You are not crazy. Our LR rug is wool and silk, a bit of an unusual combination. It survived my brother and me growing up, my three kids and countless dogs who have thrown up and pooped on it, and it is just fine (with the exception of a little fringe that was first eaten OFF the rug and then thrown back up ON it about 15 years ago. It has worn like iron. It's so thick you could probably hide a million dollars in it in dimes. The silk gives it a beautiful lustre. Only downside is that no one-- literally, no one-- wants to clean it. I've only found one company that would clean it, and I had to sign a waiver basically saying it could fall apart into individual strings the moment water touched it. Of course it was fine!

Normally you cannot see the end detail because the sofa is pulled up onto it. Every inch of this rug has been abused and it is all still vibrantly colored.

I think you are the only one who knows that, but if I wanted it, I would do it, and I have had one in my bedroom, one that was inherited from my mother. I think she had marked it as being brought to her from the ME by my dad in 1952. It was still beautiful. It still looks good now, but it is in storage as I do not have colors that work with it now, but that was 61 years ago. It has aged admittedly, but it is not worn in such a way that one would guess it is 61 years old.

My sister bought a ten thousand dollar one 15 years ago and it's in her condo living room which everyone enters when they arrive at her place. It looks as great today as when she bought it and it's a light color in blues and creams. She has never beat it, has it vacuumed and gets it cleaned only every four years as it looks fine. Gorgeous.
I have a small one in my lake house, it wears very well but we take it up in the summer due to the heavier traffic. I got mine on Ebay for only 2100.00

Both of our long runners are made of wool and silk, and they've held up tremendously well. They get a lot of foot traffic and there have been spills on them...easy peasy to clean!

same experience here, the weave is so dense on those rugs that it's like wiping stains off a hard surface.

It is so hard to find a rug one loves, ad 6k is not bad. I'd get it. The onky precaution I'd take is no red wine I the living room. If you entertain in there, serve champagne. Keep the red in the dining room.

I'll chime in likewise. I have a small silk carpet in the hallway between the main living area and the bedrooms area - meaning it is always being walked on. I've only had it for 15 years, but it is fairly light colored and it looks just great. I'll also chime in about cat vomit.

Thanks everyone for your input and encouragement! Some of you are talking about wool/silk rugs, how about everyone else? Wool/silk is IMHO the best of both worlds because you get the durability and stain resistance of wool. The rug I'm looking at, however, is 100% silk, which is supposed to be much more delicate and maintenance than blends.

Kswl - your rug is gorgeous and the colors are still so vibrant! What a lovely piece to inherit from your parents and pass down to your own kids!

I used to think silk was more delicate, but on my trip to Turkey I learned that silk rugs are among the hardest-wearing fibers. They were also the priciest (and not at all in my budget-they started at $15k). I cannot even begin to describe in words the sheen of them and their beauty. I say go for it!

If you love it and it is in your budget then you should buy it. Will you regret not buying it? I should have bought the perfect rug (also silk) for our guest house a few months ago, but I hesitated. Luckily, I can order another from the designer/weaver but it will take 6 months to make. Run and get it today!

We have 4 silk area rugs and one long runner in the main entrance hall. At first I was paranoid that the kids and dogs would destroy them but they've held up really well. I never beat them but I do vacuum them - very carefully.

We bought them about 10 years ago in NYC and the merchant told us that we shouldn't use them in a high traffic area. However we put one large area rug in the foyer and the runner is just off that. I really love them.

Our Black Lab puppy did chew the fringe off one of them. I though DH was going to have her stuffed but he got over it.

My sister's rug is 100% pure silk.

I'm going to be the opposing view -- I wouldn't do it. I've had a silk rug and once it got dirty and I had it cleaned (professionally), it seemed to look dirty and get dirty more quickly -- perhaps I should have just beat it, but the idea of never cleaning a rug just isn't something I can wrap my head around. In addition it was costly to clean -- the cost to clean it the last time I got a quote was $5/square foot.

Have you considered having carpeting bound in the exact size you want? Or having something made custom? There are certain manufacturers that while they offer standard sizes of rugs, will also have the option of a custom size.

I own two silk (all silk) rugs I bought when travelling in Turkey. I bought them whilst with a colleague who grew up there, and who took me "where his Mom shopped".

Mom was doing okay, it seems. : ) This was a very high end shop, and I had thought id get some great bargain. I fell in love with a small silk prayer rug that was way over what I'd planned to spend. I agonized and decided to splurge. Then, I also bought a larger, 8X10 rug, too... The credit card slip could not fit all of the digits, because the exchange rate was 240,000 turkish Lira to the dollar, so the transaction was in the billions of Lira. Crazy.

At any rate, I was told it was best to hang them up and NOT use them on the floor.

So, of course, I used one in my entry hall for several years, and the little one I now have in front of my pedestal tub.

I have had no issue getting them cleaned, but have done so only twice for the large one, and never for the small one (more on that in a bit). A tipsy guest spilled red wine on the large rug once, and it came out. One of my kids tipped over their bottle another time, and, that stain did not come out 100%. You can see it in certain light.

Recently there was a mysterious leak in my BA and my small silk rug was drenched through. I was on my way out the door for a school trip w one of the kids, so I asked DH to try to address it. This rug is one of my fave posessions so I was so distraught.

I was so delighted when I came home and it was in place, perfect, looking especially clean and new. I was so delighted with DH! I asked him how he did it. "I hung it up, it dried".

The same leak occurred a few weeks later. The rug once again was fine once it dried.

Short answer: get it, enjoy it, be a little careful.

PS Make sure everyone puts the "telephone" back the right way on tub hardware. The cleaning person would use the hand sprayer to rinse the tub, and replace it horizontally, causing it to drip onto the floor.

I have a silk rug I bought in Singapore about 35 years ago. I believe it's really from India. This rug has been in my living room, under the dining table, and now in the bedroom of another house. It still looks lovely after the abuse of 3 boys, a dog, and me even having it steamcleaned by just a regular guy. Only problem is that the fringe is chewed up some from vacuuming. Get it!