The Bokhara Rug

I have decided to write about the Pakistan Bokhara ( boo-car-ah) rug today since we have a few in our shop. When I went around on my little Victoria rug gallery tour I got to feel a new deep red Bokhara rug. I do not get to see many new rugs at Luv-A-Rug, I get to see the rugs when they re not at their best.






The history of the Pakistan Bokhara rug is short because Pakistan became a country in 1947 and rug making started around the same time. That means there are no antique Pakistan rugs as of yet, we still have to wait another 40+ years. The Bokhara rug was named after a trading town from the days of the Silk Route. They are made with a combination a Pakistan and New Zealand wool and woven on a cotton foundation. A 4x6 foot rug may take a weaver 5 months to make. The repetitive design was inspired by the Turkoman Gul design. The design used by Pakistan is commonly referred to as elephant foot motif.
As beautiful as the Bokhara rugs are there are some distinct characteristics. When the rugs are woven there could be several different ones on each loom. When they are finished they are cut and the sides are wrapped. Over time, with walking and vacuuming, the side wrap can pull away from the rug. Luv-A-Rug does several of these repairs a month on Bokhara rugs. We suggest to our clients that they get the sides rewrapped, or Serged.

Side wrap pulling away from the rug.

The corner fraying by vacuuming.

A new serged edge.

The dyes can sometimes be unstable and bleed if improperly washed. Neither of these traits should turn you away from loving a Pakistan Bokhara rug. They are not traits of every rug and when properly taken care of are of little concern. Bokhara's come in a variety of wonderful colours including reds, rust,brown, many shades of blues, and greens.
The Bokhara rug will always be in my top five favorite rugs, mostly because they were one of the first rugs I could identify on my own when I started working at Luv-A-Rug.
Thank for reading, RugloverMary.

Silks are It

Today at Luv-A-Rug we got a lovely 100% silk rug in for cleaning. I don't get to see many real silk rugs, mostly the viscose knock offs. The wonderful lady who owns the rug custom ordered it from China. The colours of the rug where dyed after it was woven. It was the tan caramel colour before the wonderful dying.


The stripes are achieved by cut and looped pile.

It is a rug that screams,"Look at me! Love me!".

A close up of the two different piles.
Besides being a beautiful rug, it has a great memory for the owner and is very inviting to all who look at it. The rug is 5 by 8 feet and after it is cleaned we will wrap it up in Tyvek for storage. The owner just received three wonderful Nepalise rugs and they will adorn her floors for awhile. The lady who owns these rugs is very passionate about her area rugs and knows her stuff, she was a real treat to talk to today.
Thanks for reading RugloverMary

I should have paid more attention in Chemistry class

Back in December 2007 I took a carpet and upholstery cleaning course. I did very well considering that I don't clean either of them. The key to getting carpet, area rugs, and furniture very clean is not more power, it is chemistry. Too many moons ago I aced Chemistry 11 and 12, I loved the periodic table and finding out how chemicals reacted together. Today I cannot remember much from those fun fill classes, but rug cleaning is bringing a little of it back.
Cleaning is all about neutralizing, bring the area rug back to a pH level between 4.5 and 8.5. I wish there was an easy way to educate and re-program our clients about spot removal. I cringe when I hear that someone used baking soda on their wool area rug. Club soda isn't as nasty as I thought, but it does depend on the spill. I am pretty sure that people are not pH testing their spills to see if it is acidic or alkaline, be great if they did though.
Thanks for reading, RugloverMary

Waiting for Spring Cleaners

Today was almost a normal day at the shop. It has been unusually warm for February lately and the spring cleaners are starting to emerge. We received about 30 rugs today, mostly small ones 6x9 and under. Received an awesome wall hanging for cleaning today. I forgot to ask permission to take pics and post them. The wall hanging depicts a wedding scene and is about 30 yrs. old. .
Had a visit from a local company today, Langenwalter Carpet Dyeing. They do dye repairs on wool, nylon, silk area rugs and carpets. It was great to chat with Darrell and get a feel for what his company does. I am a firm believer that you should have a great relationship with others in the carpet industry. That was the purpose of my trip around Victoria BC to the area rug galleries. We recommend them and they recommend us. Win win situation. I now know the we don't have to send area rugs out of Victoria, B.C. to get re-dyed or have dye repairs done. If you are near British Columbia, Ontario (in Canada), or in the United States check them out at www.langdye.com to see if they can help you!

