What a wonder site and thank you to each one of you for your contribution. We are avid DIY'ers and done floors from hardwood to ceramic and porcelain, but never slate or any other stone or marble. The picture I posted (hopefully the picture posts properly) is of a portion of a home we did in a porcelain tile that mimicked a natural stone wonderfully and we considered using this same porcelain in our present home, but I've now seen a travertine tile that amplifies exactly what we loved about this particular porcelain so much and I can't seem to shake it. Even the cons that I've read I feel are worth accepting because this travertine is so beautiful. Can anyone tell me........if you seal the floor as instructed and you were to spill something (say some pickled beet juice), but wipe it up reasonably quickly, will it STILL stain??? Also, we have shied away from using hardwood under the dining table area because we are afraid of it being scratched from the chairs regardless of the fact that we have pads under the legs - does anyone out there have experience with travertine under their dining table and did / do the chairs scratch the flooring? I am truly attached to this travertine and really hope that we can make this work, but if it really is NOT practical, then the logical side of me will dictate that we do not use it (sniff, sniff) and perhaps we'll use the same porcelain we used before. One more question though.......I've heard that travertine can be sealed and then a finish can be applied that will give it a nice gloss (similar to a glossy porcelain tile) now is this true and does anyone have experience with this? The "flat" finish on the porcelain tile was probably the only thing that we didn't care for about it as we do like a gloss although I would probably forego that too for these travertine tiles. BTW.......we think the most beautiful thing about the travertine is the highly irregular patterns and colouring as the background is basically a mix of bright white and creamy white, the striations and streaks and lines and "blobs" of rusty orange, gray and even a bit of maroon are unbelievably BEAUTIFUL !!!!

Okay, so after Diffing the heck out of it, I scraped pretty much all of the paste off. The trick was to spray the Diff, let it sit, then spray some more, let that sit . . . and repeat that process, letting the Dif sit for at least 45 minutes, going in small increments. It took a full week of evenings after work. I bought a shellac-based sealant/primer and painted that over everything. I then filled in obvious gaping wounds with drywall filler, let that dry, painted on a heavy duty primer and then painted. Of course, it's only been three weeks, but the paint job looks marvelous and I think it's going to be okay. Thanks for the advice. Here is a link that might be useful: Photos, including before and after (messy, sorry)

as a person who has had almost any type rug you can think of, ill break it down for you.. sisals and jutes might be nice at first but over time, and within a couple years or so, the fibers tend to break down because of how rough or "scratchy" they are. i had some good quality ones before in my old beach house and they ended up frayed. this was not even used that much, no pets or kids at the time they can run expensive sometimes , sometimes you luck out and find an ok one but typically they are not cozy or soft on the feet. ive spilled my share of everything on them and after a while you see the stains if you think about it, they are somewhat plain and fit with every decor but their downsides in comfort, cleaning, maintenance and quality is par none to an authenthic good quality persian the oriental/persian rugs ive had all lasted for decades, they are inconspicous to dirt, stains, (because there are so many colors and patterns that you cant ever tell if someone spilled wine or spaghetti,) and despite being made of wool and tightly woven , they are actually soft , cozy or at worst, bearable to your feet as for decor, i used to stay away from persians because i thought theyre more classic , traditional or not modern enough for me, but it really is true when they say it fits with almost any decor. they are meant to be an added value to the room or subtle "star"to the room i think their price is worth it in the end because they havent ever let me down in terms of quality, color vibrancy, feel/touch and design. oh and dont let me.get into shags. i really like them but theyre like jute/sisal in that they look nice at first for a few years but then they collect so much hidden dust and grime and look faded after heavy traffic use you dont want to see my shag rugs now lol or my old sisal for that matter theres a reason persian rugs are timeless and ageless

I think you have to be prepared that they may not last as long due to stains. I have an inexpensive PB sisal in my living room. With cats who sometimes throw up, it's a pain, though any rug is that way. The care instructions say not to wash the rug, but I would haul it outside and scrub the soiled area with a little bit of soapy water, and rinse. That didn't seem to be a problem with this particular rug. Someone else I know, however, had one under their kitchen table (believe it was the same one from PB though), and all the food spills from the kids destroyed the rug. The Woolite rug cleaner and whatever other products she tried also left stains. She hated it. I also knew someone who was working with a designer. She was told the rug was a bad choice with kids. That rug might have been a wool/sisal. It was a very expensive, fine rug. The light color might have been an issue with the designer too. She decided to get it anyway, along with white upholstered pieces, and just replace if they were trashed. The edge on mine rolled up at a corner or two. Not sure what you can do about something like that. As far as texture, I was surprised it was so rough when I first got it, though now I kind of like that stimulating feel on bare feet! I'm usually in socks though, so it doesn't matter. It's tough on kids, though, when they get down on their hands and knees to play. Your rug store probably doesn't want to deal with unhappy customers or those who want returns later, as it's just not a rug for everyone and the spills/stains can be a problem. I guess it's possible that their performance varies between manufacturers, as they may put stain resist treatments on them, or the quality/type of weave, etc., as someone above mentioned. I absolutely love the look of the natural woven rugs and will be venturing in again, though won't spend lots of money on it or expect it to last forever.