A Good Cleaning

In a bit of a break from construction, painting and moving, we've been focused on cleaning in the past few weeks.  First, the construction mess had to be cleared out, then the mess from moving in and unpacking had to be dealt with, and all dishes, towels and bedding had to be washed. The tubs and floors needed a good scrubbing.  Rob spent one full day removing many of the stickers on the windows and doors (thanks Tereasa and Ashley for your help with the ones he didn't finish!).

In our remaining storage units (yup, plural, heavy sigh - we still have 3, but I'm hoping to get that pared down to 2 pretty soon) we have numerous rugs of varying sizes and styles.  Although a couple were ones that we owned from our previous home, the majority were ones that were in Glenlochan when we first purchased it.  They were beyond dirty when they were in the house and two years in non-climate controlled storage did nothing for their appearance or odor.  On a recent sunny and bearably tepid day, I decided to tackle cleaning a small rug.  Although we believe a few of the rugs to be antique and those will definitely require the skills and advice of professionals, there were a few in the mix that were not vintage and I decided to attempt a home cleaning of one of those.  This one seemed to be a good "trial" size for attempting a DYI rug sanitation/cleaning.

The rug was filthy, smelly and nothing I would  put in my house when we pulled it out of storage.  It still had the label on it, so I knew the fiber content (largely wool) and I was not about to pay for a professional cleaning job - the one time I did that, the results were awful.  So, armed with my sprayhose, woolite, a stronger laundry soap, and a good scrub brush in hand, I set up a cleaning "station" outside - two sawhorses covered with a plywood board, and a clean sheet over the top to protect the rug. 

I didn't actually unroll the rug until I was ready to start cleaning, and I had not ever really looked at the rug before it was put into storage, so imagine my surprise when I finally unrolled it and the colors were a PERFECT MATCH to the wallpaper in the breezeway.  I do not think we could have picked a better rug for the space, but the fact remained that it was in really gross shape.  If I couldn't get it completely clean and, almost more importantly, smelling so good that I was willing to stick my nose in the fibers, then it wasn't coming in to the house, match or no.

I rinsed the rug thoroughly, scrubbed both sides completely with a diluted mixture of woolite and laundry soap for stains and a gentle brush, sprayed it repeatedly with the hose, full force, and then carefully squeegeed out as much water as possible with my hands.  Because the rug was still dripping and we were heading back to Philly that afternoon and not scheduled to return for six days, I elected to leave it on the porch, on sawhorses with another clean sheet, for a week to dry.  Not the best solution, but I reasoned that the fresh air could only help air it out, dry it naturally, and give it the best chance of having a pleasing smell.  Of course, I wasn't sure what we'd find when we returned a week later, but I was cautiously optimistic, despite the stinky wet wool smell.

This story has a happy ending - the rug survived the week, smelled wonderful when we arrived back, was clean and, after a good vacuuming, ready for it's new place of honor in the breezeway.  It looks great.

I'm sure the rug professionals would cringe at my technique, but it worked  and I know it's actually clean from the inside out, not just superficially clean.  I'm ready to use this method with the remaining rugs that are not vintage/antiques.  Now I just need some better weather to transform the yard into a temporary rug cleaners - this winter and arctic air of late won't cut it.