Oak St. Fire

On Saturday April 26th, 2008 at around 11:30 pm there was a fire at 3347 Oak St. Victoria, B.C., the home of Luv-A-Rug. Luv-A-Rug was one of the luckier businesses in the complex, we only sustained structural, smoke and water damage.
I don't deal well with tragedy. I keep everything inside and get the job done, then one day I loose it over something small and stupid. There is no hiding from this though. I have to perform my duties when I really want to just run away and pretend it didn't happen. I am sure that my boss feels the same way. As much as I want to rant and rave about how humans react to tragedy it wouldn't do me any good. I would just be taking my frustration out on you and that is not professional.
I started at Luv-A-Rug almost exactly one year ago and now it is gone and I am sad. I am crying as I write this and that is the reason why I didn't want to write this blog-ever!. I hate crying, I hate feeling most emotions. I was taught that emotions do you no good, I wish I was a robot.
Sorry I am very random and don't want to write this blog, but I feel that I owe it to my boss to at least pretend that I can handle this. This should not be a problem, it is just a huge bump in the road and it is overcomeable (a new word for the day).
Luv-A-Rug was at 3347 Oak St for 22 years. We only got minor damage, but the other businesses were completely totaled. I feel very selfish for not mentioning them sooner. As you will see in the pictures a lot of people have a lot of rebuilding to do and I wish them the best.
This is the first fire to really affect my life and I am sure it is as well for other's who worked in the building.
























From the back of the building you would never know anything had happened to the building. The Chek news story shows the extent of the damage. With Victoria being a small city there is a lot of community support and everyone was understanding that they couldn't get their rugs back for a few weeks. My tears have seemed to have subsided for now and I don't know what else to say. I guess I could say out of the ashes the phoenix will rise. So I now say good-bye to the place where I have worked for only a year, but has been a fixture in Victoria for two decades.
http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=8669df4a-900f-4e41-b0c6-5690f2d4dd63&k=63201&sponsor=

Luv-A-Rug is now located at 445 Beta St (off Alpha St) Victoria BC 250-590-6210/ 800-886-2802

The Rug Cleaning See-Saw

Another week has disappeared from sight. I thought I had written a blog earlier this week, but no I have not. I have been either too busy or I just didn't know what to write about. With a topic as broad as area rugs it can be hard to pick something to write about.
Today my co-worker and I discussed a topic and came up with MOTHS! When was the last time you vacuumed under your furniture?
Moths love warm, dry, undisturbed areas and under the sofa or dresser is prime real estate for wool's #1 enemy. I spent 4 months researching moths and from that I have written a web page you can read at www.luvarug.com The best defenses against moths are getting your woolens cleaned before storing them, vacuuming every nook and cranny to eliminate a food source and proper storage of woolens. Those are just a few you will read about on our website.
This week has been Belgium area rug week. Yesterday alone I took in 6 for cleaning and some for fringe removal. At the beginning on April we had a run on for getting a machine fringe added. I think it was 8 rugs for re-fringing in a 7 day period, pretty good considering in the year I have been here I think we've had 7 orders for re-fringing. The cost of re-fringing is a shock to some people and they opt for a binding or surging the ends instead. I wish we had access to more colours. We have 3 colours, white, golden and light grey in 5 different fringe options. Other colours maybe available, but the cost of having them in stock for that one in million chance someone may want red or blue fringes isn't worth it. Machine wool fringes have gone out of style due to the fact that they don't last as long as cotton fringes do, although if you have read past blogs you know how I feel about fringes and there is no need to keep repeating myself.
Have a great weekend, here in Victoria we actually get to see the sun and have warmer temps for once.
Thanks for reading, RugloverMary

