Hard though you might try, it’s impossible to keep your carpets pristine forever. Eventually, Rover will saunter in with muddy paws, one of the kids will upend a glass of juice, or your other half will spill a bottle of Rioja all over your favourite rug. Luckily, help is at hand. These top tips will help you clean up spills, remove stains and bring your carpets back to life.
Use an iron
If you’ve only been using your iron to take wrinkles out of shirts and put creases in trousers, you’ve been missing a trick. The iron is actually an unsung hero of carpet cleaning.
To remove stains and marks from your carpet, treat the affected area with a solution of water and vinegar (a ratio of 3:1 should do the trick). Once the liquid has soaked right into the thread of the carpet, lay an old tea towel or another clean piece of material over the stain and place the iron on top. The heat and pressure from the iron should cause the stain to transfer from your carpet to the towel.
Shaving foam
If you’ve noticed a stain or mark on your carpet and don’t have any specialist cleaning products to hand, fear not, there’s likely to be something in your bathroom cupboard that will save the day. Shaving cream. Simply rub a generous handful of cream onto the affected area then let it sit for a few minutes while it does its work. Blot the carpet with a clean cloth to remove the cream and then give the stain a quick clean with a water and vinegar solution.
Use Ice
There are few better ways to freshen up your décor than rearranging your furniture. However, moving your sofa or shifting your dining table can leave visible dents in your carpet. To get rid of these marks and return your carpet to its former glory, take a few ice cubes from the freezer, place them in the depressions and let them melt. Once you’ve blotted out the excess water, the fibres should be easy to fluff up, helping the old dents to fade away.
Red Wine
Red wine is notoriously difficult to get out of textiles. If there’s a fine merlot all over your rug, don’t reach for the carpet cleaner, reach for the Chardonnay. It’s not an old wives’ tale, white wine combined with salt really does work brilliantly to remove red wine from carpets. Give it a go next time you have friends round for an evening soiree.
Lemon
If you have young children or like to eat in front of the TV, there’s a good chance food ends up on the carpet on a regular basis. Common food stains like curry can be removed using diluted lemon juice. As well as helping to restore your carpet, this has the added advantage giving your living space a lovely citrus twist.
Stay tuned to the blog for more pro cleaning tips and tricks.