I have this OLD area rug from my grandmother. The pattern is beautiful and the rug itself is is good condition, however I'd like to brighten it up! -Especially the white areas which have now gone yellow. Anyone have any ideas on how to clean/treat this rug and restore/brighten it without damaging it with harsh chemicals, like bleach?
I would reccomend taking it to a professional antique restorer. It would suck to mess up something that is that important to you. Also, the dyes may be natural-made dyes, and might be damaged if you used chemicals on it.
Resolve spot remover carpet cleaner followed by Woolite Heavy Traffic carpet cleaner really works well on my Oriental rugs. I've always cleaned them myself with no problems. Test a little place on the back to check for colors to make sure they don't run.
Take the rug to a professional that deals with older rugs ie.orientals and persians. If you do it yourself, you can easily damage the fibers.
if it's an old rug and is from your grandmother, then I would think you would consider it an antique and treat it properly. The proper way is merely to store it or place it on the wall as an antique. I doubt very much if you could clean the yellow, and the threads would have weakened over the years. I'd keep it as a treasure. It could be valuable, plus you might want to pass it down to your children. Buy yourself another rug to walk on.
You may need to have the rug treated by a pro cleaner. If you do look for a baneclean dealer who does rugs. If you want to try use a store rented steam cleaner use Woolite in place of the store steam chemicals. mix the Woolite per directions. Mix with warm water use a very soft brush and work the Woolite into the rug. Use the steam cleaner to rinse with plain warm water. One pass with the plain water , 3 passes with suction only to remove the water. Let dry for a day or more before use. There are chemical brighteners, try to avoid.
