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i have the same rug from west elm but in green. it has never smelled "jutey" :)

The smell is barely noticeable and fades quickly. However, based on personal experience, they get dirty after awhile and if you spill anything, it will stain them. Its the problem with using a rug made out of grass - it pretty much acts like a perma-sponge.

I have a Jute rug (not a west elm one) in my bedroom and it doesn't have a scent... BUT I don't like the way it feels when I walk on it... I can't even sit directly on the rug comfortably...

Just a thought...

I've had a number of lower end jute rugs over the years and never a smell problem but rather a shedding or disintegration problem - which was a problem on hardwood floors as the residue was abrasive. I don't know if a higher end rug with an attached backing might solve this problem, perhaps that is the key.

I had the same concern about natural fiber rugs. Has anyone had success with a particular type of natural fiber rug?

Does a rug pad help with the friction?

I have 2 8x10 tan-ish colored ones from West Elm and love them. They are dirt cheap, look good, and haven't scratched my very nice hardwood floors at all, although I do use a rugpad to keep it from moving. It has frayed a bit in the last 4 years, but it's hardly noticeable and still looks great... and for the price? You can't beat it. Also, mine feels very nice underfoot, very comfortable, although I wouldn't want to lay naked on it. The tan-ish colored one I have is also a favorite of area open house stagers (in San Francisco) and works very well with a variety of styles.

Oh, and no "jute" smell at all (and I have an acute sense of smell... can usually smell smokers lingering out on the street in front of my apartment from the back of my 70' long flat.... I'm not kidding)

If you buy a jute rug, make sure to purchase a good rug pad. I used one of those cheapy, rubbery non-slip pads for my DWR jute rug. The jute rug scratched up the hardwood floors in my living room.

I didn't notice any smell from the rug. I agree with one of the posters above who made the comment that her jute rug wasn't comfortable. Mine wasn't.

Another option is IKEA. I'm not sure if what I got there is jute or sisal, but it looks about the same to me. It is certainly not easy to sit on, but I don't mind it on my feet and it doesn't smell a bit. I have it in my living room and office.

My first reaction was also the question of comfort -- try walking on it in your stocking feet and see how it feels.

boomer, where are you?

i like the look of jute, and the idea of jute, but the feel of jute gives me the willies. i'd opt for wool or cotton with that same sort of weave.
i like wool. wool makes me happy.

I had a jute rug- it was great, no smell, not to uncomfortable to walk on barefoor, great price. BUT, one day my 3 yr old fed the dog and cat an entire jar of cat treats and they both up chucked on it. You cannot clean them. I would replace it if I lived alone or with other adults only, but I can't recommend it if you live with animals (2 or 4 legged)

I had a cheapy one from Ikea. I loved it and so did my cat, who discovered it was great for scratching her claws. I didn't mind, since it was so inexpensive (and disposable) but I'd avoid getting a really nice one if you have a cat.

I'm interested in West Elm's new jute/wool blend rugs - maybe a little softer? And still a bargain.

And to digress a bit, although I've always been a wool fan, this year I got FLOR tiles in my bedroom - AWESOME. I got brown Modern Mix, and had so much fun arranging the tiles. I got samples ahead of time and was amazed at how soft it was. It's no more expensive than any other cool rugs, and I highly recommend it (although get samples first, because some are scritchy-scratchy underfoot).

Thank you everyone, this is extremely helpful and great food for thought. West elm just came out with a jute/wool blend, so maybe that's worth investigating. I will check out the FLOR tiles too.

While we're talking about the downsides of jute rugs... If you do have a pet that sheds, jute is impossible to clean. Fido or Fluffy's fur gets way down in the weave, forever.

Jute is difficult to clean even without pets; dust and all sorts of other ick gets stuck in the weave too.

I have two of these West Elm rugs as well as two four-legged shedding creatures. I didn't notice a smell at all, and I happen to like the scratchy feel. My cats enjoy scratching them, which is too bad, but they seem to take the abuse pretty well. I also find that my Dyson vacuum cleaner is pretty good a sucking up all the fur that accumulates. I definitely recommend.

Carpet can be made into an area rug. The cost is comparable to purchasing Flor tiles and carpet allows you a limitless selection of color and style. A wool/sisal blend carpet could replicate the natural appearance of jute and avoid the "scratchy" feeling some have mentioned. Don't forget to add in the cost of binding the edges when calculating the cost. Binding usually runs about $2 a linear foot (so a 9 X 12 piece of carpet would cost about $84 to bind). Remnants can reduce your costs further. I just got a quote for a 13 X 18 area rug made from a carpet remnant and the total cost was under $500 - half the price of using Flor tiles in the same space.

I saw a jute/wool blend rug at Pottery Barn; it looked decently made and was very comfortable to the hand. I'd use a good rug pad under it though.

Jute rugs Look great but are a nightmare to keep clean (inhe) - not very comfortable for the feet either. The latter is the greatest drawback for me......

