Or: how to choose a rug when you live with pint-sized wrecking balls.
The dog, Abel. 
And, the cats, Ruthie
and Naomi.
It’s a lot of feet for our 480 sq ft, but they get along well. With the high ceilings, the cats have perches above the action, and the dog’s a lazy mutt who spends most of his time sleeping on the couch. Naomi-cat and Abel-the-dog are best friends who settle in to share my lap space (70lb lapdog), while Ruth-cat has disdain for the lot of us (but wants to be pet, right this minute, if you please.)
There is, however, one ideological belief that divides us. Some of us like our nice home, while some of us think we’re building it up for the fun of tearing it apart. I’m not blaming anyone, but… it’s the cats. The cats are here to wreck shit. The dog? No, he’s the good one.
I’ve had the pair of them for seven years, and by and large, I really have lucked out. I can trim their nails, and they share one litterbox with no issues. But even so, the world is their scratching post, and a glass left on a table is a glass meant to be knocked off a table.
Hence, the agony of the rug. I’ve found it by far to be the hardest decorating decision to make in the space. It’s big, expensive, changes the whole look of the room, and there’s no guarantee how it will wear over time. The first one I bought was all wrong: a flat-woven, printed rug that the cats destroyed faster than the kale that I bought at the farmers market (and swore to myself I’d eat) wilted-then-rotted in the fridge.
Brand new!
And a mere weeks later, a pill-y, scratched up mess:
So rug: round two!
This time, I went with a solid grey, slightly shaggy rug. I bought it during the 80% off Labor Day sale at Rugs USA. It’s not an incredibly expensive rug to begin with, as I couldn’t possibly justify the investment when the last rug lasted a paltry two months, but so far, I’m pleased with the quality, and if it lasts two years, I will be satisfied. The cats don’t seem to be sharpening their claws yet, but it they do, I think the shaggy-ness will make it much less apparent. I like it much better in the space than I liked the print, which is another lesson learned (simple is okay!).
So far, Abel seems to approve.
The Projectory 
Aww, boo. I was hoping to find evidence that a flatwoven rug would be OK by my Trumpet, since he scratches the crap out of my cut pile tufted expenditure. But it looks like a bad idea, huh? I hadn’t even thought about the pilling part. Thanks for talking me out of an ill-advised purchase!
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