Ever since we installed hardwood floors in our home I have become a bit obsessed with area rugs. It started with a few strategically placed rugs in our living areas to warm up all the wood and tile, but now I’m layering rugs of different sizes and adding rugs to carpeted rooms as well.
Suffice it to say that I now have a fair number of area rugs to care for. Lucky for me, I recently discovered A brilliant cleaning tip For area rugs that I find incredibly effective at keeping clean and dirt-free.
This method requires you to move any furniture off the rug, but I promise it’s worth it! Your rugs (and floors, for that matter) will be cleaner, and they’ll last longer, too!
Related:This brilliant hack solves one of the most annoying bathroom problems
The best way to clean your area rugs? Flip ’em!
Step 1 – Vacuum the top
Grab yours empty And give your mattress a good once over using long, slow passes. If your rug has fringe or tassels, vacuum the rug without it Rotating brush By switching to the hard floor setting (if your vacuum has one.)
Step 2 – Vacuum down
Next, flip the mattress upside-down and vacuum it again. When you’re done, lift the rug from one corner and brace yourself to see how much dirt didn’t come out on the first pass.
It might surprise you how much dirt and dust actually accumulates below Your mattress! That dust can scratch your beautiful wood floors, not to mention wreak havoc on the family members who suffer. Allergies. (Good thing we’re taking care of that!) 🙂
Step 3 – Vacuum the top (again)
The final step is to flip the rug over again (so it’s right side up) and vacuum it a third time. But before you do that, you may want to fold the rug in half and vacuum the floor itself, then repeat on the other side so that no dirt gets pushed back onto your rug.
Once you’ve vacuumed the mattress a third time, it should be a lot Cleaner If you pick up the rug and find more dirt on the floor, keep flipping and vacuuming until it stops coming out. (This will all depend on how dirty your rugs were to begin with!)
Frequent vacuuming = fewer flips = cleaner rugs
I personally haven’t had to do more than two flips per area rug, but I suspect that’s because I vacuum them regularly. I normally vacuum all my area rugs once a week, and I use this deep cleaning method about once a month.
I realize this is a little extra work compared to a quick pass with your vacuum, but it’s the only way I’ve found to remove dirt that hides in the deepest layers of an area rug. And just think, it’s still a lot easier than pulling them out to hit them with a broom like grandma used to do! 😉
How do you keep your area rugs clean?
