The food is cooked, and the decorations look amazing. Everything is ready for your big holiday party, but then you notice it. A stain on your carpet!
Holiday stress is bad enough without having the added anxiety of carpet stains. These five simple cleaning tips can help you treat or hide the worst stains, so you enjoy the season instead of worrying about a minor imperfection.
Tips For Taking Care of Carpet Stains this Holiday Season
Wipe the stain from your mind before you try to wipe it from your carpet. Stains happen. It is certainly not something worth getting all worked up over. Instead of thinking about it, why not focus on the positives such as the chance to see your friends and family? There is a good chance that no one but you will even notice the stain, and those that do won’t care. If you still want to treat or conceal the stain on your carpet, the following four tips can help.
Cover it up. The quickest solution is to hide the stain with a piece of furniture, a potted plant, or a holiday decoration. Many stains occur around your seating areas and tables, so sometimes it is merely a matter of shifting around the couch or moving the coffee table a few inches to hide a stain completely. For spots in other areas of your carpet, consider placing your snack or beverage table over the stain.
Attempt to spot-treat your carpet. You may find that it is possible to remove some of the most common stains like those caused by coffee, wine, food, or foot traffic on your own as long as you catch them early enough.
- The first step is to place a white cloth over the stain and gently press straight down. Be careful to avoid grinding the stain deeper into the carpet fibers by rubbing. For stains which have already dried, stick a metal spoon in the freezer for an hour and then use the cold spoons to scrape off as much of the dried-on stain as possible.
- Next, apply a spot carpet cleaner to the stain. You want the carpet damp but not soaking wet. Let it sit for about ten minutes. Make sure to test the cleaner on a scrap of your carpet to ensure that it won’t discolor it. If you don’t have a store-bought carpet spot carpet cleaner at home, you can make your own adding 1 teaspoon of mild detergent along with 1/4 teaspoon of white vinegar to a quart of warm, but not hot, water.
- Finally, use a clean cloth to blot the stain. Work slowly from the edges of the spot toward the center. When the stain is gone, blot with fresh, cold water and use a dry cloth to blot up excess water. Make sure the area is completely dry to avoid mold or mildew from forming.
While hiding stains and home remedies can help, if you want to get your carpet really clean, you need to call in the professionals. If you live in the Larchmont or Scarsdale area, give Embassy Cleaners a try. Our professionals have the equipment and know-how to get your carpets looking great again. Call one of our three locations near you.
