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The Junk Parlor

Week 3 of our living room transformation for the One Room Challenge focuses on carpet dent removal and trimming the blinds!

I know, I know this week’s task list for the One Room Challenge is GLAMOROUS! Funny side note about glamorous…you know, the song? When I was getting induced with Kyler, that was my relaxation technique. I sung G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S…over and over. Just that part of the song 🤷🏼‍♀️. So, not glamorous stuff this week, but necessary stuff!

If you are coming over from the One Room Challenge, WELCOME! This week, I’m splitting it up into 2 Parts. Part 1 is all about carpet dent removal while Part 2 is all about trimming the blinds! Be sure to check them both out and for that matter, be sure to check out what I’ve been doing every week for this challenge!

First up, let’s talk carpet. Specifically attempting to remove the carpet indents left by the previous owners. I’m just guessing here, but HIS chair, lazy-boy type sat in the same location for 7 years. If it works, why fix it? Believe me I understand. But! I will not be placing any furniture in this spot, so all I see are lines in the carpet.

I have vacuumed the spot, scrubbed the spot, combed it with my fingernails…nothing is removing the indentations. I shared this in my stories on Facebook and Instagram and numerous people said they’d had luck with the ice cube technique. Honestly I had heard of the ice cube technique and I thought that’s stupid. That’s something someone came up with just to see if people are stupid enough to try. But, multiple people said they had actually done it and had success! And some were people I knew in real life!

Carpet Dent Removal with Ice Cubes

I had originally planned on borrowing a neighbors carpet shampooer. But because I had so many people rave about the ice cube technique, I tried it first! What is your guess? Did it work? Answer down in the comments!

Pictured above is the spot with the carpet indentations we are trying to remove. I placed ice cubes the entire length of the indentation. It seemed to take all day for the ice to melt. In my mind I’m thinking that I am making water marks on my basement ceiling, but I held course and let them melt.

Once the ice cubes had melted, I combed the carpet fibers with my fingers repeatedly. I then vacuumed the spot. It did improve the crease, but it did not remove the crease. Now, I’m not going to say that if I had done it again that the indentation would still be there. I don’t know. Maybe it’s a technique for carpet dent removal that you have to do multiple times. I was not going to try it. Instead I went to my original plan.

Carpet Dent Removal with the Carpet Shampooer

My original plan was to steam clean the carpet. One of my neighbors had came over and we were looking at the house and I pointed out the carpet dents. She said she had a steamer I could borrow! Great! Now I don’t know if a steamer is the same as a carpet shampooer, but she has a Rainbow Carpet Shampooer.

She was at some Home Show and got sucked into buying a Rainbow Carpet Shampooer. Using that seemed like it might fix the carpet issue. I never really understood how the ice cubes would help the indentations, but a deep cleaning sounded like it might work. There was also that spot in front of the chair dents that I’ve talked about that was stained from having feet on it for 7 years. 😂

The shampooer seemed like it might help that issue too!

One evening the neighbor came over and went over how to use it. She even confessed that she normally YouTube’s it every time. The Rainbow is both a regular wet vacuum and another attachment does the shampooing. She said I might as well vacuum while I had it too!

I feel like this could be a whole Rainbow Carpet Shampooer and Vacuum review post too!

Using the Rainbow

So, I remove all of the furniture from the living room that I can. I remove the chaise end of the sectional, but leave the L shaped portion of the couch. Under the chaise is the stained carpet and some of the dented carpet runs under the placement of the chaise as well. I shove all of the furniture into the dining area of the house.

Vacuum

First I vacuumed. Neighbor did a good job explaining how to use the machine. Her machine looked brand new. I forgot to tell her that the last time I borrowed a neighbors carpet cleaner, that also looked new, I broke off a piece that holds the attachments, or some random piece. You will notice a theme if you keep reading.

So I vacuum the living room. I work my way around the couch sections that remained. I focused on vacuuming the high traffic areas repeatedly and from every angle.

One time when we lived in KCMO a vacuum salesman/team gave us a spiel for 4 hours straight while a crazy toddler ran around and begged for our attention. We ended up buying the damn vacuum (still have it) just because we wanted them to leave and couldn’t get them to, it felt, any other way!! Anywho, one thing I learned in this lecture was that you need to go over a spot like 6 or 7 times to really clean your carpet and make it last longer.

So, I made good use of the Rainbow. I also vacuumed about 2 feet inside each boys room. I’m sure you understand why, if you have or have had teenagers. Then, I moved on to our master bedroom. Neighbor said to use new water for each room! Sorry neighbor, I forgot that part!