A Language I can Understand

In my last post I wrote about how rug books talked a different language then most of us. I have a unique prospective in this business we call rug cleaning. A year ago I knew nothing about rugs and how to clean them, heck I knew nothing about carpet either except that it got dirty too fast. My lack of knowledge has helped me with my job. I've had to learn everything for the beginning by reading, observing and asking questions. I like to think that when a client asks me a question I answer them in a language they understand.
I use industry jargon , but also use layman's terms as well because a happy client is an educated client, so don't be afraid to explain the quirks of the rug such as pile reversal- (ok. I just tried to find a proper definition and came up blank, so bare with my definition)-when the direction of the pile goes in different directions, it looks like there is a stain on the rug. To test for pile direction rug your hand over the rug, if it goes from soft to coarse feeling that is pile reversal and is permanent.
I was looking through a dictionary to find a word and came across a very inaccurate definition for anorexia, anorex'y n. loss of appetite. A loss of appetite my butt! I am not even going to comment any further on that!
So back to my kind of language; I mentioned 'lazy lines' in my previous blog and here are different definitions from two rug books:
A) Lazy Lines: Diagonal lines visible from the back of a knotted rug caused by successive rows of turnarounds of discontinuous wefts. This occurs when only a portion of the width of a rug is woven at one time.
B) Lazy Lines: Occurs when the weaver does not move across the width of the rug and carry the weft from left terminal to right terminal warp, but carries the weft only as far as her arms can reach. Hence the term "lazy lines." With wear, the areas of discontinuous wefts become visible as diagonal lines.
I came across definition 'A' first and found 'B' today while I was doing some dust removal and decided that was what my blog topic would be.
Thanks for reading, RugloverMary

Reading is for the Learned

In my last post I wrote about how rug books talked a different language then most of us. I have a unique prospective in this business we call rug cleaning. A year ago I knew nothing about rugs and how to clean them, heck I knew nothing about carpet either except that it got dirty too fast. My lack of knowledge has helped me with my job. I've had to learn everything for the beginning by reading, observing and asking questions.
I like to think that when a client asks me a question I answer them in a language they understand.
I use industry jargon , but also use layman's terms as well because a happy client is an educated client, so don't be afraid to explain the quirks of the rug such as pile reversal- (ok. I just tried to find a proper definition and came up blank, so bare with my definition)-when the direction of the pile goes in different directions, it looks like there is a stain on the rug. To test for pile direction rug your hand over the rug, if it goes from soft to coarse feeling that is pile reversal and is permanent.

I was looking through a dictionary to find a word and came across a very inaccurate definition for anorexia, anorex'y n. loss of appetite. A loss of appetite my butt! I am not even going to comment any further on that!

So back to my kind of language; I mentioned 'lazy lines' in my previous blog and here are different definitions from two rug books:

A) Lazy Lines: Diagonal lines visible from the back of a knotted rug caused by successive rows of turnarounds of discontinuous wefts. This occurs when only a portion of the width of a rug is woven at one time.

B) Lazy Lines: Occurs when the weaver does not move across the width of the rug and carry the weft from left terminal to right terminal warp, but carries the weft only as far as her arms can reach. Hence the term "lazy lines." With wear, the areas of discontinuous wefts become visible as diagonal lines.
I came across definition 'A' first and found 'B' today while I was doing some dust removal and decided that was what my blog topic would be.
Thanks for reading, RugloverMary- cleaning and caring for rugs in Victoria BC

A Quick Break; No False Alarm

It is very sad that this is my first blog for this week, but I've hardly had time to eat, let alone sit down. It is all because the boss went away Down Under, Australia. It is not because I am the only one in the front shop, I usually work alone, it is just how the unseen forces work. Since there is no one else to help so it gets busy. Lots of little jobs get started, but not a lot get finished when you need them to be.
Please note that our website is under going it own spring cleaning. It will look funny for about a week, so just bare with us.
The Spring cleaners have emerged with lots of blinds to clean. Today our drying room had 52 horizontal blinds hanging out getting dry.



























