It is important with any pet stains to clean them before they have a chance to soak in. When removing pet urine from a rug, it becomes difficult to get the stain out once it has absorbed into the fibers and starts to yellow. It is equally as important to make sure that you remove all of the odor from the urine, or else the dog will be drawn to the same area in the future.

Your best bet at successfully cleaning a pet stain at home is if the stain is still wet when you find it. The first step is to soak up as much of the urine as possible. One method of doing this is layering paper towels, and then newspaper, both above and below the rug, and then standing on top of this for a minute, and then removing them. This will help remove excess liquid. Once this is done we suggest using a solution that is made from 1 cup of warm water, ½ cup of white vinegar, and teaspoon of a mild dish washing detergent. This solution will help neutralize the uric acid crystals in the pet urine, so the stain does not yellow. It will also help eliminate odor. Test the solution on a small out-of-the-way area of the rug, and then work from the outer edge of the stain towards the center. Once this is done soak the liquid up with a towel. This same solution works if your animal defecates or vomits on the rug. In the situation where the urine has managed to soak down to the padding, it is necessary to purchase new padding to replace it in order to completely eliminating the odor.

It can be helpful for you to have a door mat outside of the door to help people remove any dirt or snow from their shoes prior to entering the house.  This will help you to only have minimal dirt and slush is tracked into your house and onto your rug.   Also, vacuuming both the front and back of the rug regularly can help prevent major salt staining.  This should be done at a time where the rug is dry, because it is more likely to pick up any salt that is in the rug.

If you are already at a point where your rug is really dirty or has a bad stain, we suggest that you have it professionally cleaned.  Especially for a valuable or heavily soiled rug, cleaning it yourself may end up hurting the rug more than the weather already has.  Professional services, like the one offered at Peykar Rugs on Long Island, are safe and thorough. We can determine what kind of materials and dyes were used to make your rug in order to find the best method of cleaning for your rug.

Here at Peykar, we have been thinking about this, and are here to help. First, we shop the world for the best quality, best style, and best value rugs available. Second, we directly import these rugs to keep the cost as low as possible. Third, we keep our mark up as low as we can, every day of the year. These steps help us guarantee you the best possible rug or carpet for your home, at the best price.  This does not mean your rug will be cheap, it means that you will get the most you can for your money.  Customers who shop at Peykar get the best quality rugs on Long Island within their price range.  This guarantee helps make our customers home’s look its best for many years, even generations.

Don’t take our word for it.  Come in and see for yourself!  Eliminate the stress of having to look for the biggest sale. Just come Peykar Rugs in Westbury, NY, where every day we have the best prices, backed up by our 30 day price guarantee.

Peykar has been selling some of the finest rugs and carpets on long Island at the lowest prices available for forty years.  We plan to continue providing our customers with the best deals available over the years to come.

In April of 1996, the estate of the famous Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was put up for auction at Sotheby’s.  Our owner, Robert Hakimi, attended this auction, with his eye on a beautiful mid 19^th century Victorian needlepoint rug.  The rug is 8’ x 7’1 and is designed with roses and hibiscus and four eagles on the corners of the border.  This rug was famous for being located in Jackie’s favorite room of the white house during her husband’s presidency, the Yellow Oval Room, which was located on the second floor.

(The Original Sotheby’s listing)

Despite being labeled as $6,000-8,000 in the auction catalogue, like the other items offered during this auction, the sentimental value of the possessions of Jackie and JFK was underestimated.  The rug was considered to have had a frenzy of bidding of bidding at the auction.  The final purchase price of this rug was $43,125, over double what Robert had expected to pay for this white house original.  Robert made an agreement with his uncles to split the price of the rug.  The rug was then reproduced and sold in honor of Jackie.  Paul Peykar was quoted saying that the high price paid for the original was well worth it “to preserve a piece of such historical importance”.

The Pazyryk Rug is the oldest rug ever to be discovered.  In 1949, the Russian Professor Sergei Rudenko found this rug while excavating burial mounds belonging to the Scythian people in Sothern Siberia.  The architect found five frozen grave sites, with the contents preserved in solid ice, resulting in them being in almost perfect condition when they were extracted.  It is believed that the tomb had been robbed shortly after being closed, resulting in its seal being broken, allowing moisture to leak in and freeze.  This raid can be directly attributed to this rug being protected from decay.  This lucky discovery completely changed the way the history of rug making was perceived.  Until then, the oldest rugs that had been discovered were made of lesser quality weaving and material, where as this rug was made using advanced techniques and materials.  As the oldest surviving example of a complete rug so far, this rug created the perceptions of just what weavers were capable of all the way back to 400 B.C.

This rug was made by a group of people called the Scythians, who from the 9^th Century BC expanded across Eastern Europe from Asia, and to the Mediterranean and Egypt.  They were an ethnically diverse group of people who spoke an Iranian based language and had traces of the Mongol race.  They were known for their skills with domesticating horses and becoming great horsemen and archers.  These tribal people were known for their fearlessness, and their advantage in war caused by this and their excellent horsemanship.  Their horses were known for being decorated with rugs instead of saddles.  The large grave sites where the Pazyryk rug was found was said to be where their great warriors and tribal chiefs were buried.  These Scythian heroes were buried with decorated horses, weapons, gold artifacts, food and other textiles.  The quality and condition of this rug has resulted in the assumption that the rug was created purely for burial purposes.  The rug would have never actually been used in everyday life.