Why did I want to deep clean our bedroom carpets? Again the previous owners had their bed in the same location for 7 years. Where did hubby and I put our bed? The same spot.



Have you been to a farm before? Drove past a pasture? Even watched me share paths at the house or back when my shop was in the church? What happens when you walk the same path repeatedly? Especially for years? The answer is we need new carpet. But, we are going to live with the path made in a U shape around our bed for a little longer if shampooing doesn’t help.

The vacuum and I made it through about 75% of our bedroom. And then it sounded like I sucked up some underwear…but the floor was clean. (If you do want a good underwear story, listen here. Trust me it’s funny) In that same second the lights flicker on the house and on the vacuum. The vacuum makes terrible sounds and the red light comes on. NOT GOOD.

I turn it off. Then, I unplug it. Then I start praying that I am not going to have to spend hundreds, thousands on a new vacuum that I won’t even get to use! I check the bottom of the vacuum. Clear. Next, I disconnect and check the hoses. Clear. I follow the path the dirt would take until I get to the tub of water. Dang, that looks dirty and full! Oh yes, neighbor said to use clean water for each room!

I dump the water. Holy moly was there a lot of carpet fuzz in there! Thank goodness I dumped it in the toilet and not in the sink! The previous owners didn’t have a pet. Our Bella doesn’t really shed, so it had to just be carpet fuzz. I add new water. This entire time I’m praying that the vacuum will work fine when I restart it.

Phew. It does.

Shampooer

On to shampooing!

I Googled how to use the Rainbow. One video pops up that’s 100 years old and has been watched millions of times. I’m guessing this one is what my neighbor watches. Seems easy enough.

I switch out the vacuum for the shampooing attachment. My neighbor had checked the water/soap, so I didn’t even think to really look at it. Who knows if it was full. I start with the entire reason I borrowed this thing. The stained section and the carpet dents in the living room.

First you get things wet. I went back and forth. I did the stained section and the carpet dents, then I moved to just the high traffic path from the bathroom and front door to the dining room. I really didn’t see the point in doing the entire room.

After everything was wet, you push a pedal to the soap option. I covered the same areas in the same pattern with soap.

The third step was the drying option or I’m guessing the sucking option. Repeat the same path as before. I went a little slower this round and I also went over the same spots multiple times, just to soak up as much liquid as possible.

At this point I’m ready to move on to our bedroom. I check the water compartment this time. It looked fine on the machine, but on the shampooer, it looked empty. I read the directions booklet with the machine and refilled the soap and water only section.

I used the same steps as in the living room. Again only hitting the high traffic areas in the hopes that it would revive the carpet.

Review of the Rainbow Carpet Shampooer

I don’t use my Roomba every day like I should, but I do use it weekly. But how much the Rainbow picked up was just mind boggling. I don’t care about dirty water. We have 5 people and a dog, our house is going to be dirty. I’m a keep the house picked up and tidy person, not a deep clean every week kind of person. So dirt I expect. That amount of fuzz and clumps, I did not expect.

What I Liked About The Rainbow

The amount of carpet fibers the Rainbow picked up!!! Makes me debate purchasing one. I’d be really curious to see if after using it a few times if it picked up that much carpet fiber every week.

So A+ on suction power.

The shampooer worked well too. Did it do everything that I wanted it to? No.

Remove the carpet indentations – YES, well initially, now a few days later it seems to be back, but it is better

Remove the stain – NO, but helped

Revived the matted down carpet – NO, but helped

What I didn’t like about the Rainbow

When I vacuumed I hit my leg on the attachment holder EVERY TIME. I don’t have the vacuum anymore to examine it, but I would have that holder removed. My neighbor obviously didn’t keep her attachments on the holder anyway.

The hose length was ok, but the biggest issue was the base of the vacuum I will call it, the canister. When my neighbor can’t carry her own vacuum because it’s too heavy, that’s a problem. I mean I can carry it, but I’m not your average 44 year old! Basically you have a base on wheels and then the hose attaches the base to the part that suctions, whether that is the vacuum OR the shampooer.

Even though the base is on wheels, it never moved on my carpet without me picking it up to move it. It is not something you can walk around carrying while you vacuum. I did not test it to see if it would move around on my wood floors.

Because of the weight I will not be recommending you purchase this Rainbow Shampooer. It works great, but I don’t think it’s user friendly!

