It's sometimes difficult to notice the dreariness we've let our living spaces lapse into. If a cluttered house is a cluttered mind, imagine what a dank, lifeless room does to our psyches.

In these times of uncertainty and stress, we need as much help as we can get, as cheaply as possible. We just can't go out and pay to have all the rooms in our house renovated and redecorated, so we have to do what we can.

It might mean a simple coat of paint or new curtains, but the perfect place to start is actually right under your nose, or your feet, to be exact.

Clean carpets can be the foundation of a new look for any room in your home. Along with getting a brighter, fluffier appearance, they can also help give it a fresh smell.

Steve Lore of Classic Carpet Care of Du Quoin said that depending on the color and amount of use your carpets get, a good rule of thumb is to clean them every six months. If you have pets, messy kids or light-colored carpet, you may want to have it done more frequently.

Lore said a carpet's longevity will not only be affected by care, but by the quality of the material. When he goes into a house, it's one of the first things he will check and it helps to determine his course of action.

"I've run into customers who had their carpet for 20 years," Lore said.

Maintenance in between cleaning times is a priority as well. When there's a spill, take care of it. Usually, that would be a food product. Instead of commercial spot-cleaning solutions, Lore recommends using water with liquid dishwashing detergent, which is meant to break down food.

Doug Brandon, owner of Professional Cleaning Services in Herrin, said the most common type of carpet cleaning is the hot water extraction method, commonly referred to as steam cleaning.

"It's the deepest clean method there is," Brandon said. "The most thorough."

If you're looking at doing it yourself with a rental machine, Brandon suggests the trouble and difficulty may not be worth the cost, which is surprisingly close to having it done professionally.

Cleaning your carpet is also a good excuse to move your furniture around, which can be a good way to liven up a room. It can also be a big component of maintaining your carpet, said Michael Mundell of Carpet Tech in Benton.

"(There's a) tendency to put the furniture in the same spot because of all the hook-ups," Mundell said. "There tends to be a wear pattern that develops where the fibers are no longer tightly bound the way they were; they tend to break down. That tends to be your dirtiest area."

brent.stewart@thesouthern.com / 351-5074

How to deep-clean your carpet

Vacuuming doesn't always restore a carpet's clean appearance. For heavily soiled carpets, shampooing is recommended, rather than spot-cleaning. Wet-cleaner machines spray and remove hot detergent solution while cleaning the carpet. Here are a few steps to get your carpet looking clean as new. You'll need rubber gloves, vinegar, pre-spray carpet cleaner, a vacuum cleaner and accessories, wet cleaner vacuums and carpet shampoos.

l Purchase or rent a wet-cleaner machine, also known as a steamer, at a hardware or grocery store. When you rent a machine, the necessary cleaning products are usually included or can be purchased at the store.

l Vacuum the floor thoroughly.

l Spray heavily soiled areas with pre-spray or traffic-lane cleaner. For really dirty areas, increase the amount of pre-spray used instead of increasing the amount of carpet shampoo.

l Fill the machine's hose or reservoir with hot tap water.

l Use the machine and carpet shampoo according to the steamer manufacturer's instructions.

l Maximize the amount of water removed from the carpet by making a water-extraction pass with the water spray on, and then again with the spray off. Test the carpet with your hand. If your hand comes away with water droplets, extract again with the spray off; if your hand comes away damp and the carpet feels wrung out, you have extracted correctly.

l Wait overnight for the carpet to dry before walking on it. To dry thoroughly, open windows and use fans.

- ehow.com

Another method

Sick of that stale odor in your carpets? Clean them with this method to make them look and smell like new.

l Mix some powder laundry detergent with some water; use common sense with how much you're mixing. Mix together with a cloth.

l Vacuum your rug. Once is good enough, and start from a corner.

l Wipe down a small area of the carpet with the cloth to make it damp and collect any lint from the top.

l Scrub the area gently with the scrub brush until clean.

l Throw down some old towels or sheets so the carpet doesn't get dirty, and to soak up excess liquid.

l Replace your soapy water with fresh clear water after finishing the entire area.

l Go over the cleaned areas with just water and the scrub brush to remove any excess soap, then let it dry. It will dry faster with fans or open windows.

l When it's done, your carpet will smell like the detergent you used and will be sparkling clean. Try to remove all detergent from the carpet, as the excess detergent will pick up soil very quickly.

l Be sure to vacuum when it's dry to fluff it up.

Spot-cleaning

l Use a clean towel and dab up the excess spill.

l Pour a ¼ cup of cool water on the spill.

l Dab the spot with clean towel. Do not rub the towel across the area because that will only make the mess larger.

l Keep dabbing and adding a little more water until the area appears clean.

l Go over the area again (dabbing only) with another clean towel to ensure most of the water has been cleaned up.

- wikihow.com

Before you get started

If you plan to shampoo your carpet, first try pre-cleaning: Sweep the carpet, which will make the nap stand up and loosen the embedded dirt. Next, vacuum. With this work alone, the rug should show a noticeable improvement, so much, in fact, that you may decide to delay shampooing.

To neutralize odors: Use Borax and cornmeal. Sprinkle the carpet with a mixture of 1 cup Borax and 2 cups cornmeal. Let this mixture stand for an hour before vacuuming.

Carpet freshener: Combine ¾ cup baking soda, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, and ¼ cup perfumed talcum powder. Sprinkle on dry carpet, let stand 5 to 15 minutes, then vacuum.

Stain removal: Clean up spills as fast as you can. Blot or scrape up as much of the spill as possible, blotting from the outside toward the center.

Dents and depressions (from furniture or heavy objects): Shift the location of furniture from time to time. Brush the dented area, or use a grooming tool to loosen the mashed tufts. Using a steam iron, steam the dented area lightly and brush up the tufts with your fingertips. Do not let iron touch the carpet. Hold the iron 2 to 3 inches above the carpet. For carpets containing acrylic or mod-acrylic, use the warm setting on a hair dryer, as steam may melt the fibers. To avoid further crushing, use casters under furniture legs.

- doityourself.com