Ruggable Review: My Experience with a Ruggable Washable Rug

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My honest, (not sponsored) Ruggable review. Pros and cons of Ruggable washable rugs and what I think of mine (which I paid full price for)!

Some of you may or may not have heard of the home decor brand, Ruggable.

As the name suggests, they make rugs for your home. But these rugs are no ordinary rugs.

The special thing about these rugs is that they look like normal rugs, but are actually hiding a super power. This super power is particularly relevant for people and families with busy, messy lives.

What is said super power, you might ask?

They are machine washable.

My Ruggable Experience

A few months ago I purchased one of these Ruggable rugs for my own home.

I have wooden laminate floors throughout the high traffic areas in my house. But we like the comfort of a rug. We also find area rugs make our space cozier, and delineate areas. We have an open plan kitchen-living room, and the rug helps define the “living” area.

My old rug was sadly past its best before date. Following too many accidents with kids, a scratch-happy cat, and spilt drinks, we needed something that could withstand our lives.

A Ruggable seemed like a good option for us.

It’s now in my living room and so far has withstood the test of time. With a young child. In a high traffic area where we move from indoors to outdoors frequently.

If you’re considering buying a Ruggable and wondering is Ruggable worth it, I’m here to give you an honest review.

I’ve tried to cover the pros and the cons here, but honestly, I’m kind of a fan girl now. I’ve been working on my mom, my best friend, and my sister in law to buy one, too.

And because my experience has mostly been great, this review is also really positive overall.

(Ready to learn more? Visit the Ruggable website).

Worth noting, I paid full price for my Ruggable. This isn’t sponsored content.

However, the links in this post are affiliate links / referral links. That means if you do click through and purchase a Ruggable, I may earn a commission. This has no additional cost to you.

My Honest Ruggable Review

What is a Ruggable Washable Rug?

Ruggables are machine washable rugs. They’re designed to be laundered in your own home washing machine.

They are cleverly made from a two-layer system: a rug cover and an underneath pad.

When you need to wash your Ruggable, you pull the rug layer (the top part) off the under pad. Throw it into your home washing machine, just as you would a large blanket.

The fact you can clean Ruggables so easily is what makes them so great. They’re particularly suited to busy families, people with pets, and high traffic areas.

Ruggable Review Pros

Ruggable Rugs are Machine Washable

The best thing about Ruggable rugs, for me, is that they are machine washable. You probably have never even thought about this quality in a rug before, as it’s not a common feature.

But think about it. You regularly sweep and mop your hardwood and tiled floors with detergent. But there just isn’t the same (easy, everyday) solution for rugs and carpets.

You can vacuum, but that simply lifts the dirt. It doesn’t clean away the muck and germs completely. With our old area rug, we borrowed my mom’s carpet cleaner for big spills. But it still didn’t get everything up.

Since having my daughter and watching her learn to crawl, I’ve become super aware of how gross rugs can get. She would play on the same rug that people walked across with their bare (and at times outdoor shoed) feet. Or that my mom’s cat walked over and lay on. And in areas that had experienced food and drink spills.

Beyond hiring an industrial rug cleaner frequently, which is expensive and takes time, there isn’t a way to keep a standard area rug as clean.

Until Ruggable.

Ruggable rugs have a unique layer system. Whenever you need to wash it, you simply lift off the rug cover top layer.

The top layer then goes into your washing machine. You wash it using a cold water setting and a mild detergent.

I have a small, stackable washing machine that fits in my spare bathroom closet. My 5×7 size rug fits inside when I need to clean it.

Ruggable Texture

Ruggable rugs have a low pile texture, that I would compare to a low pile, Turkish or Persian carpet feel. They are soft, but the top layer needs to fit into the washing machine, so they are also thin.

For us this texture is actually a blessing, as with families, it’s easier to clean and not ‘lose’ thing in the pile. If you drop small items, like the back of an earring or a small lego piece, it’s easy to get lost in the rug pile of a higher pile area rug. This isn’t the case with a Ruggable.

We also chose the “thick” under layer for our Ruggable, and it works for us as it provides a bit of cushion when stretching on the floor, or for the many tumbles my kid inevitably takes.

I think the thick pad is great for a family room, where you might actually lounge on the floor. If you’re putting it under a dining or kitchen table, the thin under pad is probably a better choice.

