Sisal Carpets and Rugs
 

A warm weather favorite since Brits and Americans discovered Japanese tatamis more than a century ago, the lighter look of sisal rugs and carpets is good compliment for old-house floors.

Sisals have become so accepted in recent years that the term has come to imply a broad range of rugs and carpets made from different natural fibers and synthetic look-alikes. Sisals are usually flat-woven in weaves from fine and tight to loose and bulky. While most come in natural colors like beige, straw, green, and brown, some sisals can be dyed for solid-color effects or cross-weave patterns.

 The range of natural fibers used in "sisals" include sisal, wool, seagrass, mountain grass, or jute, hemp, coir (a fiber made from the inner husks of coconuts), bamboo, and paper. You'll also find sisals made of synthetics like nylon or polypropylene.

Sisals with some sort of a latex backing wear and last longer. Most desirable are wool sisals: they have all of the long-wearing, easy-care properties of wool, can be dyed in any pattern or color, and the best manufacturers are able to capture the cool and casual looks of a natural-fiber summer weave.

Wool is also much softer on bare feet--not to mention the tender hands and knees of youngsters. If you've ever had to get down on your hands and knees to look for something you dropped on the floor, sisal can hurt you. Coir is really rough and will actually scrape you.

  While dust and dirt literally fall through the cracks of a sisal rug, spills and stains are all but impossible to remove. Wool is the most versatile of the natural fibers, because it can take on any color or weave, or combinations of color.

Sisal, which can also take color, is more desirable than seagrass for that reason. Seagrass has its own appeal. Softer and more flexible than sisal, the fibers of seagrass are naturally Fiji-green and yellow to a soft brown.

  Multi-colored sisals and sisals with two or more colors woven together to form a pattern are a little more expensive than single-hued sisals, but not considerably so. Heavier, thicker-weave sisals also tend to cost more than thinner ones. 

 Sisals are usually sold by the square yard, with or without bindings, or as area rugs with natural or fabric bindings. Although sisals can give you years of worry-free wear, it's important to keep them out of damp areas. You can treat new rugs with a product like Scotchguard for added stain resistance.