Strong Points
Handwoven from undyed natural wool, thick wool fibre recovers quickly from pressure
Cons
The thicker lugs mean that your office chair leaves a slightly raised trail around the perimeter of its movements.
At half an inch thick, this Hook & Loom rug is bouncier and denser than any other rug we tested, but in our testing, it still moved very smoothly over office chairs with only minor issues like slight squirming. Wheel marks disappeared within minutes. It had no detectable odor when unfolded and flattened out within 30 minutes. It shed the most of any mix we tested, but overall it offers the best quality at an affordable price.
Other things to know
The Serena & Lily St. Martin Perennials Rug is beautiful, but not suitable for wheel traffic. This rug is handmade from durable acrylic, but if you roll the 5' x 7' version on an office chair, it will leave visible marks that will never recover. This rug is a great indoor/outdoor rug, and the company says it will withstand UV rays, mildew, and stains, but it will not stand up to plastic wheel traffic.
While we were initially impressed with the nuLOOM Moroccan Blythe Area Rug's ability to withstand wheel traction and low price, its poor quality makes it hard to recommend. It had an unpleasant odor after unfolding, and it took two days and kettlebells to smooth out the edges after removing it from the package. During testing, the traction of the wheels made a sound similar to crumpling paper, but it didn't leave any marks. The company touts the moisture- and stain-resistant properties of the rug's synthetic material, but the fabric lacks softness.
Direct-to-consumer brand Ruggable is popular for its machine-washable rugs with a non-slip, Velcro-like rug pad. When we tested the Kamran Blue Quartz Rug, we attached it to the brand's Classic Rug Pad, smoothed out the wrinkles in the polyester fabric, and rolled a chair over it. The two-piece rug made a Velcro-like noise with every roll, like a crunchy dog chew toy.
This Dash & Albert herringbone indigo woven cotton rug is a stylish choice. It has a low pile (1/4 inch), but it doesn't have the bounce you'd expect from an office rug. Wheel marks were noticeable during testing, and we had to hand-scrub it to remove them.
After consulting with an IKEA customer specialist, we decided to test the GÖRLÖSE rug, which features a 1/4-inch pile and rubber backing. The polypropylene is surprisingly soft and will comfortably accommodate a chair with casters, but the striped design feels more suited to a dorm room than a home office. However, if your workspace décor tends toward the more rustic side, this rug is a decent choice at the entry-level price. It also stays in place without a separate rug pad.
The method chosen
Trust us
I'm a writer with over 8 years of freelancing experience in service journalism and a year of experience reviewing performance fabrics and apparel for major product recommendation sites. We decided to find out which rugs could withstand the weight and pressure of a rolling chair. To better understand the best quality in textiles and mass-produced rugs, we enlisted four experts: Ben Evans, editor and director of antique and contemporary rug magazines Hali and Cover; Khosrow Sob (aka Dr. Kay), third-generation owner, connoisseur and certified master rug cleaner of Los Angeles carpet cleaning company Rug Ideas; Angela Belt, interior stylist, designer and host of the podcast The Moodboard; and Danny So of Naturally, a design professional and authority on green living.
We also looked to The Wall Street Journal's Newsroom article on rug sizing, retailer Crate and Barrel's wall-to-wall carpet and fabric guide, and interior style blog Style Emily Henderson.
I tested it
We spent 20 hours scrolling through hundreds of rugs across a variety of online retailers, including West Elm, Design Within Reach, Amazon, Target, and Wayfair, to find out which floor covering brands are the most popular on the market, and 15 hours browsing options from direct-to-consumer and small businesses, including Minna, Ruggable, Cold Picnic, and Anji Mountain.
Based on that research and interviews with experts, we have identified the best rugs depending on a few key factors.
Pile height: The best rugs for daily driving with an office chair are low pile (how high the fibers in the rug are). According to the pros, flat weave styles are the ones that can best withstand wheel traffic. That's why the pile height of the rugs on this list is no higher than 1.5 centimeters. We also ruled out rugs with looped designs that could impede wheel movement. Material: We ruled out rugs made of jute, bamboo, rayon, and silk because these materials can fray or tear under the force of an office chair, according to Khosrow Sobhe. This also includes bamboo silk and coconut silk. These are terms that refer to viscose/rayon rugs, he says. Manufacturing and design: We looked for rugs with universal appeal that could enhance an office space, avoiding retailers that take time to manufacture and sticking to options that can be shipped quickly. This eliminated labor-intensive hand-woven rugs, which tend to be much more expensive and, as Evans says, “deserve more respect than an office chair would.”
We created a list of 40 rugs to test and narrowed it down to the top 10 based on the factors mentioned above. All of the area rugs on our list are available in multiple sizes. For logistical reasons, we tested the smallest size rug offered by each retailer, which in most cases is 2 ft. x 3 ft. We also asked retailers to include an appropriately sized rug pad with each rug.
I unpacked each rug at home and vacuumed them according to the manufacturer's instructions. I then walked around on each rug with my office chair for a few hours, noting how quickly the rug recovered from the dents, how slippery it was, how it felt underfoot, etc. I also noted any areas where hair had fallen out. I discarded any rugs that got caught in the wheels of my office chair or left wheel marks that would not recover.
Rug Buying Tips
As a general rule, go for a larger size. Ideally, all four legs of your desk should fit under the rug, and you should have enough room to move around on your chair, says interior stylist and designer Angela Belt. Our experts recommend sticking with a low pile (usually defined as 0.25 inches from the rug backing to the top of the rug's fibers). We also recommend flat-weave (or kilim) versions, which, unlike plush tufted rugs, tend to be textured and very durable because they're made on a loom. These can be slippery on hard flooring, so you'll need a rug pad. Even if the rug you bought came with a pad, rug appraiser Khosrow Sobhe recommends buying a non-stick pad separately. The pads that come with them are usually made of a too-thin, grid-like foam that's not very effective.
Wool is the preferred rug material of all the experts we spoke to because it's durable and antibacterial. Wool is also resilient and recovers from pressure faster than cotton or linen, says Ben Evans, editor of Hari, a textile and carpet magazine. Synthetic fibers like polyester and polypropylene don't bounce back and may be rougher to the touch, but they're more resistant to stains and easier to clean.
Our Experts
Angela Belt, interior stylist and designer from West Hartford, Connecticut; Ben Evans, editor in chief of Hari, a textile and carpet magazine from London; Danny Seo, editor in chief of Naturally from Bucks County, Pennsylvania; and Kosrow Sobhe (“Dr. Kay”), rug appraiser and third-generation cleaner at Rug Ideas in Los Angeles.
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