As a big carpet fan, one day I decided to layer the jute rug in my living room with cowhide. I learned a lot about cowhide rugs when I was looking for one to purchase. I wondered if it was hard to maintain cowhides.
As a general rule, cowhide rugs are easy to maintain. You should vacuum them regularly and shake them on the porch if some dry dirt falls in their hair. If some spills or hard stains appear on its surface, you may do the wet cleaning. There are 3 ways to clean cowhide rugs: manually, with a hose, and with a wet vacuum. Be sure to dry the cowhides carefully after wet cleaning. Read further to know, how to select a good cowhide rug.
Are Cowhide Rugs Worth It?
If you’ve ever been confused, about whether to get the cowhide rug for your living room, bedroom, or home office, just continue reading this post. I’ve selected lots of useful information for you on cowhide rugs, their maintenance, prices, etc.
But the most frequent question on cowhide rugs, which I get from my readers, is “Are cowhide rugs really good and worth getting?”
I am sure getting a cowhide rug is a good idea for most homeowners. Sometimes customers think that cowhide rugs suit some certain décor style in the room. For example, these rugs are great for pubs in cowboy style or premises with a country-style interior design. But that’s not true. The cowhide rug looks great on the floor in the living room, decorated in any style. It’s a great idea to put the cowhide rug in the fireplace zone. It will add coziness to this area and create a great ambiance for cold winter evenings. Here are other advantages of cowhide rugs:
- They add texture and warmth to any space
- Cowhide rugs can be layered over cheap jute or polyester floor coverings to add some style to the room
- These rugs are natural and feel soft to touch
- They are allergy friendly
- Cowhide rugs are easy to clean
- They are durable and versatile
So, if the list of cowhide rugs’ advantages made a great impression on you and you’ve decided to get one of them, continue reading. I am going to tell you how to select cowhide rugs and what is their price range.
Selecting the Good Cowhide Rug
Cowhide rugs may be good, bad and something in between. To make a conscious purchase, of course, you should get good cowhide rugs. In this case, you can be sure, that they will look great and will stay for long. By the way, the cowhide rug durability is 10 years and more, if you maintain them right. The right maintenance starts from the selection of the good cowhide.
Here are the tips, which will help you to purchase wisely.
Tip 1: Choose the cowhide rug with short hair
Most of the good cowhide rugs are short-haired. That’s because they harvest the cowhides in summer. That season cows have short hair. If you get short-haired cowhides, you may be sure, they won’t shed a lot. Besides, they are easier to maintain.
Tip 2: Select the cowhide with a neutral smell
As a natural product, sometimes the cowhide rug smells like leather. Very often homeowners get annoyed with this odor, which they feel all the time. You should know that high-quality cowhides have been cleaned and treated carefully, so they are aroma-free. Probably, high-quality cowhide rugs will be a little more expensive. Nevertheless, if you want to select a good cowhide rug, it is better to choose a product, which smells neutral.
Tip 3: Choose the cowhide the color, which suits your interior design
Cowhide rugs are extremely versatile. They can be of almost any color and pattern. The cowhides, which are present on the market, can be either natural or of solid dyed color. The natural color of these rugs depends on the breed of the cow they are made of. The solid dyed colors of cowhides can be different. So, make sure, that you’ve chosen the right rug color.
CAUTION:
Never put the dyed cowhide rug in the too sunny room. Direct sunlight can cause hair discoloration.
Cowhide Rug’s Price Range
As I’ve mentioned above, I don’t recommend getting the cheapest products of this kind. In this case, your cowhide rug will shed. It also will lose its color and it can be too thin in some areas. To avoid these problems, I advise you to get a product of higher quality, even though it will cost a little more.
The price range for cowhide rugs is very wide. The prices start from $200 and reach $500-600 or even $800.
I’ve got $600 cowhide for my living room and I like it. My friend bought an $800 cowhide rug, and it looks luxurious. You may use the cowhide not just as a floor covering. It is possible to hang it on the wall as a tapestry. Besides, you can put it on the sofa to create a close-to-nature ambiance in your room.
If you got the cowhide from the more expensive category, you should know how to maintain it right. In this case, it will serve you for years.
How to Maintain the Cowhide Rug?
High-quality cowhide rugs are good in care. Nevertheless, you should know several simple rules, and how to maintain them right.
