It is very soft fabric wise, and I enjoy that a lot! However, the rug has an overlay of gray lines atop its colorful design. It's grown on me, but I was originally displeased with this. I don't think that the picture accurately show this. It gives it a lived-in look, but it initially bothered me because it does kind of look dirty if you didn't know that was part of the design. I understand that this is to hide dirt, but I keep things clean and I wanted something bright and clean looking. It's pretty expensive. It is not very padded/thick at all, so if that's what you wanted you would have to spend even more to achieve that effect.