For real life, where preventing mess and spills is impossible, consider a washable rug ... I can easily throw the whole rug in the washing machine, which keeps me from freaking out over occasional ...
By their very nature, washable rugs needs to be thin and malleable enough to gather up and throw into the washing machine, so, you’ll find most have a particularly slim profile with little depth.
So long are the days of aesthetically unpleasing washable rugs ... designers are coming out with carpets that you’d truly never guess could be washed in a machine.