A very nice, good looking and hygienic rug is the requirement of any living room. It just does not make the design of the entire house alluring but at the same time, if you have kids at home, they are the least prone to any sort of infections while playing or spending time in the room. Whether or not you wish to use carpets or rugs solely depends on you and how you plan to design your abode.
Having a large carpet in the living room, such as sofa, recliner and coffee table, can make the living room look beautiful but maintaining a may seem hard with the furniture placed around different parts of the room.
Area rugs in the living rooms are the ones that are most walked upon. Apart from this, there are always instances when there may be spilled beverages or pet poop on the rug that make it go all soaked up. The stains are a result of such accidents which become quite difficult to remove them if the right techniques are not being applied.
Although there may be a compulsion to call up the professional carpet cleaners to save the priced carpet/rug placed in your sweet living room. There are some DIY tricks that you can apply all by yourself that will not just save you a lot of bucks but also maintain the integrity of the material. This is because you will be using machines to the least, to complete the cleaning task as you will get to know about in detail below.
A simple step for Cleaning a living room rug
First, check the care label. This is generally found on the corners, under the rug/carpet. The care label will present you with a better perception of the materials. Generally, it will indicate the cotton type, Cleaning methods that it authorize, etc.
Vacuuming is the term that generally pops up in our minds when there is a mishap with the carpet or rug. A room that has a carpet laid over, vacuuming is the easiest method to get it all dusted up.
Apart from the vacuum cleaners, these are some other items you might need for the entire cleaning process
- Rubber gloves
- Rug Shampoo
- Liquid dish soap
- Bucket
- Sponge
- Soft Bristled scrub brush
- Garden hose
- Squeegee
Steps to follow to get a clean and hygienic rug/carpet
- Thoroughly vacuum the carpet on both sides. As we do not step on the backside of the carpet, often most of us tend to neglect it. However, that is where most of the dirt accumulates. Hence, do not forget to vacuum the other side of the carpet Use the cleaner. You can either follow the mixing instructions on a store-bought rug cleaner/shampoo. As an alternative, you can add some mild liquid dish soap to a bucket of warm water. Avoid using hot water as that may shrink the fiber or fade the color.
- Use a sponge to swab the shampoo or detergent into the rug. Place the solution on the rug and work for several minutes before rinsing.
- Rinse the rug with a garden hose(if available) or water from the bucket. Ensure the water is clear of soap suds before you finish.
- The squeegee is generally used in cleaning windows will do the work of removing the excess water from the rug. The squeegee’s rubber-edged blade is placed firmly on to the rug and is pulled to remove as much liquid as possible.
- To loosen the compacted fibers of the rug you can either vacuum or brush the rug with a soft-bristled brush.
How to deep clean carpets/rugs of a different material?
Once or twice a year, the rug/carpet requires very acute cleaning. The method to use for this process, however, depends on the material, these items are made of. Here we will be covering two of the prime materials of which more than half of the rugs/carpets are made up of — wool and cotton
- Woolen rugs are amongst the top-selling rugs in the market. This is because they are enduring and can hold their color longer than many other materials.
Steps to clean the large woolen rugs.
- Take the rug outside and shake it. Alternatively, you can also beat the dust using the rug beater.
- Mix a cup of gentle laundry detergent with a bucket of cold water
- Dampen a light cloth in soapy water and lightly dab it on the surface of the rug.
- Rinse out the bucket and fill it with plain cold water
- Moisten the fresh cloth and soak it before rubbing it over the rug.
- Let the rug dry, either on a clothesline(if it was small) or some other way, before placing it in the living room. You can also place fans nearby so that it dries quickly, although this is optional.
Cotton rugs are slightly popular as the woolen ones, as it is more lightweight compared to the previous material discussed above and also like wool, the fibers of cotton are also capable of attracting dust. You can remove the dust by shaking them and washing them easily in the washing machine if they are small. Wash them delicately with laundry detergent and cold water and make sure not to overload the machine while washing them. As usual, put them on the clothesline to dry before using them in the room.
As for the large cotton rugs you can use the similar methods explained above for the woolen rugs.
Conclusion
As you may not know where your visitors might have been to before coming to your place, however, you can control whether or not you will allow them to enter your home with their footwear knowing that it may spoil your carpet. It would be sensible to let them know to leave their shoes in the front area before entering the house and offer them to wear flip flops while they are inside.
This is just an example. Similarly, you can apply several other practical or non-practical techniques for regular maintenance and keeping the rugs clean. This can be a hotspot of socializing with family and friends and thus creating different memories in your sweet abode.