Mastering the Art of Home Transformation: The Ultimate Guide to Reviving and Maintaining Your Rugs and Carpets

The Ultimate Guide to Transforming Your Home

Keeping a home fresh is intimidating, especially cleaning rugs and carpets; it’s nothing less than bringing home back to life. Rugs and carpets inject patterns and create zones into space; along with that come stains and debris. It takes proper maintenance and cleaning to make the most life out of your investment spent on rugs and carpets.

Discover some tips to make your rug and carpet look clean and fabulous for a long time. 

Make cleaning preparation 

It’s impossible to clean the whole house in one go, and the good thing is deep cleaning the house into segments is an easier and more effective way to eliminate mess, clutter and dirt. Arrange all the cleaning essentials in one place so you don’t mess up all the stuff around the whole house, leaving stains and debris here and there. 

What essential items do you need to clean the rug?

1. A Bucket 
2. Rug cleanser shampoo
3. Water 
4. Gloves
5. Gentle bristles brush 
6. Wet dry vacuum

Go through the manufacturer’s guidelines.

Rugs can be synthetic or made up of natural fibre. The cleaning should depend on the fibre’s nature, so it’s advisable to read the manufacturer’s guidelines once; otherwise, rug cleaning would not differ from carpet cleaning.

Remove the dust 

Start by removing the dust; you can use a feather duster to wipe off the dust. Don’t miss the hard-to-reach areas; cobwebs will likely reside there. You can use extended vacuum attachments or elongated dusters to reach these areas.

Or 

You can use a vacuum but ensure you’re using a suction vacuum rather than a rotating brush, as suction prevents dust from sinking back into the rug. Vacuum out the dirt, debris and dirt from both sides of the rug with a beater bar.  

You will need brush attachments to remove the pet hairs lingering over the rug.

Follow the manufacturer’s guidelines and take precautions.

Don’t use harsh, hard shampoos that are too directly on your rug; instead, choose a rug cleaner (mild cleaner). Follow the directions in the manufacturer‘s guidelines, where you will find whether to mix warm or cold water with the cleanser. Be careful with all the mentioned precautions since any carelessness with chemicals can damage the rug’s fabric and, with water, can shrink or expand the rug. 

Perform a colour test. 

Before scrubbing the rug, you must ensure that the solution you have prepared to clean it can bleach away the rug’s colour or leave it with a stain. Apply the solution to a smaller peripheral rug area and then proceed.

Use a soft bristle to wash away the dirt.

Let the rug get soaked in the soapy solution for a few minutes; later, using a sponge or soft bristle, rub the rug to form the lather on the rug and rinse with water properly. Ensure you’re not short-changing the cleaning process, as this would leave the dirt and debris accumulated in the rug along with the soapy solution and moisture. 

To ensure all the cleaning solution, dirt and debris are gotten rid of, check the runoff. If it’s crystal clear, then your rug is free of mess. If not, then you need to do more with the rinsing part.

Afterwards, lay the rug flat in the open air, flip the side and make the rug fully dry.

Revive the rug 

Run the vacuum cleaner or brush out the rug to bring it back to its original form since it gets squished after washing.

Washing the rug with hands 

If you’re considering washing your rug with your hands, ensure you are not adding extra soap or cleaner, as this would result in a soiling buildup. You can use hydrogen peroxide to get rid of pet hairs, muddy deposition, and stubborn stains. For lighter stains, you can use fresh club soda. Clean the rug carefully, considering the cautions given.  

Carpet Cleaning

For carpet cleaning, you need to own a little different approach, as provided below:

What your cleaning supplies should include?

Different ways of cleaning carpets comprise different sets of cleaning supplies. Here is a list of a few common ones:

1. Baking soda

2. Vinegar 

3. Rug brush 

4. Spray bottle 

5. Carpet cleaning machine 

There are two ways you can clean your carpet, as defined below.

By Hand 

Sprinkle the baking soda over the carpet’s surface, and prepare a shampoo solution with warm water; you need to ensure you’ve tested the cleaning shampoo to check whether it will leave a stain, bleach away the colour or damage the fabric. Pour the solution over the carpet, brush the dirt out, blot the carpet, and rinse with water. 

Using a carpet-cleaning machine,

Move your furniture and empty the area to start the carpet-cleaning process. If you cannot move a few obstructive items, you can wrap those things with aluminium foil. Collect the dirt with three passes of vacuum cleaning. You can use the crevice tool to reach tight and congested spaces. This much won’t get deep dirt and stains out of the carpet.

To get started with the carpet cleaner:

1. Detach the water tank and fill the water and add carpet cleaning formula per the manufacturer’s instructions.
2. Adjust the settings and turn on the machine.
3. Move the cleaner back and forth to release the water and detergent, work over small sections and give an additional pass without detergent to rinse off the carpet.