apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Thanks for the tips - I've had my flokati for a couple years and haven't known what to do with it.

However your post doesn't really indicate the severity of the shedding. Mine shed like crazy for the first year or so - I had white fur-balls all over my apartment for months!

I purchased mine from a place in New Jersey for much less than West Elm: http://www.flokatirug.net/ You can get a 4000 gram 10' diameter rug like mine for $599. The shipping was fast and they even take PayPal.

Sorry, but flokatis sort of squick me out. Well, not all flokatis, but the idea of a DIRTY flokati seems gross. And if someone has pets or children, I can't imagine being able to keep the thing clean.... Anyhow, I'll pass. Anything that requires regular grooming better be able to wag its tail and play fetch. ;)

can anyone ID the book on the rug?

Molly Margarita --

we've had a flokati in my daughter's room since she was born (she is now 4 1/2) and have never had a problem keeping it clean (she doesn't eat or drink or play with play doh in her bedroom, so how could it get dirty?).

We vacuum it regularly (taking care not to pull the strands out), and the one time it got dirty (one of our cats had a hairball), we washed it in the washing machine (it fits, even though it is 5' x 7') with woolwash and euclan, and it came out as good as new.

It is really pretty low-maintenance (and I am picky about cleanliness).

I've had mine for 6 years now and it still looks as awesome as the day I bought it. I take it to the laundromat (it's a 6x9 rug) and put it in the big machine (it actually fits fine in the middle-sized machine, but I give it more room to roll around in the big one) with a cap full of Woolite and it comes out awesome. I just lay it back down in the living room to dry ... only takes a few hours.

My mother, who has plenty of clean snow up in NH, swears that you take all of your wool rugs and put them in the snow to clean them. I have not tried this yet. Anyone else hear this?

I washed our flokati in the bathtub with Dawn dishwashing liquid (we were told to only use the original blue formula -- not the green, not the pink). We have a fireplace and the amount of soot in our rug was astonishing. The water ran black several times, but afterwards the rug was so clean it glowed. We then hung it on a drying rack for a a few days in the bathtub. It weighed a ton right after washing and nearly cracked the drying rack in half, but it was worth it!

1) place in washing machine
2) air dry outside

i do it 1X month, never vacuum it.

jlg, I've read about the snow treatment. Haven't lived anywhere with snow, yet.

These are wool so they are naturally antimicrobial and less likely to harbor any germs or odors other than the wolly smell they should have.

FYI, you can get a 6'7"x4'7" at IKEA for $80.

Woolite, cold water wash in a commercial machine (laundromat), and dry on low/no heat setting. good as new. (ours is about 7.5 feet in diameter, medium weight)

I just bought my third flokati on Craigslist, this one an awe-inspiring, cream, 12' x 8' for the insanely low price of $80. The seller didn't know what to do with it, but I do. One trip to the laundromat and $10 later in the super-sized 75lb front-loader and we've a rug that looks like new despite years of neglect. FABULOUS!
Our dogs love the rugs; they dig and roll to their hearts content and once a month it's off to the laundromat. Picking up flokati balls is a small price to pay for such a beautiful, natural and hygenic product.

Chris, I notice that you are from Toronto. What is the name of the laundromat with the super-sized 75 lb. front-loader? I have a similar sized flokati, however, I have not been able to find a laundromat with a machine large enough!
Any help for this fellow-Torontonian would be greatly appreciated!

podboy, I don't know the exact address but it's on Dundas West, just west of Scarlett Rd., which is west of Jane (north side). It's the best laundromat I've ever had the pleasure to use and they have 25 lbs, 35 lbs, 50 lbs and 75 lbs front loaders for the REALLY big flokatis.

Thanks for the advice!!!!! I was given a flokati from my mom and it was about 30 years old and once it became dirty I did not know what other alternatives I had other than dry cleaning. I washed it in the bathtub with mild blue dishwashing soap and it looks great! Took a while to dry but THANKS!

omg, i bought a huge and heavy/really thick flokati about 4 years ago. i'd never seen one in person but it looked soft and it was all natural and from what i saw online it looked silky or something. i was haveing a baby and i needed something soft and comfortable on the tile floor. well when it came; 14'x11' i think and about $700, it was so heavy i had my door dude help me lay it down..it didn't look like what i thought it would. kinda rough, and not silky, and WORSE i kept getting fuzz in my eyes!!!!!!!!! every single day i'd be inthe bathroom rubbibg my eyes... it was really freakin horrible. then i thought if i just had it cleaned before the baby came the fuzz would slow. so after reading all over the internet about how easy it was to wash it...well i couldn't put it into any washer i'd ever seen, and i could hardly hang it over the patio to even shake it, much less try and wash it in the bath. it would have weighed 100lbs! so, finely i dropped it off at some design district rug shop to have them clean it, even thinking that it would turn out more silky and thus more like i really thought it would be. a couple days later and $330 poorer i came out with the same old thing!!!!!!!!!! hated it! but, i think the owner felt a little bad for ripping me off so much she did give me a pink suzani pillow i showed intrest in as a parting gift... anyway, anyone in miami want a huge FLOKATI, just cleaned, and hardly used email me at miamidecor@yahoo.com :)