However, if weight doesn’t matter to you, then here are three used ones I’ve found.


One Room Challenge

Want to see more participants in the One Room Challenge? Check it out HERE.


Living Room Makeover Game Plan

Week 1 – Create a Game Plan & Pick a Paint Color

Week 2 – Paint the Living Room

I did get another gallon of paint and I did finish painting Edgecomb Grey by Benjamin Moore. I ALSO painted the accent wall in the dining room area that leads to the basement. Remember that even though my focus for the One Room Challenge is the living room, the living room opens to the dining room and kitchen too!

There is one spot where the ladder scuffed up the wall a bit. I had to borrow the neighbors ladder to paint the focal wall. I have not touched up this wall, because I might end up doing something else! You see I’ve decided I’m not sure if I’m an accent wall person? So I might end up paint the whole east wall in the living room and dining area Homburg Gray.

I’m not going to decide until everything in the living room is finished. So, I don’t want to do a second coat if I end up painting it a different color. It’s hard to tell from pictures, but the inside corner where the two colors meet needs to be a lot cleaner. I will spend time on that, once we know for sure what we are doing!

I still haven’t painted where the board and batten will go. That will get tackled next week when I work on that wall. I’ve gone back and forth on whether I should paint the boards before or after installation. I’m thinking I might do one coat outside and then one coat once they are installed. This will also allow me to fill holes and do anything else needed to make clean lines and a smooth finish.

Week 3 – Part 1 Tackle the Carpet & Part 2 Transform the Window Treatment

These posts were long, so I split them up into two parts.

Part 1 – Carpet Dent Removal, which you are currently reading.

Part 2 – Trimming the Blinds

Week 4 – Install Peg Rack Wall

I did spend Week 3 sketching out the board and batten wall. I tested out some salvaged trim boards I had in the garage to double check my spacing for the project. Of course, I get a board right where the outlet is!! Even though my sketch didn’t work out, I knew I would still need the same amount of supplies. I went to Home Depot and purchased the boards I needed. They are currently sitting in my garage.

I have wood filler and caulking that I will also need for the project. I am hoping that my neighbor has a nail gun I can borrow! TBD I have no plans of using adhesive with our without nails. I do not want to ruin the walls if I decide to remove the boards later.

Week 5 – Picking Other Furniture for the Room

So far I have had zero luck locating a sofa table. The stadium seating I shared Week 1 just doesn’t seem long enough and I don’t think I want furniture on that side anyway. On the sofa side the one cabinet I had with potential is too tall. You do not want a cabinet or table taller than the back of your couch. So, I see a lot of thrifting in my future! Or nothing will be shared this week!

Week 6 – Built-Ins *fingers crossed this gets done in time

These definitely won’t be done on time. We haven’t even ordered the wood. My cabinet guy is still brainstorming how to do the base of the cabinet because I want doors that look like drawers. If nothing else, I will share my inspiration photos this week!

Week 7 – Staining the Built-Ins

Week 8 – Adding Decor

Oh my goodness I can’t wait!!

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Week 1 Living Room Makeover

Don’t forget to checkout Week 1 of the Living Room Makeover!

Week 2 Living Room Makeover

Week 3 Part 2

Week 4

Pinterest pin for week 4 of the living room transformation for the one room challenge

Week 5 & 6

Pinterest Pin for Week 5 & 6 of the Living room transformation for the one room challenge.

5 thoughts on “Carpet Dent Removal | ORC”

  1. For carpet dents, use ice cubes. When they have melted, use a spoon (not a fork) edge to try and lift up the dent. Then cover the dent with a towel and use a steam iron for about 30 seconds. Do NOT use the iron directly on the carpet. You may have to do a couple of cycles with the spoon and iron depending on the depth of the dent. Worked well for me – I took out dents from a grand piano sitting for 15 years.

    1. Well, maybe I need to try the ice a few more times then. I did it once, but not as good as I had hoped! I also wonder if it’s just a cheap pad too because even having a bench sitting for a month has made dents in the carpet and I did not have that experience at my old house!

  2. Great post! We recently had our carpet cleaning team called in to help with some pet urine stain removal and while they were moving some furniture around I couldn’t help but notice the dents in our carpet! Your tips greatly helped us get rid of those stubborn dents! Thank you!!

  3. THANK YOU JUNK PARLOR! I have been having such a haaaaaard time getting rid of these stupid dents left behind from our bed frame. I called in a carpet cleaning team to give me some help and they did great, but now we are rearranging furniture and have more dents to deal with!

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