There has been an outpouring of questions about my kitchen runner and I am here to answer each and everyone of them.

Two months ago ABP hosted a little opportunity for you to decorate my kitchen floor. The uber-fab company Shades of Light generously offered to adorn my woody kitchen with whatever rug won the vote. The results were tallied and the winner was #1 – the Happy Trellis Rug. But considering the beautiful options that the Shades of Light design team came up with, I would have been one lucky dog either way.

But let’s “Adam Sandler it” and hit the rewind just a bit, shall we?

Before, our kitchen was sportin a yellow wool rug that was just begging for a spill or stain faster than you can say “NOT CHILDPROOF”. We snagged this yellow Pottery Barn rug up for a fraction of the cost at the nearby outlets and hoped that it would survive in the kitchen till we could find a decent replacement. Not only was it the wrong size for this space but since the kitchen is very high-traffic, it started to pill and we were holding our breath when doing the dishes. Which is never a good idea for a time-consuming chore. One accidental slosh and it would have been ‘siyanara suckas’.

Enter Shades of Light. (just pretend I am a damsel in distress) Oh Shades of Light, you rescued me! Oh oh oh! Smooch smooch smooch (a little tongue…not too much though). You need air? Ok…let’s get this binding plastic off ya, shall we?!?

OH yeah…look how long this sucker is! Perfect for in front of the sink AND the stove…since that is where I stand the most, it makes sense to have something comfy underfoot.

And now that I received a beautiful new rug, I went into mother-mode and knew that I had to do everything in my power to protect it. After all, a rug this nice is an investment…not something you test for kitchen survival skills.

So I did a bit of googling and found that I could use a standard Scotchguard fabric protector on it….it works for wool rugs too! First step – a once over with the vacuum. And let me tell ya, it had already gotten dirtier in one week than Mickey Rourke’s rug…and I ain’t talking about the one on his floor.

Next I got down and dirty…err…clean. I did a thorough job checking each and every square inch to see if there was any itty bitty bits left behind from the quick sweep or any oreo crumbs that were imbedded.

I noticed a couple little spots where ‘sloshing’ had occured. So I flipped it over to see if there was a small area that I could do a color test on the rug. I sprayed just a tiny bit of water in the corner and blotted away…seemed okay to me. Seriously…I don’t know anything about color testing but this seemed like the logical process.

Color testing stage 1 complete. I moved on to color test my favorite carpet cleaner. SUCCESS! So I went to work dabbing just the tiniest cleaner fluid on the spots and blotting away. Since the fibers of my new rug were so tightly woven, it really wasn’t easy to blot…but eventually my paper towel showed evidence of the brown smears…gotta love brown smears 🙂

After all the cleaning/prep work was finished, I got to work with my protective topcoat of Scotchguard. The key was to use a sweeping motion about 6″ away from the rug to get a very thin layer. The back of the bottle said – 2 thin coats is better than 1 thick one. If you plan on doing this – be sure to have a paper towel in hand to wipe up the bits that get on your wood floor!

And there you have it – doesn’t it look like a completely different kitchen? I think so. It is amazing how it not only breaks up all the wood, but it really draws you eye to see the yellows, greens, and reds that are in the rest of the room.

The best part is that now the sink area is no threat to my new pride & joy. I have total confidence that any little spills will bead up and can be whisked away before their staining power takes affect. My boyfriend likes it too. Especially since he does all the dishes. Not as much screaming now…

Warning – I kinda got loopy off the Scotchguard. Man, that stuff is powerful! That or I am a total wimp. Either way, I was flying real high as I cut a rug next to my brand new & protected yummy green runner. That ever happened to you guys? Or do you only Scotchguard smaller items? Any tips for the amateur Scotchguarder? Or any questions about the runner – let me know! Gotta go satisfy the munchies…like always!