woodn't you know

so. all of team stone's worldly possessions are crammed in the attic and the pod monstrosity in the front yard. the nasty, stained, cream wall-to-wall carpet and accompanying creepy, pink-speckled padding are in the dumpster. nails and tacks have been removed. the void from the old floor furnace in the hallway has been artfully erased with identical floorboards salvaged from the neighbor's kitchen remodel (eco-friendly high-five!). the whole place has had a good sanding. our timeline reckons staining and sealing will happen this evening, with drying time all day saturday. we should be back in the house on sunday. fingersfreakingcrossed.

and i've had a revelation:

we will need rugs. several rugs. four rugs and a runner, to be exact. soon.

you may recall our last rug purchase, as chronicled in this post. while i still like the rug, i've fallen out of love with it in the living room and am hoping that it will fit in the den/office/guest room post-floor-refinish. i think the living room should instead have a natural fiber rug of the plain variety, like this from crate & barrel:

or one of these from pottery barn:



but answer me this: will our dogs completely destroy these? i mean our dogs will likely destroy any rugs we purchase, true - that's why we're not shelling out the big bucks for orientals - but the woven nature of these rugs makes me worry about the impact of sterling's large talons more than tufted wool does. anybody out there have experience with combining sisal/seagrass/jute and enormous, spoiled-rotten dogs? how will this shniznaws fare versus the mighty dyson? i have to vacuum on average three times per week, and i don't want my rugs to fall apart in a month. and also, do patterns like those in my last rug post have staying power, or should i stick with more traditional fare?

making large purchases gives me hives. i'm desperately worried that we'll spend thousands of dollars on rugs, then a) end up hating them and/or b) end up immediately destroying them. any advice would be much appreciated!