I met my first National Hockey League mom the other day. I was very happy to have had that opportunity. I will not say from which team nor player, sorry. She was very pleased with how her rugs looked after cleaning and that is all that matters. Our binding guys are starting to wonder how I get so many jobs for them, it is all about letting clients know what we can do to make their rugs look the best. This week has been mostly about new fringes.
 We try to not do machine fringes on a hand knotted rugs or any rugs for that matter, but if that is what the client wants that is what they get. I prefer no fringes on most area rugs, but I have written about that in a previous blog. I've gotten a lot of binding and serging orders, so some area rugs are getting a renewed life with nice clean edging.
No matter what time I start writing my blog it never gets finished until after 5pm. I try to keep my writing to a half hour, even though it can take up to two hours to write in between clients. Time is a funny thing, I am not looking forward to a day where "time" is bought and sold as a commodity. It would be the highest stock on the market and the least traded. Just wanted to leave you with a random thought.
Thanks for reading RugloverMary.

Dangerous Goods

Since the floor trend is any hard surface other more than it is carpeting this makes area rugs in high demand, but be aware not all area rugs are for all situations. Something has baffled me a little bit: You take out your carpet, put in beautiful wood/laminate flooring then cover all but a few feet with an area rug. Isn't that pretty much the same as the carpet you took out?
I had to disappoint a lovely lady today. She brought in a sisal area rug with a rubber backing that was badly stained. The area rug was beautifully displayed in the store and she bought it on impulse.
Yes we can clean it, but it would still be stained.
Yes we can try to get the stains out, but you may be left with a lighten area.
There is never any good news when I see a sisal or jute rug. People buy them because they are a natural fiber even though most of them have a rubber backing and are glue together making them not so natural.
I took a picture of the cleaning tag off of the sisal area rug. This can be used as an indicator that the area rug shouldn't be used in a highly used area.
Cleaning tag says: Do not wash/bleach/iron/dry clean or tumble dry.
Granted this could be this company's universal tag for all their area rugs, but why take the risk that this is an area rug you can only love until it gets dirty.
As we all try to be more environmentally aware the one place we fail at is area rugs. Some area rugs out there beautifully displayed in stores are not good for your home or for the landfill. Read the labels, ask around before you buy to get recommendations for what kinds of area rugs fit your needs. We get asked several times daily as to where the best places to buy rugs are. The first question I ask is where is the rug going to be used, then I ask about children and pets. Our clients are thankful for the rug education we give. It is another thing that sets Luv-A-Rug apart from everyone else, including the places that sell the area rugs.
Thanks for reading, RugloverMary!

It has Started, Bring on the Rains

I felt a tingling of Spring the other day. It was short lived, but I started to dream of summer and wearing only one layer of clothing. Everyone thinks that living on the west coast and having very little to no snow makes us spoiled. I would like to point out that just because we live on the pacific ocean we do not get to frolic around in shorts and bikinis. The dampness our edge of the world gets just as bad as -10 below, I know this because when I went to Edmonton in January I wasn't half as cold there as I am here.
The shop has been busy this week with Spring cleaners slowly coming out of hibernation. Soon those April showers will emerge and the flooding will commence bring with it many wet wool area rugs. Wool is very resilient against over wetting, unfortunately the dyes are not. We have a very unhappy Belgium area rug in our drying room that ended up getting flooded by the nastiest kind of water. It would cost more to correct the colour bleed than the area rug is worth. The owner is not pleased, but it gives them a chance to start anew with a different area rug.
Luv-A-Rug seems to have an area rug theme days/weeks. Last week it was Chinese area rug week. It seemed as if every second rug to come in for cleaning was Chinese hand knotted. I love the deep blue they use in some Chinese area rugs. We once had a 9x12 royal blue Chinese rug. I loved it. There was no other colour, just a very deep royal blue and a small floral pattern was craved in the four corners. I did wonder what the room it dwelled in looked like. I pictured white walls with lots of windows and dark wood furniture and crisp white curtains. If you own a very dark rug please tell me what the decor is in the room. If life could be rewound I probably would have tried my hands in decorating instead of customer service, in a another life time maybe.
Thanks for reading, RugloverMary