The beauty and quality of a hand-woven rug can be maintained for a very long time with proper care and cleaning.
Regular vacuuming prevents dust from embedding in the rug’s foundation.
Rotating the rug 180° every year helps to better distribute wear and tear from traffic and fading from light.
Over time, it becomes necessary to have a rug professionally cleaned. The frequency obviously depends on usage.
You should contact a professional service specializing in cleaning Oriental rugs, and especially not someone
unfamiliar with how to treat hand-woven rugs. It’s important to make sure they understand that the rug is made of wool and silk.
Whenever possible, clean a stain as quickly as possible. Avoid spreading it or rubbing it into the fibers. A little background story:
Marguerite’s father cleans stains on his rugs (wool and silk) with Perrier water, and it works very well.
For tougher stains (coffee on light shades, oil, red fruits, etc.), after blotting with a paper towel without pressing the stain into the fibers,
he adds a drop of mild hair shampoo and rinses well, always with Perrier water. It works very well on fresh stains.
In any case, never use a chemical cleaner.
A good-quality felt or rubber rug pad can be useful if the rug is likely to slip when walked on (on a wooden floor, for example):
in addition to being safer for passersby, the stability of the rug prevents the fibers from breaking too quickly.
And here is an amusing confirmation from « La Maison Française » magazine (Avril 2009) :
