Moroccan Rugs. What You Need To Know.

Moroccan rugs have a look all their own. Thick, shaggy wool pile, simple geometric lines, and colors that run from creamy white to bold reds and oranges. You'll find them in a lot of South Florida living rooms. If you own one, or you're thinking about buying one, a few things are worth knowing before it needs its first cleaning.

Start with who cleans it. A Moroccan rug is handmade, almost always from wool, and its deep pile holds sand and grit down near the base where a vacuum can't reach. Treating it like wall to wall carpet can leave it wet for days, and a wet wool rug can bleed dye into its white areas. Before we wash one, we check the fiber and test the dyes, then plan the wash around what we find. That's how our oriental rug cleaning service handles every handmade rug, Moroccan ones included.

Next, the dyes. Many Moroccan and other tribal rugs are woven in places where water is scarce, so the wool isn't always rinsed well after dyeing. Extra dye stays in the fibers, and some colors were never fully set in the first place. Water can make those colors run. If you spill something, blot it right away with a dry white towel and resist the urge to pour water on it. Over rinsing a spill is one of the most common ways these rugs get permanent color damage.

Then there's the fiber. Traditional Moroccan rugs are wool, but a lot of newer rugs sold as Moroccan style are cotton, polyester, or a wool blend, and some use viscose for shine. Each of those cleans differently, and viscose in particular stains and yellows easily when it gets wet. If you're buying, ask what the rug is made of. If you already own one and aren't sure, the tag on the back usually tells you, and we can tell you at the inspection. We walk through that same fiber check, and why it changes the wash, in our guide to wool rug cleaning.

A Moroccan rug that's vacuumed regularly, blotted quickly after spills, and washed by someone who tests it first can last for decades. Know what yours is made of, go easy with water, and it will keep that soft, thick feel for years.