Sisal carpet in living room - thoughts!

[Bamboopole]

Need a sense check - old draughty floorboards, need to warm up the room. New hardwood floor would be very expensive due to original intricate skirting and panelling (and mounted electrics). I think sisal/natural carpet could be a good and much cheaper alternative. DP thinks I'm insane and that it's not possible due to wood burning stove.

Struggling to find images as obviously more common for stairs but I'm sure I've seen some elegant examples. Is it a bad idea?

I have it as a runner on my stairs and landing. It looks great and isn’t difficult to keep clean (no shoes allowed upstairs!) but it feels god awful on bare feet. I wouldn’t put it in a living room.

We had it- I loved the way it looked. But it was a nightmare to clean. If you have children or pets I really, really wouldn't.

Like walking on wicker baskets. Just no.

My DD once puked on sisal carpet in our house (already there) the stain was there for the next 8 years until I replaced it. Impossible to clean. Don’t even understand why people have it

The previous owners of our house had this through 2 bedrooms and the landing and it is awful stuff. They'd had dogs that they let upstairs so it was dirty but impossible to clean. We were stuck with it for a couple of years while we renovated and saved up the money to replace. My daughter vomited on part of it and we had to cut out a piece as we couldn't clean it well enough 🤢.

When the carpet fitter came he said he has ripped lots of natural carpeting out as people realised how uncomfortable to walk on it was. He refuses to fit it for customers as it's awful to work with too. The difference underfoot was amazing once the proper carpet went down.

I like it generally- we had it in the dining room in our old house.
then we had children!
not sure what we were thinking tbh. Impossible to clean whatever others say.

I’d have a sisal rug but would never have a carpet again

You know you can’t clean it with water/ shampoo at all? Simply can’t wash it. So if anyone spills so much as a glass of water on it you’re left with a huge stain. Plus cats consider it to be a natural litter tray/ scratching post, dogs get claws in it and it’s like walking in a pan scrubber.

I’d go for a wool/ man made fibre mix in a natural colour for a very similar effect (in an old house 100% wool= carpet moth heaven).

@Bamboopole it might be worth having a look at cork. It can look lovely, it is hardy and warmer under foot.

Had it in a rented house when I was younger, really uncomfortable underfoot.

Can’t you just get a normal carpet?

I wanted it till got a large rug of it...looked lovely from a distance, so uncomfortable and really really grubby looking so quickly... And this was pre kids... I am not a fan of carpet particularly so have gone down the big rug route .... And accepted the drafty bits as good ventilation..
The natural carpets mentioned earlier look good so am off to investigate those!