An oriental (synthetic, for affordability) with a busy pattern (hides stains) in faded colors (neutral). Real jute isnt comfy, but beyond that most rugs are. Borderless can be difficult --- is a subtle border ok.

Define your price?

There are wool "sisal" rugs that look like they are made of sisal, but are really wool. They are softer than jute or sisal, and wool is to some extent naturally stain resistant. Not stain proof, alas, but the wool fibers do resist most spills and stains a bit, and can be cleaned.

I had wool sisal in my old house, with three young kids. It does clean quite well, but wool sisal is quite pricey and I don't think you can say it "hides stains" --- whereas patterns do.

mtnrdredux, I figured pattern would be my only option. Not ideal but don't want to babysit the rug. Subtle border is OK.

camlan, I'll have to keep an eye out for a wool sisal . . .not sure if it would still be easy enough to clean.

Not so worried about the kids messing it up but visitors!

Price-- no more than $300. Again, I'd buy used. I am thinking I will have to focus on a Karastan. I have seen them with the muted tones and no obvious borders. Sometimes old Persians come up on CL, too, but I'll have to hurry and get it when I see it.

I've seen a number of rugs like that at Home Goods and bought a wool one on clearance at Macy's yesterday (they have a big sale going on). There is a really cool reversible wool rug with one side all black and the other a beige and black pattern with no border at Home Goods that is a great rug -- just not anything I needed.

I've also seen some folks use the indoor outdoor rugs (some are rougher than others). You can hose those off! You can also go to a carpet store and see about buying a piece of remnant or stock carpet and having them bind it for you (unless you can DIY). Most will be stain resistant nylon or poly, comfortable and should be pretty cheap. Don't give up.

Not sure if this would be something you might consider but, I have carpet remnant rugs in my living and dining rooms. They are really stain resistant, have no boarder, and were really inexpensive, plus I got to make them custom to the size I wanted.

I had the carpet store cut them for free to size, and then I was able to bind them with a simple edge DIY easily (no sew) for about 25.00 a rug and they have held up fine with my two long nailed crazy dogs racing around, vacuuming, cleaning and daily living.

One is 12ft x 10ft and the other is 7 1/2ft x 10ft, they are both neutral in color, one is a berber carpet and the other is a very short shag type. The total cost for both carpet remnants and the binding supplies cost me about 235.00.

Below is my dining room berber rug, I wanted simple looking rugs because my floors are very rustic looking and have a lot of variation and character to them. We don't have base boards up yet, the floors were finished 6 months ago, but we still have building projects going on in the living room/dining room area.

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I had a 10 X 12 carpet remnant bound. It was all one color but had a different texture vine pattern.
It cost less than $200. I had to toss it, b/c my dog ruined it. We had it for 7 years and it held up really well until my senior dog mistook it for grass.

Here is a link that might be useful: This was the vine carpet

lascatx, I had not thought of HGs for rugs-- checked Macy's and the indoor/outdoor rugs look promising!

roobear and polly-- a rug for under $200 would be even BETTER. I would be fine with a remnant! roobear, your rugs look great, and polly, how sad about the rug because it is lovely (I'd love that pattern for my LR) but for 7 yrs, it had a good run.

roobear, how did you do the binding yourself?

Where would you suggest looking for remnants? Would I get a better deal (generally) at a big box store like HD, or should I start off looking at more of a mom/pop place?

I knew this forum could help . . .everything from baby names to rugs!

Remnants are usually broadloom, and that means no patterns to hide stains, usually. The carpet place does the binding --- i don think that can be DIY.

I would look on Craigslist, Home Goods, maybe even Home Depot. I recall seeing some area rugs there that weren't bad

mtndre: roobear said: "I was able to bind them with a simple edge DIY easily (no sew) for about 25.00 a rug" so there must be some way to get it done yourself? The rug polly posted had some sort of texture. . .that might help with the stains.

I'll have to start looking in person!

(1) Neutral in color. It can have color (even colors like red), but it would be muted.
(2) Hide stains. I would not mind a jute or seagrass type rug (in terms of color), but I've heard these are high-maintenance for keeping them looking clean, and sometimes water spots are permanent?
(3) No border. I wouldn't mind binding around a rug, but if there is a pattern, then I'd want the pattern on the whole rug since my rug won't be centered on furniture exactly.
(4) Comfortable. I have young children!
(5) Affordable. I don't mind buying used, either.

