mart website, I used in my LR and now in daughters room, which I've been really happy with.

Both the viscose and wal mart rug are thin, which I actually liked. Was a little worried about going from a thin rug to a thicker wool rug for LR, but it wasn't a big deal to transition to the thicker rug.

My current LR rug I ordered off Overstock--I got a good deal on an 8 x 10 wool rug..sorta risky ordering without actually seeing it in person, but I did luck out and am very happy with it.

In regards to size, I think alot has to do with the room, your style and of course, budget.

I personally don't mind the look of a smaller area rug that the furniture ISN'T sitting on, but alot of people say the furniture should sit ON the rug.

I would either tape of the area with different sizes to see what you like or pick up a rug from a store where you can return it to try for size.