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Watch Your Step When Caring For Area Rugs
by Scott Gray

Description: Tips for cleaning and caring for area rugs.

When you buy one or more area rugs, you are making a home-upgrade investment and you want to be sure of getting your money's worth by caring for your rugs properly. If you don't have a lot of money, you can buy good quality cheap rugs that will give you years of service if you know how to extend their wear. If you do have a lot of money, don't throw it away on expensive, but inappropriate, rug choices and inadequate maintenance.

Important Steps In Caring For Area Rugs

Your first concern should be to make sure you purchase rugs that are suitable for the job they are expected to do so that you are not licked from the start in trying to preserve their beauty and function.

Don't:

• Don't buy jute carpets for the bathrooms and watch in horror as the moisture destroys them.
• Don't place genuine antique Persian rugs in high traffic areas and expect them to stand up to daily wear and tear.
• Don't put shag in the baby's room and have to clean up the slobber and baby-barf from the long fibers every week.
• Check to see if the braided rugs you love can have their lives extended by reversing them - not all are finished on both sides.
• Don't expect pastel colors not to show the dirt - keep them out of the playroom and the back door entrance or you will go mad trying to keep them clean.

Do:

• Do read all the literature and recommendations provided by retailers, which usually mentions important points like whether or not the rug repels water, or is stain resistant.
• Use rug pads to keep rugs from sliding and wrinkling, to protect the floors underneath and to help protect the fibers of the rugs so that they don't wear out as quickly. Pads also absorb noise and reduce the likelihood of tripping over the rugs.
• Buy from reputable dealers who have a return policy and stand behind their products (i.e., purchases should include all the necessary warrantees as well as satisfaction guarantees).

Other Considerations

• Braided rugs do not wear as well as woven rugs; fragile antique oriental rugs should be hung on the walls as artwork unless you are related to a wealthy sheik; wool rugs are the most durable; nylon is the high-end synthetic fiber; patterned rugs with bright colors don't show dirt and wear as quickly as those with solid colors with no pattern; handmade and hand-knotted rugs are superior to machine made and will stand up to traffic and various cleaning processes better.
• Regular cleaning of your rugs is necessary, which means weekly vacuuming. If you hate this job, bribe someone to do it for you. Depending on the fabric, you can throw mats or runners into your washer, or roll them up and take them out to be cleaned.
• Turns your carpets around from time to time to help even out their wear.
• Use a stain guard unless your rugs have been factory treated.

Online Retailers Can Help

Online retailers provide lots of choices as well as discount, sale, and warehouse prices, and often include free shipping and free rug pads. Ordering is easy. Some retailers from Asian countries make a point of reassuring consumers that child labor is not a part of their production process. Check out:

Couristan - beautiful handmade and power-loomed rugs
Karastan - gorgeous oriental reproductions
Mohawk - a favorite for accent rugs and mats
Momeni - 50 years of importing exquisite Persian carpets
Shaw - every style imaginable

Whether you are looking for a decorative contemporary rug to match your modern décor, a unique, custom-made Southwest tribal design, a round braided beauty, or a large, inexpensive rug with a western motif, you need go no farther than your computer. You will find an exciting array of area rugs with instructions on how to care for them, and can order safely and conveniently from your home. What are you waiting for?

Scott Gray is currently a freelance writer and enjoys providing tips to consumers who are in the market for all types of cheap area rugs, contemporary rugs and persian rugs.