A hand-knotted wool rug asks less of you than a houseplant. This is the whole guide: one weekly minute, one spill method, a few honest nevers.
Here's what fifty years around wool teaches you: wool mostly looks after itself. Its lanolin — the natural oil in the fibre — resists dirt on its own. The dense, hand-knotted pile barely sheds from day one; across our 350+ reviews, shedding complaints are effectively zero. And the colours are in the fibre, not printed on top, so they don't walk off with the foot traffic.
Your rug also arrives already washed — twice, in water, with brushes, dried flat under the sun. So the job left for you is small. Here it is, all of it.
Vacuum gently — suction only, no beater bar, no maximum-power setting. Go with the pile, not against it. That's it. That's the routine.
Wool cleans like hair, not like carpet. Treat it like hair, and it behaves.
Coffee, wine, a pet's bad day — the response is the same every time, and speed matters more than technique:
Blot straight away. A clean, dry cloth, pressed down. Lift the liquid out — never rub it in.
Dab with cold water. A damp cloth, cold only. Work from the edge of the spill inward.
Stubborn spot? One drop of mild wool-safe soap in a bowl of cold water. Dab, blot dry, let it air.
Dense hand-knotted pile takes real life — toys, paws, dropped dinners. The spill method above covers all of it, and the pile springs back from most everything else.
Our own rugs live under our own kids. That's the standard they're made for.
Don't wash a wool rug at home. A full wash needs proper flat drying in open air — indoors, a wet rug risks mildew and losing its shape.
Every few years, when it genuinely needs it, take it to a professional who washes wool rugs by hand. Tell them: water wash, no harsh chemicals — the same way we washed it before it ever reached you.
A rug that's walked on and vacuumed never has a moth problem — moths only matter when wool sits still, rolled up in the dark for months. Storing one? Do it right:
A vintage rug follows every rule above — just softer. Vacuum on the gentlest setting, spot-clean with a lighter touch, and skip the fringe entirely when you vacuum.
Its wear is its character, not damage. Every vintage piece we sell was professionally washed before we ever photographed it — it arrives ready to live its next life, not needing a restoration.
A burn, a torn edge, an unravelling fringe — before you pay anyone or give up on it, send us a photo. Most damage to a hand-knotted rug is fixable, and nobody knows these rugs better than the people who make them.
We'll tell you honestly what it needs, what we can do, and what it would cost. The relationship doesn't end at checkout.
Send us a photoAny care question, any spill panic, any "is this normal?" — write to us and a real person will answer, usually the same day.
