Ever move a piece of furniture and find a big dent in the rug or carpet staring back at you, a constant reminder of where your couch/chair/table once lived? We recently had a run-in with a few when we transplanted our rug from the living room (under our couch and coffee table) to our guest bedroom:
I had always been a fan of the rub it out with your toe technique… until Sherry taught me a more effective, less foot-crampy way to make those indentations disappear: a simple ice cube. And the method is actually Heloise approved.
Just put an ice cube on the troublesome dent and leave it alone to melt. As the cold water slowly seeps in, your carpet will rise back up and no one will ever know a couch or coffee table once lived there. Look ma, no dents!
(Just be sure to keep any thirsty chihuahuas away from the ice cubes during the process.)
We’ve also heard you can use a spoon or fork to fluff the rug afterwards, but we’ve never had to resort to that second step since the ice cube seems to work thoroughly enough without any poking or prodding. Oh and many a wool rug is supposedly not the best match for water, but the small amount of liquid contained in the ice cube has never hurt any of our 100% wool ones (like the one pictured above- from JC Penney by the way). Anyone else found success with this trick? Anyone have another one up their sleeve to share?
You are releasing your inner Heloise. That’s a marvelous tip. Who knew? Seriously? Who figures stuff like that out? Amazing.
that is incredible. We’re in the process of moving and have so many carpet indentations staring us in the face. I was just racking my brain yesterda as to that trick I read about in readers digest 10 years ago… back before I needed it…
Thanks so much!
ice is also really helpful when removing gum from clothes, carpet anything. (my little brother used to fall asleep with it and get it stuck to the pillow case.)
i’ve heard a dryer sheet works in that case as well…
I haven’t heard of this before; thanks!
I don’t have a carpet trick, but one that relates to freezing (one you may have heard). When a candle melts to its glass holder, put it in the freezer for a while and then it is easy to remove.
That’s a great trick! I’ve used the fork before and it does work. Also, if you have a really thick carpet, you can use a pet hairbrush to “brush” out the dent.
That is a wonderful idea! I’ll have to try that when I go moving furniture around the next time. Thanks!
We recently moved into a home where the previous owner had a pool table set up in the living room. Needless to say the dents were large and deep and this trick worked wonders!
I used this trick when we moved stuff before putting our house on the market. Worked like a charm!
Hehe! I was going to make the dog comment. Ice on a rug surely wouldn’t last too long if Rafa was around.
I have no carpet tricks but for years I struggled trying to clean old candles and their drippy wax off of glass or ceramic surfaces (ie: the candleholders, etc). I now put them in the freezer and after a few hours take the item out and the wax comes out in one chunk. The temperature change causes the wax to release. It’s glorious I tell ya!
I tried this once on my carpet, but it’s berber, and it didn’t really work. :-/
Yaa, with berber carpet it is really difficult to get out carpet indentations. Even professional carpet cleaning that doesn’t even work very often.
Another good way to get rid of difficult carpet dents is a good blasting with a Shark hand-held steamer or similar brand steamer. Blast, work it with a spoon, blast, work it with a spoon until fluffy again. You have to really get the nozzle down in there and kind of aim it so it’s close to parallel to the floor. I did this all over our 3 bedrooms of berber carpet when we moved out and the house was still for sale.
It’s amazing how simple tricks like this make your life so much easier – and save you money since you don’t have to get a new carpet :)
I’ve never even heard of this before…where do you guys come up with these ideas :)
I don’t even know where I heard it! I think it’s funny that it’s Heloise approved though!
xo
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