I was so swamped during the month of August that I did not have any time to blog.  I did however manage to bring along my camera and snap some awesome pics that I will be blogging about today. 

This picture taken in the twilight of an early morning is of a large 8x10 tufted, wool rug, probably purchased at Pottery Barn.  The owner of this wool rug called me one day to ask if I knew how to shrink a rug back into form once it had a stretch in the middle.  I answered of course in the affirmative because part of knowing how to do rugs right involves knowing how to do them wrong. 

This rug was involved in a flood in a home and the contractor that cleaned up the water took it to his garage and put a few 5 gallon buckets underneath it to get it off the ground in order to dry it.  Well in the meantime, the wool rug had stretched in a few places as you can see in the photo above.

This is a close up shot of the rug after we had a chance to fix all of the stretch marks before delivering it to our client.  She was so happy that we were able to save it for her.  In fact, her husband wanted her to just throw it out, but he was more excited than she was when we returned it.

If you or anyone else you know has any issues with any of your wool, silk, or any other kinds of rugs, give us a call, we have the answers you need.
RYC, out.

Oriental/area rug services in Jackson Hole, WY
307.774.0223
Oriental/area rug services in Star Valley, WY
307.887.0223

How old would you guess this couch is?  I received a phone call from the sweetest sounding lady the other day and she asked me if I knew where Felt, Idaho was.  I responded with a reluctant, "No...?"  Felt, Idaho, she explained further, is north of Tetonia in the Teton Valley, near Driggs and Victor.  I still had never heard of it.  But like the ambitious professional that I am striving to become, I of course told her that I am sure that it is near enough and I wanted to know how I could help her.  She said that she had a 125 year old couch that was hand made which has a silk covering and that she had a friend over and that her friend had spilled some red wine on the side, and she was curious to know if I thought that I could clean it.  Due to the nature of this call and the love of fine textiles that I possess, I told her that I was sure that something could be done about it and asked her if she could take some photos and send them to me.  A few days later in the mail I received a piece of the actual fabric that this was upholstered with as she had saved some of the material from what looked like forever ago.  I have rarely seen this type of silk but I was excited to take on this project regardless.

This is what it looked like when I arrived in northern Teton Valley to inspect the damage.  You can see the red wine stain where it ran down the side of the cushion.  There are numerous drops here and there and on the seat cushion as well.  She had attempted to clean it herself and created the yellowing stain as a result.  Anytime you have a natural fiber piece of cloth it is really important that it be dried very fast in order to prevent this yellowing from happening. 

This poor woman was practically in tears over this episode and after trying a few spotters that I had on my truck I was not able to even touch the red wine stains.  I remembered that I had a bottle of spotter that I was never able to remove anything with so I thought w-t-h and was surprised that it made them instantly vanish.  I would post here the name of the chemical, but what would the fun in that be? 

After working on these sections of the couch and thoroughly cleaning, scrubbing, extracting, and drying them, I had spent about 3 hours on the stained sections and the seat cushion.  I had a few other appointments to make in Jackson Hole so I informed the customer that I would be back in a few days to bring this couch back to my shop where I wash oriental area rugs and I would clean and restore the rest of the couch.  She was so happy with the sections that I cleaned that she asked me to take the matching chair with me.  So I did, and here are the results....

This was one of the most interesting and fun jobs that I have taken on, and from Felt, Idaho of all places.  I learned so much from this experience and would like to offer my services for cleaning and restoring antique furniture to anyone interested in the Star Valley, Swan Valley, Jackson Hole, or Teton Valley areas. 

RYC, out.

Restore Your Carpet
307.887.0223
in Star Valley
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In Jackson Hole