Very difficult to clean, but can be done with time and effort. Don't even bother if you have pets or children.

aladywhoknows makes a good point - jute rugs are hard, sometimes impossible, to clean. (Especially red wine and coffee stains.)

Two yrs ago, I replaced my beautiful jute rug with a water hyacinth rug that I got from Crate and Barrel. Last week, I spilled an entire glass of red wine on it. I took it outside, hosed it down, let it dry in the sun, and it's as good as new. Also, the rug is quite comfortable to walk on.

In terms of cost, durability and quality, I'd say jute is a great transitional (or permanent) rug depending on your tastes. Years ago, I purchased Pottery Barn's 8X10 jute rug, and the only reason I don't have it now is because I didn't have the foresight to hold onto when my last (smaller) apartment couldn't accommodate it. In the interim period, I purchased another one that's alternated between kitchen, living room and office, and all on hardwood floors. It's held up remarkably well over the past five years--even with a crazed and demented kitty.

Although the mildly scratchy texture isn't for everyone, I personally love the feel of it against my soles.

In regards to cleaning, my cat's hair hasn't been any more of a challenge than anything else that will inevitably fall on the floor. My honey is a "grazer" who probably eats a bag of carrots, spinach and walnuts every other day. Of course the crumbs can get caught in the rug, but nothing a vacuum can't handle. Depending on the temperature in your house, natural fibers can and will shed. I've learned that an occasional spritzing with water will definitely reduce the shedding.

If you're looking for something with a more refined texture, the next step up is sisal. Feels wonderful underfoot, has a beautiful rhythmic pattern, but it'll cost 'ya....

Good luck ;)

Crate and Barrel has an inexpensive cotton and wool rug http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=1262&f=24236 - which should be a lot more comfortable and easy to clean. How long a wool and cotton rug will last is anyone's guess. I'd check out the percent wool vs. cotton). They also sell an all wool version, but that costs more.

If you want a rug pad which will not move, EVER, but has no real sponginess, check out Neiman Marcus. Use a secondary email account to buy it - they will send you two advertising emails a day for the rest of your life and you can only "unsubscribe" by mailing them a letter!

I've had a jute rug in my living room for years, from Ikea. I don't remember a smell, and I don't have a problem with staining or getting the cat hair out. I also don't mind the scratchiness on my feet (I live in bare feet), though I no longer enjoy sitting on the floor in my underwear! One thing I've found that the edges seem to curl if you spill water or something on it. They take a long time to go flat again, and I've never been able to get all the curling totally out of the edges.

For super-inexpensive, mono-color rugs, I used to have a lot of luck with Home Depot of all places. I've gotten huge (8x10?) carpet rugs that are much softer than jute for under $100. Of course, they look like uninstalled carpet, which might not be your aesthetic. But unlike some of my Ikea rugs, I never had a problem with shedding (and certainly never had a problem with smell!)

I actually like the feel of my jute rugs (from Pottery Barn) on bare feet.

On bare knees, not so much.

I'd expect a wool/cotton rug to be pretty disposable compared to 100% wool. I'm not sure how it would compare to jute or sisal.

Cotton fibers are typically 1/4" to 1 1/4" long. Rug wools (the good durable ones) are 6 or more inches long. When fibers are that different in length, it's very difficult to keep the shorter fiber distributed well in the yarn. Also, the shorter fibers tend to creep out with wear and form pills or just plain shed. The yarn manufacturer can do some things to minimize these effects, but all of them are a fair bit of work and thus the yarn would cost more. Gotta cover the cost of special machinery to do the job.

IIRC there are also some longevity issues with cotton in rugs, with wool or without. Boomer probably knows more than I do tho.

I bought one for the area infront of my kitchen sink and counter areas...BIG mistake. There's too much regular traffic in my apartment for the rug to look nice for too long. I actually threw it out late last week. I couldn't take the way it looked anymore and it was impossible to clean.

If you have a place to put it where it won't get soiled easily, you should be fine....but if you're going to use your rug like a rug should be then you might want to get something a little more practicval.

This is for Patrick (the other one), from Rupert Brooke's "The Great Lover", because he likes the feel of the jute under his bare feet (which brought Brooke's blankets to mind):

These I have loved:
White plates and cups, clean-gleaming,
Ringed with blue lines; and feathery, faery dust;
Wet roofs, beneath the lamp-light; the strong crust
Of friendly bread; and many-tasting food;
Rainbows; and the blue bitter smoke of wood;
And radiant raindrops couching in cool flowers;
And flowers themselves, that sway through sunny hours,
Dreaming of moths that drink them under the moon;
Then, the cool kindliness of sheets, that soon
Smooth away trouble; and the rough male kiss
Of blankets; grainy wood; live hair that is
Shining and free; blue-massing clouds; the keen
Unpassioned beauty of a great machine;
The benison of hot water; furs to touch;
The good smell of old clothes; and other such -
The comfortable smell of friendly fingers,
Hair's fragrance, and the musty reek that lingers
About dead leaves and last year's ferns. . . .

Deborah--

Since no response whatsoever can compare to those magnificent words, I say only "you rocked my world."