I have braided rugs in my bedroom on hardwood floors, and yes, unless they're anchored by something, they do slip a bit.

As far as the washability question, I think you can spot clean them, right? I have a wool rug in my kitchen that can't be washed, but spot cleaning takes care of any spills quite well (provided I get to them fairly quickly!).

I had the same thing happen to me! I have brick floors in my kitchen and had three braided rugs on mine, too. I'd gotten them at Target and loved the colors. Not only did they shrink in the washer, but the dye ran and they took on a definite deep pink color! And, I'd washed them in cold water and dried them on extra low in my dryer! They did slip a bit, but more than that, DH was always complaining that that they were tripping hazards. At the present time, my kitchen is rugless, because I think kitchen rugs need to be washed and I haven't found some that are sturdy, washable, non-tripping hazards . . . and good looking. Personally, I can't imagine feeling comfortable with kitchen rugs I couldn't wash. If there's one place in my house that I want to keep very clean, it's my kitchen!
Lynn

My wool rug can't be washed ... but I assure you it's clean. Rugs in the kitchen can be vacuumed regularly and spills can be spot cleaned, keeping them just as nice and fresh as any others in the house. :-)

if you can sew some braided rugs can be carefully washed in a large machine..however..you may have to touch up a few areas with some sewing if they begin to separate..i have had braided rugs for like ever..and i've had to resew a few spots where they separated in the wash..or with wear

I had a few cheapy braided rugs in my kitchen that a)did need anchoring with the no-skid rubber backing and b)were sewn together with some sort of nylon thread that came undone very easily in the wash. I used them until I got tired of sewing them together and then got something different.