Similar to what roobear posted - the first thing that came to mind when I read your requirements was a carpet remnant. They aren't gorgeous, but that wasn't one of your requirements. :) They aren't stain proof, but if you get to it in a reasonable amount of time, just about anything can be shampooed out (including tobasco sauce, cough syrup, and motor oil... but we won't talk about how I know that.)

We just put one in our (hardwood) home office. It works well in there. I bought a light neutral that almost too well matches the trim work. I didn't want a pattern - it was going to be broken up by two desks on it anyway. And I have a 3 y/o so most things in my house have to have some degree of stain resistance. And for a 9x12 it was like $85, so who cares... I'll replace it if I wake up some day and don't like it.

I bought my remnants from a large carpet store. Big box stores is another option, but I found the quality and price for my carpets to be better at the carpet store. You can compare prices, comfort/softness, and stain resistance with the different brands till you find one you like. I know my Mohawk berber style carpet has more cushion underfoot than my Mohawk short shag, but both are pretty soft and comfortable. My shag was a green product though with the bottom supposedly made out of recycled plastic bottles.

Larger carpet stores usually can offer cutting for free or a small fee, having them cut it, should give you a straight edge to work with if you bind DIY. Carpet stores and some rug stores usually offer binding services for a price per sqft, I was quoted anywhere between 2.50-3.00/sqft for binding, but decided to try it DIY.

From Hobby Lobby I bought Fabri-fix (a very strong washable fabric glue), fabric cording, and 1.5"-2" wide white fabric banding that I found next to the cording, I think it's fabric pleat tape, you find them in the fabric/drape making section. I also bought some carpet binding glue from a big box store, but it may not be needed.

I fabric glued the cording onto the top of the white banding (on the very edge of one side) and let it cure overnight. Then I took the carpet remnant and cut any loose strings etc. off so I had clean edges to work with.

I turned the carpet upside down and put a line of carpet binding glue on the bottom all the way around the bottom edge and let it dry overnight. I think you could skip this part possibly, I'm not sure if it's really needed.

I turned the carpet right side up, and took the cording with the white banding attached and slowly went along fabric gluing the banding part to the underside of the carpet and the cording wrapped up onto the sides of the carpet where I fabric glued it to the side, making sure it was very tight and secure as I went. Basicly the cording is on the side of the carpet and the banding stays on the bottom hidden.

At the corners, I cut the white banding so I could fold it and wrap the the cording tightly around the carpet side edge. The cording+banding is one continuous long piece that wraps around the whole carpet. When I got all the way around and back to the place where I started, I cut the cording+banding and fabric glued the starting and ending cording edges together.

Carpet underneath side

The cording was like .18sqft, the white banding was .20sqft, fabric glue was 8.00 and carpet binding glue was 8.00. With everything I needed for both rugs it came to around 35.00 for the supplies.

Once the cording/banding dried it was really strong and secure, I pulled on it pretty hard to make sure it was stuck on really well. It's been about 6 months on the floor now and I've cleaned and vacuumed the carpets several times, had my dogs run all over them with their long nails. The rugs and binding have held up fine, I haven't had an issue with it falling apart, or coming undone. That said, having it professionally binded would certainly be more durable.

My DIY method was kind of similar to the Instabond product you can buy to do DIY carpet binding.

Flor carpet tiles should meet your list of requirements and come in many subtle shades and patterns. They are also easy maintenance as the individual tiles can just be replaced if necessary.

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

avesmor, yup, you're right-- gorgeous is not a requirement! I want a rug you just don't really notice or care about-- one that isn't screaming for attention. I have 6 other people in the house doing that, so I don't need a rug that is as needy, haha!

roobear, thank you so much! That was very, very helpful! I guess I will have to determine how long I'd keep the rug to see if it would be worth it to have it done professionally for the durability issue. I had no idea there were products out there meant for DIY binding!

liney-- those are beautiful, and it looks like there is a showroom in my area! I like that those are recycled, but they are on the higher end of my budget. The sale prices are not bad! Maybe something I should consider for our playroom as well since, as you said, a tile can be replaced!

What size do you need? I second an oriental rug from CL or ebay. They are virtually indestructible and hide stains, or something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MUST-LIQUIDATE-SALE-8x10-FINEST-ZIEGLER-CHOBI-RUG-/160720525415?pt=Rugs&hash=item256bb09867

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-ANTIQUE-1920-WILTON-AXMINSTER-RUG-9X11-6-/330660378911?pt=Rugs&hash=item4cfce4f91f

You might check out JC Penney. They seem to have a pretty varied selection at affordable prices, and often have sales.

modern contemporary rug is best of all ....i have one and is easily cleanable....