So Many Design Options

When I was choosing my initial Ruggable, I was almost overwhelmed at the number of sizes and styles I could choose from. My husband loves good design, but he’s not exactly decisive about choosing things. So in the end I just ripped the bandaid off and chose one that looks fairly classic, from their curated bestsellers page.

The website splits the rugs by color and style, so you can sort through your favorites to match your current scheme with ease.

There’s pretty much everything imaginable, from modern stripes and patterns, florals, and geometric designs, to classic farmhouse styles, Persian-inspired pieces and distressed style vintage looks.

There are also design collaborations with both Disney and Star Wars, for fans of movies and Mickey Mouse. These styles are subtle enough that they can fit in your home decor, without being obvious.

Plus there are seasonal options too, with Halloween and Christmas rug covers available to spruce up your home for the holidays. And even outdoor options and doormats!

We went with a fairly classic looking Ruggable (Kamran Hazel) that I would say is “Persian inspired” and has been made to look distressed, like a well-worn favorite carpet you’ve had for years.

Ruggables are Changeable

This pro links on with the previous point about the many different color patterns and designs available.

Once you have a Ruggable under pad system, you can then purchase a new rug top layer separately, to change them whenever you feel like it.

Between uses, the rug covers are easy to store and fold up, just like a blanket would, to keep in your linen closet.

Ruggable Rugs are Easy to Fit

Once you get the hang of it, Ruggable is pretty easy to “install.”

Laying out our Ruggable rug for the first time took two of us (me and my husband) about 5 to 10 minutes.

You need to first lie the rug pad flat on the area you choose, and then carefully unroll the top layer over it.

As you can imagine, it can be a bit fiddly to keep both parts lined up. We had to lift off the top rug layer twice to readjust before we got the knack of it.

The thing that worked best for us was to be steady in lining up the first edge carefully, and then smoothing down the sides as we unrolled the rug.

The rug cover attaches to the rug pad with a loose velcro style system. It’s not really velcro, but it has that stickiness to it. Once the Ruggable has been placed and has been smoothed out, it stays in place.

Now that I’ve lifted the Ruggable top layer off and placed it back on the under pad a few times, I can do it by myself in about 3 or 4 minutes.

Practice makes perfect, right?

Ruggable Rugs Don’t Move

Anyone who has had an area rug on a solid hardwood or tiled floor knows that without some heavy furniture holding it down, with time and foot traffic, the rug will walk across the floor, and be at some strange angle by the end of a busy day.

My Ruggable Rug somehow manages to stay in place.

It has a non-slip texture to the rug pad that keeps it in place – the same that is used in yoga mats. So for us, moving and slipping hasn’t been an issue.

Easy to Vacuum

The low pile texture of these washable rugs makes vacuuming super simple. It’s easy to run the vacuum over it between washes to lift crumbs and dirt.

The non-slip base pad keeps it in place even with the suction of the vacuum cleaner, for an easy-to-clean process.

Ruggables are Stain Resistant

All Ruggable rug covers are stain-resistant, meaning worries about spills are a thing of the past. 

However, the company recommends that you wash the rug cover immediately after a spill. Oil-based stains may be harder to remove if not attended to immediately.

So Many Ruggable Size Options

Ruggable rugs come in a whole range of sizes, from larger area rugs to hallway runners and even doormats.

They have listened to customer feedback and have introduced 6′ or 8′ circular-shaped rugs and outdoor rugs to their collection too.

Smaller rugs start from 3′ x 5′ and have increments up to a whopping 9′ x 12′ (that all still fit into a washing machine!)

Runners are 2.5′ wide and have 7′ and 10′ lengths.

We currently have a 5×7, and I’d like to add a hallway runner and an outdoor Ruggable at some point.

Ruggable Review Cons

Ruggable Rugs are Expensive

I’ll admit it, when I read my first Ruggable review (someone I follow on Twitter got one) and heard about these machine washable rugs, the main thing that put me off buying one initially was the price.

