A question many carpet owners ask me is, “Where is the best place to display my carpet?” The answer is simple: “It is entirely up to you.” However, there are some simple guidelines to follow if you are unsure.
Densely knotted carpets such as Tabriz and Bidjar from Iran, as well as carpets produced in Kunduz and Andkhoy in Afghanistan are examples of wool-piled carpets that are suitable for placement under dining tables and busy walk-areas of the home. These top quality wool-piled carpets will endure considerable wear and will also be easier to clean in the event of spillage or stain damage.
Silk carpets are another concern altogether. Silk carpets measuring 5ft x 3ft and smaller are the perfect sizes to either hang on the wall, place in the bedroom or display somewhere else in the house where bare or stocking feet only tread. In other words, a finely woven silk carpet demands respect and it is not usually placed underneath heavy dining tables or thrown down onto a busy floor space where dust, grit and strokes of shoe polish accumulate. The larger silk carpets measuring 6ft x 4ft may be placed underneath lighter coffee tables providing the carpet is periodically rotated so as to evenly distribute the weight of the coffee table, thus preventing lasting indentations from the legs. Placing a shimmering silk carpet in such a prominent area will nonetheless expose the owner to certain risks, the main ones being spillage of fluids and/or staining. If you can live with the risks, fine; if you cannot, then a potential nightmare may unfold.
One such nightmare happened a few weeks ago to Linda Beckley and her pride and joy — a 6 ft x 4ft Turkestani silk carpet. The silk carpet was under a coffee table atop which sat an unattended open can of Coca-Cola. Her five-year-old son Brett was displaying the usual high energy and quick movements of a youngster and happened to knock over the Coke can, spilling its contents over the silk carpet. Linda was horrified to see the dark, bubbly, brown wet blotch manifesting and quickly spreading before her eyes on her prized carpet.
Her husband Bill phoned me for advice on how to clean up the stain as Linda was too upset to speak to me calmly. My advice to Bill was to pour soda water onto the Coke stain and to then place absorbent kitchen tissues on top and allow the tissues to draw the Coke out of the carpet. I further advised him to remove and replace the tissues until the stained area was dry and clean. To Linda’s great relief, the Coke stain was completely removed and the carpet restored to its former glory. Little Brett was instructed not to play or handle fluids on or near the carpet again.
But he had other ideas.
Two weeks later, I received another phone call from Linda’s husband as Linda was too upset to talk yet again. I was told that Brett had used a permanent color marker and colored in parts of the silk carpet. Brett may have thought that the carpet’s design resembled a coloring book, so he began shading it in. Linda assumed the soda trick would work again but it did not. She scrubbed and scrubbed using heavy elbow grease and thereby made the silk fibers stiff and looking as if they had been bleached.
The golden rule for cleaning carpets is that one treatment for a particular stain may not necessarily be effective for a different type of stain. A quick visit to the Beckleys residence to view the damage revealed that the silk carpet was restorable. Not, however, with any of Grandma’s secret formulas; this cleaning job had to be done by a professional. The damaged silk fibers had to be soaked first with a special fluid and then each silk fiber had to be individually freed with a needle, which was very labor intensive. After the carpet was allowed to dry, the silk pile amazingly returned to its original condition. The carpet was saved. The only slightly visible defect in the restored area was where a thin turquoise line that had bled due to the fact that the color was fugitive. There had been an error in the dyeing process.
The carpet has since been returned to an elated Linda and new ground rules are strictly in place in the Beckley household. The coffee table and carpet is now out of bounds for Brett and his permanent marker pens.
Anyone encountering water-based stains such as coffee or tea on their carpet should dab it immediately with an absorbent tissue until the majority of the liquid has been removed. Next, add a teaspoon of natural liquid detergent with half a pint of warm water. Lightly add small amounts of the detergent to the stain and quickly soak it up with the absorbent tissues until dry. Repeat the process until the stain is completely removed and is as dry as possible. Leave layers of absorbent tissue over the stained area with a magazine on top of the tissues overnight to ensure complete removal.
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