Well hello there! I am a collector of fine antique handmade rugs, but unlike some other collectors (Rudy, I’m talking to you!) I display mine all over my fabulous house in Georgetown. I do not think these beautiful objects should be locked away in some hermetically sealed vault, so I put them out and then periodically have them cleaned. The trick for me was to find the right local DC carpet cleaning establishment, which I am quite certain I did.
I guess the distinction between Rudy and myself is that Rudy believes only in rug conservation – he’ll do anything to prevent one of his precious little rugs from deteriorating. He should look in the mirror and have the same concern! I, on the other hand, have no problem with restoration – I’d like a rug to looks as good as the day it was first made. The boys down at the Antiques Roadshow would no doubt throw a hissy fit at my opinion, but I would tell them “hard cheese, old boys”. I am not some calculating collector who is afraid of losing a dime on their investments. I am an art lover (No Rudy, I am not talking about Art Seymour, it’s small-letter ‘a’ art, like what you find in museums, you dumb bunny).
Oh, I lost my train of thought. Oh yes, rugs – well, I have mine restored whenever they need it, and in any event I have them all cleaned every Christmas (it’s a good time because all the Christians are so busy with other things). My rug cleaner, Murray, is so smart about these things. His sign says his work is museum quality, and I believe it. Wait, let me pull out his brochure. It says he does the following:
- Hand cleaning and hand tooling (I can only guess what that means). Murray is strict: no machines, no wringers and no heat. Instead, they prepare a special bath and immerse the entire rug in it for a full hand washing. Sounds divine! He says he also uses screens – I surmise that’s for drying the rugs afterwards.
- Archival wrap for storage. Well, that would suit Rudy, anyway.
- Here are some fancy services: stabilization, edge wrapping and end stopping. Once again, I’m intrigued…
- Blocking and mounting for display. I think that needs no additional comment, don’t you?
Murray even comes to the house to pick up the dirty rugs and drop off the clean ones. I wish some other people could be as thoughtful as Murray. Yes, that means you, Rudy!