Recently I was given a gorgeous indoor/outdoor rug. Since I am in the process of redoing my outdoor space, this was perfect — and the rug was even the color scheme that I was going to be using. The rug is 8′ x 11′ and covers a significant part of my back patio. The only problem is that it needed a thorough cleaning and some TLC. There were grass and berry stains on both sides, so it was a challenge for sure. But cleaning your indoor/outdoor rug doesn’t have to be an overwhelming chore, and you can do it yourself.
You’ll Need:
OxiClean
scrub brush
bucket
water hose with setting that has a lot of pressure
Dawn dish soap
Tide laundry detergent
The first thing I did was take the rug outside and swept it off as well as I could. Then I took the water hose and used the setting that had the most pressure to get off what dirt I could. I got a scrub brush, bucket and OxyClean and mixed the OxiClean with some water in the bucket and began dumping it onto the indoor/outdoor rug in patches about 3′ x 3′. I let each patch set for about 15 minutes, then went back and scrubbed with the scrub brush (I brushed from the top of the rug toward the bottom instead of side to side and that seemed to work better). Then once I scrubbed a section I let it set for an additional 30 minutes. Then went back out and used the hose to spray out as much of the stain and detergent that I could.
I do think that this method worked with some effectiveness, but I wasn’t ready to accept my results. I’m not sure if my method worked well in the end because of everything I did, or if the last thing I did worked the best. I next used Dawn dish soap and water and did the exact same technique as I did with the OxiClean. Once I sprayed it to get the dish soap out, I decided to go with Tide laundry detergent.
I once again did the same technique of pouring the Tide and water mixture onto the rug in sections and letting it set, then scrubbing and letting it set another 30 minutes. Then rinsing thoroughly. When I finished scrubbing with the Tide solution, I could see the biggest results. After the Tide, almost all the grass stains were gone. I had to do both sides of the rug because there were stains on both sides and I wanted to see which side looked the best when I was finished. Not surprising, the bottom side was cleaner in the end. I’m really happy with the results after cleaning.
Now I know why Amanda likes to use indoor/outdoor rugs as much as she does. It’s great to be able to take them outside and hose them down. Cleaning your indoor/outdoor rug is pretty easy if you have a little time and patience. Keep in mind, while this was a lot of work, most of the time your rug isn’t going to be in such rough shape and you may only need to spot clean anyway. For me, I definitely feel like it was worth the work. I am not sure if it was the combo of what all I used, or if the Tide was just that good, but I would still probably use the OxiClean if I had it to do all over again. I’m sold on indoor/outdoor rugs!
