New basement coffee table and rug shopping

We picked up a new coffee table today for the basement from Craigslist (IKEA IMFORS).  When I sent the CL listing to my husband, he asked, "Do we need a coffee table in the basement?"...I thought we did..or, that is, we do...and for $40, he was willing to try it out!

Now all we need is a new rug!

We removed the 8x10 jute rug that was under the couch, and put it in the nursery (I had enough of the squeaky floors).  We are looking for a replacement.  I am leaning towards cowhide, that is, if I can score one for around $200*.  Do you think cowhide and kids mix? We normally avoid drinking juice or eating anything sticky downstairs...

Here are other rugs I am drawn to:

Lanart Grey Hide Stripes Area rug at Home Depot. In person, it's NICE! (way nice).  It costs over $1000 - so, yah... not happening. 

I like the FAMILY rug from CB2.  However, $899 is too much to spend on something that will likely get dirty.  Accidents will happen.

The Olin rug at Crate and Barrel is nice (I haven't seen it in person), and the right price...what do you think of stripes? 

The Paxton Mink Rug, from Crate and Barrel, is another option.  Pretty neutral...

We are also exploring carpet remnants.  We checked out Alexanian. They don't keep scraps, so you have to custom order a rug. A carpet remnant with binding starts just under $300.  Home depot has carpet remnants for $79 - however, none of them were going to work in our space.  We we try a few more Home Depots and see what turns up (we went to the one in Leaside).

What rug do you think would work best the space? Do you have any rug recommendations? We want to avoid anything shaggy, or anything that might shed.  If you have a cowhide & kids - please let me know how that is working out!