A country home is a home that is really lived in. You have friends over to visit. You play games on the living room floor, raise puppies in the mudroom, and store your saddles in the spare bedroom. There's one thing that's for sure: keeping the carpet clean in a country home is an ongoing struggle! But here are a few tips you can use to make at least some positive progress.
1. Buy a carpet shampooer
Home carpet shampooers do not do as thorough of a job of cleaning carpet as a professional cleaning service does. So you will want to have your carpet professionally cleaned every 6 - 12 months. But having a home carpet shampooer can be really handy for in-between touch-ups. If a certain carpet starts to look a little dull or someone decides to walk across the living room with their boots on, you can shampoo the carpet and clean it up before the dirt has a chance to get ground in.
2. Have one part of the carpet shampooed at a time
In a country home, it always seems like there are 10 different things going on. Having to ask your kids and pets to stay off the carpet for a day while it dries may seem impossible. It's a lot easier if you only have part of the carpet shampooed at a time. For instance, you could have the carpet cleaning service come do the bedrooms in March and the living room and hallways in June. This way, you only have to ask people to stay out of certain areas, which is more manageable.
3. Buy floor mats, and then buy more floor mats
You really can't have enough floor mats. If people step on them, they won't step on the carpet. Guests are not always going to take their shoes off, so it is best to assume they won't and keep area rugs around the entryway. You can post a couple of "please remove your shoes" signs, which will set most guests in the right direction — but maybe not the teens or kids. Look for mats with a really grippy texture so they'll grab onto the mud rather than letting it slough off onto the carpet. The less mud ends up on the carpet, the less you'll have to clean.
With the tips above, your country home will have the cleanest carpet in town!
To learn more about carpet cleaning, contact carpet cleaners in your area.