Ditching (Carpet) Dimples

If you're like me, you move your furniture around...a lot. And if you're like me, you live in a house/apartment/condo/cave/shelter that has carpeting, even if you dream about hardwood floors. (Well, I shouldn't complain too much...our new apartment has hardwoods in the kitchen/living area, so it's a step up from our last place). While carpet can be nice underfoot, dampen sound, and provide a soft place for pets or babies to play, it can result in some leftover three-dimensional blemishes after simple rearranging. Case in point:

This little lovely was left behind after moving our couch. Since we had divided the large living space in half (using the couch as a divider), these lovely foot marks were literally right in the middle of the room. And there were four of them.

Yuck.

So after a little hunting around on the fabulousness that is the Interwebular, I came across a little quick tip to steam these babies out. I thought it sounded like a long shot, but if all it took was some water, a cloth, an iron, and about 30 seconds, I was down to give it a go.

Here is my victim waiting to be fluffed into submission.

I simply took a little spray bottle and sprayed it 4 or 5 times with water--enough to get it damp, but certainly not soaked.

Then I took a simple washcloth and laid it on top. I suppose if you had a large area to cover (maybe from a big bookshelf or something), you could try a larger towel. This worked just fine for my footprints.

I already had my iron heated up and ready to go, and thanks to an extension cord I had no issues reaching the middle of the room. I chose a low setting ("synthetic") to be on the safe side after plugging that puppy in. Lots of carpeting is made out of synthetic fibers, and they can melt at surprisingly low temperatures so use caution when implementing this step. You can always steam it a bit longer or try again at a higher temp if your first pass doesn't work--but you certainly can't un-melt your carpet. And a nasty patch of crusty meltie carpet would look WAY worse than a carpet dimple.

Simply press...

And lift! Voila! A nice, smooth, dimple-free carpet. The heat from the iron steams the water you spritzed earlier and fluffs the damp carpet fibers right up!

Feel free to rub it a bit with your hand or even take a hairbrush to it to help things along if necessary. I didn't have to do a thing with mine. Quick, simple, painless (assuming your ironing skills surpass those of a kindergartner), and free! Woohoo!

How about you guys? Come across any handy household tips and tricks? Tried this one out before? Live in a gorgeous abode with all hardwood floors and have other problems to worry about? Share away!