Taking a rug to the car wash

I took my rug to the car wash. The old fashioned kind, not the drive thru ones. I had been watching those rug videos on the internet where someone takes a very dirty rug and uses high pressure water and other tools to clean it. They are enjoyable to watch. I wanted to wash a rug too.

I knew I could lift my rug because I lift it every time I move. Also, getting it back in the car would be important, considering the water weight afterwards would make it very much heavier and more dangerous. The power within a group of only a few men that have been following through on their big plans since childhood, is pretty crazy. Potato gun crazy, hidden man holes, hand dug pools and now I am sure they have their own apps.

I wanted to be somewhat like the wild boys I grew up with. If they had a vision, no matter how heavy, it would happen. It seems they would always be cooking up something wild, really long bike rides for our age, massive snow caves, and it just got bigger as they got older.

There is a type of nerves you go through when you are doing something untraditional. ‘Am I going to get caught being weird?’ type of energy. I reminded myself no one really cares what I do. As long as I am not hurting the equipment, I should be fine. If the management didn’t want me washing a rug there, I could just leave. I would not recommend using their brushes, only the hose. Their brushes are especially soft and made for not scratching cars, not made for rugs.

No one told me this but I think it is an important part of creative & human development to be able to follow through on one’s ideas. It teaches you much more than you could learn from a book and allows the process of realizing one’s rugs dreams. If you have ever been excited or curious about an idea and had someone shut it down (or shut it down yourself), you know that it leaves a feeling of creative incompleteness. It reduces one’s confidence. Even if it doesn’t go well, you will understand about your process.

It is an important part of development to be able to follow through on one’s ideas.

I brought my dog because I thought this would make a really fun excursion for us both. She did enjoy it. I purposefully went at a time when it would not be busy so I wouldn’t be holding up the line. Out with the rug, on with the water hose and how could cleaning be this much fun. I originally packed my own soap recipe with dish soap and vinegar that would be more appropriate for a rug. I also didn’t want to be using so much water to rinse out their soap as my rug wasn’t too dirty.

After it was complete, I spent some time walking on it as I rolled it back up and waiting a bit for the water to drain. It was absolutely, super, super heavy. I would not recommend this for a single person that does not lift heavy weights regularly. It’s a great way to pull a back muscle. After the water drained, I was surprised to get it in the car. It was the flight up the stairs that gave me a crooked back muscle for a few days. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.

Once I got it home, I had another plan in mind, I was going to dye my rug purple. About a year ago, I had a whole bottle of wine on a small bookshelf. It was being used as a book stop. The dog and I were goofing around one day and ‘smash!’ Purple wine all over the rug in a 2 foot radius. I just stood there, emotionless. I was surprised at my reaction.

When I got this rug, it was a big money purchase for me. I searched the internet, scoured it and finally found an amazing rug by Safavieh. I treated this like a baby, because it was. It was my first big purchase besides a couch and mattress, that was not really a need. It was a want. Shoes had to be off. I knew this rug would last a long time.

What changed? I still love the rug, I just have perspective. It also reminds me of that time period, and thankfully, a lot has changed since then. I understand why people want to redecorate their homes a lot. They want things to look and feel different.

They want things to look and feel different.

So, I just cleaned it up, no problem. I knew I could wash it and also was noticing how beautiful that section of the rug was with a deep eggplant purple on top of it. In fact, I liked it so much I thought, ‘I should pour wine over the whole rug.’ I thought about how much that would cost and how many bottles. I remembered fabric dye. I found the darkest purple available. I had other things I needed to finish first, like the Drexel table I decided to refinish that took way longer than expected. so I had to wait on the rug project a little longer than I wanted to, but finally the day came.

So, after the car wash I set out to dye the rug, starting with it being a little bit wet. (I would not do this if it wasn’t the hottest part of summer where I knew I could have it dry out pretty quickly.) I am still working on how to explain that process…