Eating Area (How to Protect Carpet)

either an area rug or the plastic mats with the teeth in the bottom ... no matter how you go it can get pricey ... but what is the more cost effective way? Constant shampooing of the rug, leading to eventual replacement or a hundred or so dollar investment now. You can also simply remove the carpet all together and put down the flooring that you slide into each other.

How about an area rug?

my dinning room has pink carpet, yup pink, i swear one day i will replace it but you know how it goes. get an inexpensive, dark colored or patterned rug, it will help define the space and look nice and help hide any spills.

and just in case, maybe get a carpet cleaner.......

I would say area rug too. Just do not be surprised if the area around the area rug becomes dulled anyway. There is off white in my daughter's room, well even when no food and only water is allowed in the carpet is horrible after 3 years of kids use, makes me want to dye the carpet grey or black.

Could also pull up the carpet and put in wood floors (real or fake).

Our eating area has light brown carpet. I put down a shaggy dark red rug and you cant see anything! We have lived in our house for more than 4 years and the carpet under the table looks great. I found my rug on clearance at lowes. Good luck. Sometimes I wonder why people put light colored carpet in certain spaces, clearly they have never dined with small children ( or me)

We used a shower curtain. It didn't look at that great, but it helped. Plus, we just rolled it up when our son was finished eating.

I bought an area rug for our last place that was like that. I made sure to use carpet scotch guard so I could clean it up too. My neighbors went with an idea similar to what you are thinking. But they simply bought clear vinyl sold by the yard at Walmart (in the fabric area). She said she likes it better because she can sweep it up and still easily remove it when company is coming over.

Why not put an inexpensive plastic tarp or shower curtian down then an area rug over it? It should give you both looks and protection from stains.

I see you have decided to get an area rug to put over the carpeting. That may not be as good of an idea as you think. My daughter did this in her apartment for the same reasons (the carpeting in the dining room was an off white and she had 2 small kids). After about 6 months she decided to replace the area rug with a different one and found many of the spills and even food crumbs had gone thru the area rug onto the carpeting and stained it even though she was very good about cleaning up any spills as soon as they happened. Also everyday dirt and dust had also gone thru the area rug onto the carpet even though she vacuumed everyday. Her vacuum cleaner was not strong enough to get down deep enough to pull it all out. She was going to have to pay to replace the dining room carpeting anyway so she spoke to the landlord. He told her if she wanted, she could remove the carpeting and put down an inexpensive area rug (or any temporary flooring she wanted) while she was living there, as long as she understood she would have to pay to have new carpeting put back in when she moved. Since it was going to cost her money anyway she decided to remove the carpeting and put in a hardwood floor. It ended up looking so good the landlord like it enough that he never did replace the carpeting or charge her for it.

I went to lowes and got a huge rug fro 40 dollars. It was ugly so I painted it with acrylic paint and love it now!
tutorial:
http://knockoffdecor.com/painted-green-striped-rug/

Mom and dad dont spill, its those little crumb snatchers that cause the problems!

I put my kids in the kitchen at a kids table. Bought for $20 Buzz Lightyear. They love it.

Just get a plastic tablecloth to put underneath the kids' chairs, and it's fine to tell them that they have assigned seats and cannot move around.

Is this your house or rented?
If it is your home, can you just rip the carpet out and put in hard flooring?

If not, then get a big area rug.
But that would be a large area to cover up.
And area rugs can be costly too.

Is the entire house, carpet?
Can the kids eat on a kiddie table elsewhere? Where there is hard flooring?

Other than covering the whole room with plastic over the carpet, I don't know how, it is going to be kept immaculate and stain free.

How old are your kids?
If older, then the propensity for spills/food accidents, are minimized.

Are the chairs, covered with fabric? Or just wood chairs?
If fabric covered, you'd have to protect the chair upholstery, too.
That will get stained, too.

Or yes, have your kids eat in the kitchen.