Once the weather begins to warm up, I always get itchy for DIY projects. I decided back in January that 2018 would be the year when I learn how to clean, properly. My dog recently peed on my entryway rug, and I used this for DIY spring cleanspiration! First stop? Google, of course.
Right there in big and bold letters on the interwebz were instructions for HOW TO DIY CLEAN A RUG! A little bit of vinegar, a little bit of water, a little bit of baking soda, oxyclean and Dawn… VOILA! Super simple right? …holy bologna…
One ambitious Monday morning, I yanked my 5×7 ft rug out the front door and proceeded to hose it down, douse it with vinegar, and coat it in baking soda. We left for about an hour for my daughter’s speech therapy. and when I got home I lifted up the rug, set it on my outdoor bench to dry and noticed that my DIY cleaning project turned into a big, fat WHOOPS.
Apparently, the vinegar ate my rug.
Yep, the vinegar had a ravenous appetite for tasty rug; the underside just bubbled up and sloughed off. And the smell of burnt rubber! I’m gagging and choking just reminiscing about that awful, awful smell.
To be fair, I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with this rug. I mean, I ordered it on an online sale, $79.99 and I got 3x Southwest points so, it was practically a steal. However, when it arrived, it made me vomit in my mouth; it was ORANGE. Not the soft burnt orange hues from the computer screen. It was an orange atrocity. So, I stuck this ugly thing in my living room until I just couldn’t stand to look at it anymore.
Then, I moved it to my foyer where it fit PERFECTLY in the 5×7 nook. There it has lived since August, and it has worked out well to save my tile from the high traffic. My dogs like to sprawl out on it at night, and my kids like to play on it in the daytime when the tile is too cold for their little thighs.
This (r)ugly had, surprisingly, grown on me — until the dog pee!
My dog must have been peeing on this thing little by little, because I started sniffing around the last two weeks thinking “What on Earth is that awful smell?” When we rolled up the rug to mop underneath, we found the evidence — Pee spots! Stinky, stinky, pee spots. So, I weighed out my options…call someone to come shampoo it? Shampoo it myself? OR… make this THE 2018 Early Spring DIY project!
Of course, I chose to scratch that terrible, awful DIY itch — and ruined the rug!
I ordered a new rug, but unfortunately couldn’t find the same super fabulous deals. Now, I must figure out how to dispose of the original ugly piece of junk rug. I blame Martha for making all women (cough… me… cough) think we have the smarts to do projects like these. The good news, or perhaps it’s bad news, is that the new rug set arrived this week; it is also not exactly the color I expected. So, perhaps if my lack of common sense ruins (r)ugly 2.0, I can finally buy a perfect (third) rug!
Maybe you’re better at cleaning than I?
Maybe you are smarter than I?
Maybe you would have just tossed out the rug the first time and saved your $3 on vinegar and baking soda? Whatever the case, just please, don’t make the same costly mistake I did.
Very entertaining read- thanks for sharing! ❤️