I love rugs. They are soft underfoot, define a space and add pattern to a room. Imagine my despair when we discovered our dog Buddy has a severe dust mite allergy! With itchy paws and red ears, we knew he was allergic to SOMETHING but it wasn’t until he was tested that we knew for sure. Dust mites, fleas and grass (seriously!?) are at the top of the list. Apparently vacuuming is not enough to get rid of dust mites so we rolled up our sleeves, rolled up the rugs and started to deep clean our entire house.
Goodbye old itchy rugs!
We started in the bedroom. Every piece of furniture, including the bed, was moved. After years of built up, it was kind of gross back there. The floors were scrubbed, the baseboards dusted and the bedding (dog’s included) sanitized. Every Sunday we repeated the cleaning process in each room. Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I cleaned behind the couch – or the couch itself! After every room was spotless we made the decision to get rid of our current rugs. After a couple years with the dog they were smelling a little funky and they were, after all, dust mite traps. I though I would have to suffer the sight of bare floors indefinitely until we found Ruggable.
Ruggable is a two part rug system that consist of a rug pad (very much like a giant sheet of velcro) and a machine washable topper. This is the perfect compromise between nice floor coverings and a happy pup. There were plenty of both modern and traditional designs to choose from in a variety of colours. We chose the Kamran Coral.
After the old rug was removed and the floor cleaned, we rolled out the black rug pad. As you can see Buddy was “helping” us every step of the way. TIP: The classic pad is pretty thin. If you are looking for the plush rug feel try the “cushioned” Ruggable pad. This was not an option for our large 9’x12′ rug but we will try it for the smaller rugs.
On top of this velcro like pad, we unrolled the removable topper. To make this easier, first roll up the topper pattern side UP, line up with the pad and unroll as smoothly as possible. This is easier with two people – one to unroll and the other to smooth out any lumps. It is NOT easier with two people and a hundred pound dog.
After the topper was evenly applied we put our living room back together!
Our next project? Ruggable in the kitchen. I am an enthusiastic cook so our old rug always looked a little dirty after a year. Now instead of replacing the rug (which also means painting the kitchen walls to match) I can wash the topper and feel better about dropping food on the floor.
*I have to mention that it was actually hubby that found Ruggable. Sadly for him we did not purchase the Star Wars rugs. Bummer.*