Thanks for reading, RugloverMary

Around the World in a White Van

I mentioned that I would be going on a road trip around to Victoria's rug galleries. I did indeed do that on the 7th of Feb., but it was more of a trip around the Rug Belt. There are a lot of fabulous area rugs to be found in Victoria, B.C. It was great to meet the owners of the rug galleries, see what they specialize in, to find out what their top selling area is, and get a feel for their gallery. The knowledge I gained will help me better recommend where our clients can find the rug they want.
I went to seven rug galleries and was amazed at how different they all were. Victoria's rug galleries have everything from every day synthetic rugs, to hand knotted treasures and new designer modern rugs. I must admit that it was hard not to think about the cleaning difficulties of some of the rugs I saw. It would make my job easier if rugs came with cautions, such as- this rug it not recommended if you have pets. I am not looking forward to disappointing clients when they bring in one of those rugs. The rug I am talking about is very neat and fun, but cannot be thoroughly cleaned because the fiber type and construction of the rug.
I did happen to find the only Gabbeh rug in Victoria at one store. It was on the bottom of the pile and had two inches showing. They are my favorite kind of rug and are getting rare to find.
Thanks for reading, RugloverMary

Another Day-Another Year Older

Hooray today is my birthday!I say this with every ounce of sarcasm I have because I do not like my birthday, climbing up the age ladder is not my idea of a good time. For the record I am 28 and next year I will still be 28. To be honest I have been 28 for a few years now, but just keep that between us. I did get a wicked b-day present from my BF and friends, I get to see the Vancouver Canucks play live!!!! I am thrill to say the least.
Back onto the topic of rugs. I much prefer aging area rugs. Every day I get to walk on a 100+ yr old runner. It is still beautiful even though it doesn't have very much pile left on it and the sides were recently re-wrapped. Clients love it and some try not to walk on it especially after we tell them how old it is. Our shop is filled with rugs on the floor, giving our shop an authentic rug shop feel.

The door is on the left side of picture.

The door is on the left.

The door is on the right side of picture.
We have nine area rugs in our entry and all are different. In the top right hand of the picture you can see a chair that is covered in a orange Dhurrie. A great use for a area rug that may have damage on one end. Another good use is to get the rug turned into cushion covers.
In the top right of picture is a yellow and blue Chobi, the one next to it is a Persian hand knotted, in the top left is another Chobi, the one on top of the runner is Turkish, the runner is ?Serapi? (spelling is wrong), bottom middle area is a Persian Sarouk, the bottom left is a War rug depicting the fight between Afghanistan and USSR in 2002, on top of the Sarouk is a Turkoman, and under the bench is a cork rug that we can make for clients, not recommended as it stains and marks up very easily.
Clients tell us that they love the feel of our shop. It takes them back to when they were traveling and bought their area rug. For the clients who don't own a hand knotted rug yet, our entry gets them inquiring about where to buy such a rug. Luv-A-Rug can recommend the best places to buy rugs in Victoria, depending on your decor taste, budget and size of rug needed.
Thank You for reading, RugloverMary!

Bad Weather equals Good Business

The weather has turned nasty today, strong winds and rain mixed with hail. Not a typical Victoria day. Everyone is stuck on the island as the B.C. Ferries are not sailing. This weather does make our shop busy because of flooding and leaking. Some area rugs come in so sad looking you would think that there was no use in trying. There is always a use for trying.
I had a client come in to pick up his rugs and he got to call me a liar, in a nice way. One of his rugs came in with green stains on it, since he had no idea what caused the stains we couldn't say for sure if they would come out. The stains were completely gone. He was very happy and said that the rug was too clean for use in their summer cottage. I apologized for our cleaning results, joking of course. I like clients with a good sense of humour.
I returned a call to a lovely charming woman today. She wasn't having a good day and my phone call cheered her up. She had left a message asking if we repair rugs, her rug has a five inch tear in it. She loves her rug very much and was very thrilled to hear that Luv-A-Rug does rug repairs. Hopefully we can restore her rug without too much cost to her.
It if wasn't for bad weather and pets the rug cleaning business would be much slower. I would say at least two thirds of the area rugs we clean are because of pets or flooding. I heard a story that one area rug cleaner asked his client for her cat's birthday. She was a little perplexed as to why he would want to know. He replied it was so he could send him a 'thank you' present for bring him so much business. So true!
The water drainage is a little slow after it rains for three days straight. The only thing that I will mind about it is having to disappoint the clients when we tell them that their rug may not be returned to as good as new condition. Sometimes it can be hard to convince clients to get their area rugs cleaned after they find out that the cleaning costs as much as a new rug. It is hard not tell them that putting it in the landfill isn't environmentally friendly. I don't like to make people feel cheap if they don't want to pay for cleaning. All I can do is tell them what is involved in our cleaning process and that if they get our finishing treatment as well we will clean their rug for free (six month guarantee).
Thank you reading, RugloverMary