First of all, cowhides are natural leather products. So, you should treat them just like you treat natural leather. That means you shouldn’t put them in the wet rooms. Of course, the moisture won’t damage the leather rug, and it will look great after it dries down. But too frequent contact of the cowhide rug with water will cause mold and mildew appearance. Besides, the leather may wrinkle, if it dries down not carefully.
Here are other ideas, on how to maintain the cowhide rug well.
1. To make the rug look sparkling and beautiful, comb its hair regularly in the direction of the fur. For that purpose get the right [amazon link=”B07GZRCHCS” title=”carpet brush”/]. To make the rug fur even smoother to touch, you can put some [amazon link=”B01G7L72LU” title=”carpet powder”/] on the rug surface before cleaning.
2. Never wash the cowhide rug in the washing machine, even on the delicate cycle. Otherwise, the dents can appear on the rug’s surface. And you won’t be able to get rid of them.
3. As a general rule, the cowhide rugs are not slippery. They don’t scoot around. But sometimes the edges can curl. To solve this problem, use double-sided carpet tape. Put the tape in the areas, where it might curl up.
4. If the edges start looking raggedy, take a razor or a carpet knife to trim them. Keep in mind that you should cut both, the hair and the leather. To keep the floor in the room clean, trim the rug edges outside.
3. Clean the cowhide rug regularly as dirty leather becomes too dry and gets cracked easily. First of all, you should vacuum the cowhide once or even twice a week. Then I advise you to shake the rug outdoors if some debris, like bread crumbs, gets in its hair.
Once a year you have to do the wet cleaning of the cowhide rug. Besides, cleaning it with water is necessary if some spills occur.
There are 3 ways, how you can clean and wet the cowhide rug. Let’s consider all of them in detail.
1. Cleaning the cowhide rug manually
The wet cleaning of the cowhide rug manually is the cheapest and most affordable way. Of course, it demands some effort from you. To clean the cowhide manually, you should have the following things:
- A soft carpet brush
- The carpet soap/dish soap
- Soft white cloth
- Leather conditioner
- A bowl
- A towel
Take a soft carpet brush to get rid of dry dust and dirt from the rug hair. Then, dilute some carpet soap/dish soap in the bowl with warm water. Take a piece of white cloth and wet it in the bowl with soap water. Wipe the rug hair with a wet cloth. Make sure, your touches are light and delicate. If the white cloth gets dirty after cleaning, replace it with the new one. After that take the cloth, soaked in fresh water. Wipe the soapy rug surface with it to get rid of cleaning solution remnants. Make sure to rinse out all soap residues. Then get the towel and rug the rug hair gently. Dry it away carefully. Then comb the cowhide hair with a soft brush.
2. Cleaning the cowhide rug with a hose
I have to say from the very beginning that cleaning cowhide with the hose is not allowed to do frequently. You should do it just in case of hard stains or spills. Never hose the cowhide from the back side, where there’s leather. As it’s not good if the leather is in touch with water.
To clean the cowhide with a hose, just take the rug outdoors. Put it on a hard surface. Take a hose and rinse the rug hair with water. Then put some carpet soap/dish soap on the hair and rub gently with a carpet brush or sponge. After that, you should rinse the soap carefully from the rug hair. Use the hose to wash the cowhide properly. Finally, you have to dry the rug down from both sides (hair and leather).
3. Cleaning the cowhide rug with a wet vac
If you have the wet vac at home, you may use it to clean the cowhide rug fast and thoroughly. To do it, you’ll need:
- The wet vac
- The gloves
- The carpet soap
- The peroxide (if you have urine or other hard stains)
- The sponge
- A bowl with warm water
Put on the gloves and dilute some soap in the bowl with hot water. Take a sponge, wet it in soapy water, and rub the rug hair with it gently. Take the vac with the bristle-free nozzle to clean the rug surface. Rinse the soap from the cowhide hair. If there is some urine or other hard stains, treat them with peroxide. Leave the peroxide for 15-20 minutes and then clean it with the wet vac. Make sure, you’ve dried away the cowhide carefully after cleaning.
Watch the video to know more about cowhide rug cleaning with a wet vacuum:
Conclusion
To conclude, the cowhide rugs are easy to maintain. Just vacuum them regularly and do the wet cleaning, if it is necessary. If you used the tips I’ve written above and selected the right cowhide rug, it will serve you for a decade. I advise you to consider getting such rugs to refresh your home décor. You can put cowhides on the tile or concrete floor and enjoy its soft and warm texture.