Mold and My Seagrass Rugs

Could your seagrass rugs have mold growing in them?  If someone had asked me this question just two weeks ago, I would have shouted a long and loud, “No!” from the rooftops.  But that was before Jordan and I saw a weird green substance on the two 9 x 12 seagrass carpets that are in my great room.

 

First, let me give some background details.  I bought two seagrass rugs from a very reputable/blog friendly store a little over a year ago in August, 2013.  One of them had a little patch of green on it, but I didn’t think a thing of it because when reading reviews about seagrass rugs before I bought them, someone mentioned that her rugs had a greenish hue.  The humidity in our home is at 42 per cent year round using either the heat or the air conditioning, and that is the recommended level.  Plus, I am an immaculate housekeeper.  I clean and vacuum our home at least once a week.  We don’t have young children or pets around here, and so they couldn’t have dropped some food that caused the mold to begin.  We don’t wear our outside shoes indoors.   Also, I don’t get down on the rugs for sitting, lounging or exercising, and therefore, I am not ever eye level with the rugs.   The bottom line is that our home is not one that could easily harbor mold and that’s why I wasn’t on the look-out for it.

 

 

One of the things Jordan and I did when she was here two weeks ago was rearrange the furniture in the great room (we will show you that reveal soon) because we are going to relocate the television.  She noticed something green on one of the rugs, and we started looking closer and discovered that it was all over both rugs.  The crazy part was that it was even in the areas of the rug that get direct hits from the afternoon sun everyday.  The room doesn’t have one dark/dank/mold friendly spot in it.  It is a bright, fresh, sunny room.  We did a little investigating online and discovered that mold can grow in seagrass rugs, and there was even a DIY solution for removing it.

 

 

Following the directions, I mixed up one part bleach to six parts water and sprayed it on a small area.  I used an old toothbrush and scrubbed it into the rug.  The green didn’t budge.  And let me add that this is not a wet green.  It is dry and crusty, and it wasn’t going anywhere.

 

The next day Jordan called the company (Ballard Designs), and they couldn’t have been nicer.  They told us to send one photo and an explanation to their product specialists.  Within minutes I received an email back from them saying that even though the warranty had expired, they were going to send me two new rugs ASAP.  They said the rugs will be here in two to three weeks.  I was overwhelmed and thrilled at their generosity.  I have heard good things about Ballard’s customer service before, and now I am experiencing it first-hand.

 

 

Before the rugs arrive, I am going to take some proactive steps on my end.   First up, I am taking our Moroccan rug to the professional rug cleaners so that it can be completely clean when I layer it over one of the new rugs.  I am going to buy new rug pads to go under the new rugs.  I am going to wash the hardwood floors in a weak solution of bleach and water just to make sure there aren’t any random spores floating around. And finally, I am also going to wipe the bottoms of all the furniture in the room with a weak bleach and water solution.

 

My hope is that the rugs that came to our house were from a “bad batch” that maybe had some mold on them when they arrived which would explain the green that I saw on them at first.  I will be sure to let you know when the new rugs are in and give a reveal of the new room arrangement as soon as the cable guy shows up to move the box.  If you have had any experience like this, please let us know in the comments.

 

Take care.

 

Linking to Between Naps on the Porch.