Rejuvenating that old rug…with pictures

[Jdot]

That carpet is not rinsed out...at all. You are going to have nasty black dye everywhere if your carpet get even a little wet. That would be like soaking a tshirt in black dye, letting it dry and putting it back on. Wouldn't you want to rinse the shirt out or wash it before putting it back on? If you went your finger and stick it down into that carpet, you finger is going to be stained black...

I tried this last summer. By the time I was done, I had bought 4 packets of powder (RIT), 4 bottles of liquid black (RIT), a bag of white crap that is supposed to help "hold" the color, and two packets of two other brands of black dye I found at craft stores.

Dye does not stick to our carpet. It is mostly made of plastic.

I tried this on my tan carpet as well. It was in much better condition than the OPs and I cleaned it twice before starting. I tried mixing the dye with hot water, salt water, letting it soak overnight, brushing the dye in, and leaving it in the sun. The dye does not stay. My carpet was a horrible shade of purple when I was done. Sure, it look as good that good at first, but if you take a hose with just about any water pressure, it will rinse out. A LOT will rinse out.

I would say it "might" work grey carpet.

[BamBam]

Hmmm, not sure why your's didn't take but after a year and getting wet many times (wet shoes, etc.) it still looks great and I have never had any dye come off onto anything. The only preparation I did before dyeing was to hot steam clean the rugs to make sure they were as clean as possible. Other than that, nothing special. I love the look and am still 100% satisfied...

[mynamiseli]

I recently used this technique on mine (originally gray) and high pressure washed the pieces after they had dried for a few days. A bit of color did wash out, but it wasn't significant. Here is a photo for reference with the rewashed piece on the bottom and the untouched piece on top. This comparison gives a bit of a purple hue on the bottom piece, but in person the top piece is truly BLACK.

[lawdogg]

Awesome stuff. I am planning on doing this to my nasty tan carpet at some point, now that I see how easy it is! Thanks for sharing!

[Jdot]

Originally Posted by BamBam

Hmmm, not sure why your's didn't take but after a year and getting wet many times (wet shoes, etc.) it still looks great and I have never had any dye come off onto anything. The only preparation I did before dyeing was to hot steam clean the rugs to make sure they were as clean as possible. Other than that, nothing special. I love the look and am still 100% satisfied...

Crazy, wonder why I had so much trouble? I rinsed mine with a power washer and the dye just kept coming right out. Glad it worked out for you though.

[BlackDream]

damn it looks fantastic! Do you guys think is possible to go from charcoal to bright red with this product or charcoal is too dark to switch to red?