How to clean your living room rug

A rug can be one of the most charming, but also straightforward additions to an interior space. However, there’s one obvious worry you may have about your own newly acquired handcrafted rug: how to clean and maintain it to prolong its useable life.

You might have long been accustomed to cleaning any mass-produced rugs in your living room in a certain way. But if you have only just purchased a custom made rug for the first time, what steps would we advise you to take to keep it clean?

 

Treat your rug appropriately for its particular rug type

We produce various types of bespoke rugs across our collections, including the likes of flat weave, hand knotted and plain rugs. This is an important detail, because not all types of rug should necessarily be cleaned the same way.

Flat weave rugs, for example, are an especially durable and long-lasting type of rug. Their flat texture doesn’t provide much scope for dirt and dust to become ‘trapped’ in them, unlike what can happen every day with a higher pile rug.

This means a flat weave rug is usually quite easy to keep clean; it’s a stress-free process to wipe up spills, and if the rug is small enough for you to be able to easily pick it up and take it outside, simply shaking it should be enough to get rid of any surface debris. 

Hand knotted rugs can be a cause for greater stress, however. It is this type of rug that you should be especially conscientious to vacuum regularly, given that any dirt or dust can easily work down to the base of the pile.

Abrasive efforts to get rid of such dirt could damage the wool and cause loss of pile. It’s therefore a good idea to use the suction-only function on your vacuum cleaner when you are vacuuming a hand knotted rug, to minimise the likelihood of rug damage and fibre shedding.

If any foods or liquids are spilt on such a rug, they should be removed as soon as possible, with warm soapy water and a clean cloth or towel. We would urge you to avoid using a cleaning agent, given the risk it poses of permanent colour changes.

A little cautious TLC will go a long way

Given the kind of unique item that a bespoke living room rug represents, we would advise you to have it professionally cleaned once a year, to help to keep it looking good in your home for longer.

In the meantime, we would recommend the routine vacuuming of your rug to eliminate surface dirt and debris, perhaps doing this more regularly if the rug is subject to high foot traffic. It’s also a good idea to vacuum from side to side, rather than lengthwise. Finally, we would also suggest that you vacuum the reverse side of the rug at least once a year.

When you take delivery of your new rug from us, we will provide you with a care leaflet detailing how to keep your acquisition in optimal condition.

For any further advice in relation to the cleaning and maintenance of your handcrafted rug, you are welcome to email [email protected] or call +44 (0) 1666 715151.