Can you vacuum an old rug?

You can use a vacuum, but avoid the beater bar. The spinning brushes catch loose threads and chew up the fringe over time. Use the plain suction attachment instead. Work across the width rather than along the length. This stops the suction from pulling at the warp threads and keeps the foundation stable.

My grandmother left me a large carpet with red and blue shapes on it but the fringes are quite damaged, should I fix them?

Yes, you should secure the ends. The fringe is the structural foundation of the whole piece, not just decoration. When the fringe breaks off, the knots holding the pile start to slide away. A specialist can stop the unravelling with an overcast stitch. They secure the remaining rows of knots to save the border pattern. This routine work extends the life of the carpet by decades.

A good pad is essential on hard floors. It stops the rug slipping when you walk on it. It also absorbs the friction between the heavy furniture and the floorboards. This protects the wool knots from getting ground down from below.

There is a colour change halfway up the carpet where the blue gets much darker in a straight line across, is this normal?

Dealers call this abrash. It happens a lot in tribal or village weaving where makers dyed small batches of wool in local pots. When one batch ran out, the next lot of indigo or madder might come out a different shade. This change is normal and adds character. The horizontal line shows exactly where a new week of weaving began.

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Antique Carpets from the 19th Century

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Hand-knotted from wool, silk, or cotton on traditional looms, an antique carpet provided a durable floor covering and a vital layer of insulation for grand houses and nomadic tents alike.