Carpet Cleaning

Yesterday we finally got around to doing something I'd been wanting to do for about six months - shampooing the carpets. We have a Bissell 'Big Green Clean Machine' (BGCM) which sprays on shampoo and then sucks out the water and dirt. We don't have many fitted carpets - it being Cyprus, most of the floors are marble tiles, although the study/guest room and two bedrooms do have carpets. But we have large rugs in the main entrance/atrium room and another rug in the living room.

Just one bottle of fluid was enough to shampoo the atrium rugs, the carpet in the study and the two sofas we have in the atrium which were looking rather grubby. When we've finished this job I always wonder why we don't do it more often - the result is so good! I think it's about 18 months since we last did it - just after we repainted most of the walls.

The rug in the living room is more difficult; it's lighter-weight than the others, and really looked terribly mucky when we thought about it. Perhaps it's the new sofas making everything else look dirty by contrast! Anyway, Richard decided the only way to get it clean would be to wash it in the bath. I wasn't convinced, but this morning after church he did exactly that. It was VERY dirty! He filled the bathtub about six times before the water was even reasoanble. Then we used the BGCM to suction out most of the water, lying the rug on the atrium floor having rolled up the other rugs out of the way.

Very hard work, but I have to admit, effective. The rug is now back in the living room, albeit rather damp still, and looking stunningly clean and fresh. We just hope it will dry out rather than growing mould. It's too heavy for the washing lines, and anyway rain is predicted for the next few days.

The garden's been rather neglected for a few days now - Tim finished mowing the grass area, and I did a bit more weeding, but then rather lost interest.