I love the river stones, but I wish it had a rubber backing instead of a carpet one to help keep water off the floor when you take off wet shoes. I'll be having to deal with that a lot in the near future!

I was thinking about that pebble mat too. It could be fit into a simple plastic tray to catch and evaporate any water from shoes and boots. Now, how to find a plastic tray that would be suitable?

"Now, how to find a plastic tray that would be suitable?"

Get a heavy rubber floormat from a junked/wrecked late-model VW?

Some magazine (maybe Martha?) had a suggestion to use a baking sheet filled with stones for a door mat for winter boots.

i use a black plastic lid from an ikea storage container. the lids are sold separately. i also bought the black stones at ikea . i think i borrowed this idea from an A.T. post. works well.

A boot tray is the way to go. Here's a shot of the Martha idea, but I don't think it's a baking tray. It's a regular boot tray. Also some links to really affordable plastic boot trays.
http://www.inspiredroomdesign.com/blog.php?post=73

I almost bought that river stones carpet, but I decided it was a)too heavy and b)I wouldn't like the texture beneath bare feet. Thinking about it now, likely it would have ended in Roomba tragedy anyway.

ooh, thanks for the link farmhousemoderne!

i just got a heavy duty rubber one from target. it was $10 or so, the only thing is the rubber smell was very strong. i left it outside for a bit to air out, and it is out in the hallway now. every once in awhile i get a whiff of it.

but it was pretty inexpensive, and very heavy duty

My fav.

http://store.theonion.com/sometimes-i-feel-like-im-the-only-one-trying-to-gentrify-this-neighborhood-doormat-p-1091.html