They aren’t cheap, with an 8-10 rug costing almost $400. For me, it was worth it for a few reasons:

• Once you own a rug system, you can replace the top layer as often as you wish, without needing to buy the whole thing again. This is huge for me, as we move a fair amount, and don’t plan to be in our current place forever. I like that we’ll be able to mix and match top layers to fit the decor of our next place
• Our daughter had basically ruined our last area rug, with food smushed into it, a few bouts of the flu, and other gross toddler things I won’t horrify you with. Honestly, the washability of the rug would be worth it at twice the price for me.

When you think about the longevity of the mat and compare the cost of professional carpet cleaning to being able to machine wash it yourself, it adds up in the long run.

Ruggable Systems are Thin

Before pressing the buy button, I read a Ruggable review or two, and one common fault others commented on was comfort. The rug top layers are thin (to fit into the washing machine). People who’ve bought the “thin” underpad have commented the rugs are thin underfoot and don’t really offer a ton of squishiness if you are looking for a more luxurious underfoot feet.

Since then, it seems as though the designers at Ruggable have listened to the customers’ messages and now have 2 options for the rug pads.

The original pad, is suitable for indoors and outdoors.

However, they also now have the cushioned under pad, which is what we bought. It’s softer and provides greater padding for areas where you’ll stand for longer or for if you have little feet to walk over it.

My guideline for choosing which Ruggable underpad to use is as follows:

• Thick pad for areas you’re going to walk over lots, or areas where you might lounge on the Ruggable itself. Hallway runner, using at a bathroom or kitchen counter, living room/family room.
• Thin pad if it’s mostly an aesthetic thing to block out and delineate space in a room. For example, if you’re going to put it under a dining table, you don’t really need the thick pad.

Ruggable Edging

Another Ruggable review or two that I read mentioned the edges of the rug began to curl up over time, This seemed to be mainly in the high traffic edges that get walked on the most, and other customers mentioned the issue is resolved when the rug cover is washed and refitted again. But this may be a problem for people who don’t need to wash their rug that often.

This criticism hasn’t actually been true for my Ruggable, so I can’t really comment. One theory I have is it’s related to us having the thicker underpad. The corners of the top rug are slightly weighted, and I find it does a good job at keeping them down on the floor properly.

Ruggables have a Long Drying Time

Being a washable rug is the unique feature of Ruggables that we love. But, whatever needs to be washed also needs to dry too.

Once out of the washing machine a standard Ruggable rug takes one to two days to air dry. This obviously depends on the weather and conditions of where you live.

You can put the chenille and outdoor rugs into the dryer on a very low heat setting to dry, but this still takes a while to remove all of the water and can be costly to run for such a long time.

Delivery Time

When you order your Ruggable, the company processes and creates the rug right then and there This means that they do have a longer delivery time than buying a rug ‘off the rack’.

Each rug is said to be delivered in 2 to 4 weeks, so bear this in mind if you are planning to redecorate before an event or occasion in your home.

Ours took about 3 weeks to arrive.

Return Policy

Although the initial shipping costs to receive your rug are usually free (to standard ground shipping and handling within Canada and the U.S., excluding Hawaii, Alaska, and the U.S. Territories), if you have an issue with your rug and wish to return it for any reason for a full refund, you need to pay a $25 processing fee to cover the shipping costs to send it back.

To receive a full refund, the return policy on the website says that the original item MUST be in new condition and returned without any signs of wear, pet fur, dirt, or stains.

Returned items must be shipped back in the original or similar packaging that will prevent them from being damaged. 

If you are wishing simply to exchange your rug, the processing fee doesn’t apply, and you will receive a credit to put towards the cost of a different item.

Final Thoughts on Ruggable Rugs

So, would I recommend getting a Ruggable rug? Absolutely.

Despite the initial outlay, these machine washable rugs have been a blessing for our family and have made it so easy to keep our home cleaner.

I’ve also been perusing the website for a different color rug cover to update the look of our living room for different seasons.

And I’ve been dreaming of an outdoor rug and a hallway runner.

Final Thoughts: Is Ruggable Good?

I love my Ruggable, and think it’s worth it for families with busy, messy lives.

People with kids or grandkids, people with pets, high traffic areas, and people who just happen to spill a lot (*raises hand) will get the most out of a Ruggable.

However, they’re honestly just a really cool concept. And if you like to keep a fairly clean house, it feels pretty darn good to know you can throw your area rug in the washing machine.

If you’re ready to learn more about Ruggable, check out their website!