Home Help: 16 November
It is not a happy association, rugs and fruit drinks, carpets and wine. Christmas can bring carpets and colourful liquid into very close proximity, sometimes with unfortunate consequences. How to clean off a stain is a perennial question – does one use salt, fizzy water or white wine?
One thing is certain: you have to move fast to halt the absorption. I have asked some carpet designers for advice. Not one of them recommends using wine or salt. According to rug designer Christine Van Der Hurd, ‘most stains that cannot be removed are not a result of the stain itself, but of the attempt by a nonprofessional to clean it up. At all costs don’t rub.’
For Christine’s bespoke handwoven dhurries in subtle stripes and bold geometric patterns, woven in wool, hemp or silk, she recommends blotting, pushing and pressing to absorb all the moisture. The next step is to pour on a little fizzy water and blot again with a towel.
Jo Rachidi, who with her husband imports antique Moroccan carpets through their company Maroc Tribal, – 01621-782090, www.maroctribal.com – washes her rugs in a cold water bath.
‘In Morocco even the grandest carpets are washed in the river,’ she says.
Water, however, is not good for sisal, coir or jute. When recarpeting with one of them, apply a stain protector. Liquid will sit on the surface for a couple of minutes, which gives time to either mop or use a wet and dry vacuum cleaner. The Natural Rug Company recommends stain protector Intec, for which it charges £3 per square metre to apply.
But is it worth buying a wet and dry cleaner? A good one will cost £150 to £200 but, to be effective, it needs to be kept as near as possible to the potential accident site.
For stains that just can’t be removed from a fitted carpet, an attractive solution is to cover them up with one of Miv Watts’s dhurries in pure cotton, which is cheaper per square metre than silk or wool rugs. The Peacock and Bushbird designs can be ordered in any size or colour and are dry-clean only.
Of course you could just fit a floor covering that doesn’t absorb anything. Unnatural Flooring makes a synthetic, but realistic, sisal-look flooring in wipeable vinyl – perfect for the bathroom and hallway.
1. (main image) Charcoal, by Unnatural Flooring: 0844-414 2166, www.unnaturalflooring.com
2. Ottoman Poppy dhurrie, by Miv Watts Design: 01328-730313, www.wattswishedfor.com
3. Fez natural dhurrie in hand-spun hemp, by Christine Van Der Hurd: 020-7371 7787, www.vanderhurd.com
4. Seagrass fine basketweave, by The Natural Rug Company: 01285-711762, www.thenaturalrugcompany.com
Email design enquiries to Hugh St Clair at homehelp@lady.co.uk
One thing is certain: you have to move fast to halt the absorption. I have asked some carpet designers for advice. Not one of them recommends using wine or salt. According to rug designer Christine Van Der Hurd, ‘most stains that cannot be removed are not a result of the stain itself, but of the attempt by a nonprofessional to clean it up. At all costs don’t rub.’
For Christine’s bespoke handwoven dhurries in subtle stripes and bold geometric patterns, woven in wool, hemp or silk, she recommends blotting, pushing and pressing to absorb all the moisture. The next step is to pour on a little fizzy water and blot again with a towel.
Jo Rachidi, who with her husband imports antique Moroccan carpets through their company Maroc Tribal, – 01621-782090, www.maroctribal.com – washes her rugs in a cold water bath.
‘In Morocco even the grandest carpets are washed in the river,’ she says.
Water, however, is not good for sisal, coir or jute. When recarpeting with one of them, apply a stain protector. Liquid will sit on the surface for a couple of minutes, which gives time to either mop or use a wet and dry vacuum cleaner. The Natural Rug Company recommends stain protector Intec, for which it charges £3 per square metre to apply.
But is it worth buying a wet and dry cleaner? A good one will cost £150 to £200 but, to be effective, it needs to be kept as near as possible to the potential accident site.
For stains that just can’t be removed from a fitted carpet, an attractive solution is to cover them up with one of Miv Watts’s dhurries in pure cotton, which is cheaper per square metre than silk or wool rugs. The Peacock and Bushbird designs can be ordered in any size or colour and are dry-clean only.
Of course you could just fit a floor covering that doesn’t absorb anything. Unnatural Flooring makes a synthetic, but realistic, sisal-look flooring in wipeable vinyl – perfect for the bathroom and hallway.
1. (main image) Charcoal, by Unnatural Flooring: 0844-414 2166, www.unnaturalflooring.com
2. Ottoman Poppy dhurrie, by Miv Watts Design: 01328-730313, www.wattswishedfor.com
3. Fez natural dhurrie in hand-spun hemp, by Christine Van Der Hurd: 020-7371 7787, www.vanderhurd.com
4. Seagrass fine basketweave, by The Natural Rug Company: 01285-711762, www.thenaturalrugcompany.com
Email design enquiries to Hugh St Clair at homehelp@lady.co.uk