For a long time, it was thought that early rugs and carpets were fairly primitive in both construction and design.  To find a rug that was over 2500 years old that was so sophisticated changed this view entirely.  This rug was constructed using the traditional Turkish knotting system, which until then had been linked to beginning only 2000 years ago, 500 later than this rug was created.  This sophistication informs us that a higher level of design and construction was not only already existent, but had to have already been passed on by numerous generations to reach that level of detail and execution.  This is similar to the sophistication of the dye technology used for the yarn.  This fabric was dyed using colors from local insects and plants to create a refined pallet.  Until discovering this rug, it was not believed that this level of dye technology was possible for ancient people.

The rug is 5’11” x 6’6” in size, making it almost square, and has a soft wool feeling.  It is finely knotted, with approximately 200 to 270 symmetrical knots per square inch.  The rug has a deep red color in its center, and has five borders.  Overall, the rug has four colors: red, yellow, green and blue.  The center field has a pattern that has been interpreted as repeating quatrefoils, which is a design that is common in the stonework of Assyrian Palaces.  This pattern has been also related to symbolism that represents the sun.  The primary, and widest, border contains horsemen, which are suggested to represent power, nobility and valor.  Each horse has a saddlecloth that resembles the actual Pazaryk rug.  The secondary inner border features a series of grazing elk, which is thought to represent longevity and wisdom.  The final outside border is made up of winged griffins.  These animals are part eagle and part lion, and are known to be guardians, unclear as to if it is mean for in life or after life.

The ORIA and its members are financially committed to improving the lives of children in rug weaving countries. The ORIA Charitable Fund is a non-profit organization was created in order to solicit and channel funds through various existing humanitarian projects, including schools and clinics. They believe that it is most effective to concentrate funds to support already existing initiatives, in order to minimize expenses and guarantee that close to 100% of the donations are sent overseas. Their focus is on donating to on-going non-governmental programs aimed at improving health, welfare and economic status of needy children and their family in the major carpet weaving districts of the world. One organization that the ORIA Charitable Fund supports, for example, is Care & Fair, a 1o year old organization with over 450 contributing members which operates in all three regions. One cause they support is running 16 schools, 7 healthcare centers, and a hospital in the rural areas of India’s carpet belt for families of local rug weavers. If you are interested in supporting these efforts, please click here.

When asked what the most interesting part of this book was, after having gone through it, Robert said that he was struck by the fact that even after almost 100 years, the technical aspects of rug making had basically stayed the same.  He noted that most of the same designs were even commonly used today.  The most interesting chapter in this book for Robert was where they discussed the importance of symbolism in the designs of rug.  100 years ago, there was a lot more enthuses put on using symbolism.  These same designs that are copied regularly today were created for a greater meaning.  One example of a common form of symbolism used in Oriental Rugs is the “Tree of Life”.  Almost all Oriental Rugs have some sort of expression of vegetable life.  It is rare to look at a rug and not see some form of twig, vine, flower or tree.  This important symbolism can be linked to religious meaning for many races and religions.  Some examples of this are the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life in the Book of Revelations, and the Chinese Taoist tradition of the tree of life that grows alongside the Sea of Jade, which offers immortality to those who eat from it.

Despite many of these symbolic patterns and designs still being used currently in rugs, the stories that go behind them have been lost.  People do not look at these erugs and see the meaning behind them, losing their historical significance and meaning.  Robert said that it is inspiring for him to read about this meaning as he designs rugs.  He hopes to come up with new adaptations of designs that help keep some of the symbolism and its meaning alive.

As he went through the book he was struck by the fact that even after 100 years the technical parts of the rug world have basically stayed the same, still even using many of the same designs in rugs. There was much more significance put on the symbolism in the designs in rugs – but now even though we are adapting many of the same designs we have lost the stories that go along with the designs – historical significance and meaning of these designs.  It is inspiring for Robert as he comes up with new adaptation of designs to try to keep some of the symbols alive.

With all of the rainfall that we have had in the weeks following the Hurricane, these issues have persisted.  With what is predicted to be a hard hurricane season ahead, our expert Robert Hakimi wants to provide you with pointers for what to do if your rug gets wet from a flood.  First, it is very important that you remove the rug from the wet area.  If the weather outside is dry, lay the rug flat outside on solid ground.  This will allow the sunlight to help dry your rug without getting dry areas of your home wet.  Do not leave your wet rug rolled or flooded, as this can commonly cause the colors to bleed and run into eachother.  If this happens, your rug will be more severely damaged, resulting in a less promising and more professional cleaning process being required in order to salvage your rug.

Once your rug has been laid out in a dry place, you must contact your local reputable rug dealer.  Peykar Rugs on Long Island is the go to source for rugs and rug cleaning.  Our drivers will come and pick up your rug in order to wash and dry it properly for you.  If you do not have access to us, or another dealer soon after the flooding, an alternative solution is to rent a wet vacuum.  You can use this to vacuum up as much of the water from the rug as you can.  Once you do this, the rug will dry faster when laid out.

Once your rug is dry, it is important to clean it thoroughly, to remove any chances of mildewing and dirt from the flooding.   If you cannot find an Oriental Rug cleaning service like Peykar Rugs, please refer to our upcoming blog entry on how to clean your oriental rug.

Padding is important for rugs will have furniture placed on top of them.  The padding absorbs the weight of the furniture and prevents it from leaving permanent marks on your rug.  With this, it also protects your floor from scratches or other damage from furniture or from foot traffic.

Padding can also help prevent wearing on the bottom of your rug.  Not only is there a good chance of your rug damaging your floor, but there is also a good chance of your floor damaging your rug!  If you have padding, however, this can be prevented.

Along with these value preserving benefits for your investment and your home, an extra benefit of padding is that it makes your rug even softer and nicer to walk on.  It seems silly to pass up an opportunity to help preserve your rug, your floor and increase your level of comfort for only a minimal additional fee.