Home Staging Tips: Caring for Area Rugs the Right Way
For many homeowners, area rugs are an important part of their home decor scheme. Hardwood floors are nice, but most people would find them a little too cold and stark for a room, like the living room or bedroom, that is supposed to warm and friendly. Using area rugs to add comfort and style is a solution that often works very well. They can be especially effective when staging your home for sale, but only if they look good and are taken care of properly.
The simple fact is that area rugs get just as dirty as full wall to wall carpets. Yet many people do not pay them the same attention when it comes to cleaning them as they might to their carpets. This can be a big mistake though, as not only can a dirty rug also end up a damaged rug but it can actually spoil your home staging efforts rather than enhance them.
Area Rug Care Basics
Area rugs need to be vacuumed just as often as wall to wall carpeting. It also often helps if the rug can be flipped occasionally and the back of it vacuumed as well, to get all that dust that is almost certainly under there even though you cannot actually see it.
When it comes to deeper cleaning, you do need to be careful when using some of the carpet cleaning products you will find at the supermarket on your area rugs. Many of them are really designed for use on nylon carpets and a good quality rug is rarely made from nylon, the vast majority of them contain at least some wool and usually, the very best quality area rugs are 100% wool and need to be cared for in a slightly different way.
Deep Cleaning for Area Rugs
Like any other type of carpet area rugs benefit from a good deep cleaning, especially if you are getting ready to open your home to potential buyers. Once again you do have to be very careful. Wool is a highly absorbent fabric and will retain far more water if you use a carpet shampooer. This means they will take longer to dry and in some cases may not dry properly until mould has already begun to set in, which is the very last thing you want.
Temperature is another issue. If you have ever washed a favorite wool sweater only for it to come out of the washing machine fit only for a Barbie to wear, then you know what choosing the wrong temperature can do to wool!
In order to get the most out of your area rugs calling in a professional carpet cleaning company that offers area rug cleaning services is always going to be the best idea. These are the folks who know just what can and cannot be done to an area rug in order for it to be cleaned without damage and such services are far more affordable than you might imagine.