Oriental rugs are timeless art pieces, often hand sewn by meticulous craftsmen, bearing wonderfully intricate designs sure to catch the eye of every guest who enters your home. Some people put their oriental rugs on the walls, others on the floors. But over time, especially as you wash your rug to get the accumulated dust and dirt out, you may encounter problems such as color runs on your rug. With such detailing on the rug, any color run does make a significant difference to the look of the rug. To maintain your oriental rug as a long term investment, we will share with you some tips for dealing with color runs.

How To Identify A Color Run

A color run refers to a situation when one hue on the rug bleeds outside of its lines and goes into another color section of the rug. You can tell when your rug has a color run by observing the threads. Sometimes it is very obvious when the color is bleeding over to another section. Usually, this happens with darker colors going into lighter colored territories. These incidents can really cause the design on your rug to go out of shape and damage the overall look of your priceless art piece.

Rugs may face this situation for various reasons. Sometimes, it can be due to poor quality of the materials such as the threads or dyes used. Other times, there may be an excess of dyes used on the rug to make it look very vibrant on purchase.

How To Repair A Damaged Rug

If you’re worrying that your rug is ruined forever – don’t be. Color runs can be fixed, or reversed. It is not an easy task, however, and certainly not something you should try on your own. If you are keen on reversing the damage done to your precious rug, be sure to call a professional company for rug cleaning and care so they can determine what are the appropriate steps to take to care for your rug.

How To Prevent Color Runs From Happening

Before getting into a disastrous situation with a damaged carpet and having to seek help from a rug cleaning professional, you can also take steps to make sure the rug doesn’t get damaged to begin with.

• Test wash your rug before washing it yourself. Generally, you would be advised if your rug requires drycleaning or if you can wash it yourself. If the latter is true, it is advisable that you do a spot test on your rug to check if it holds up in the wash. If washing just a tiny corner of your rug already causes color bleeding, your rug clearly cannot be washed at home and you should seek alternative cleaning solutions.
• Check frequently for color runs. Look over your rug in natural light conditions, such as near a window or outdoors, to see if the color is starting to run. It’s best if you can catch the problem at the beginning before it spreads too much.
• Seek advice on your rug from a professional. Rug cleaning and care companies would have expert advice on how to take care of your rug, what type of materials it’s made of, what you can use to clean it, and much more.

You don’t have to go on this oriental rug care journey alone. With the right advice and support, you can maintain the pristine condition of your rug for decades to come.