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Full conservation treatment · From $1,000

Rug Restoration Chicago — Antique, Persian & Heirloom Conservation

Antique rug restoration by third-generation conservators — foundation rebuilding, hand reweaving, dye correction, and conservation cleaning for Persian, oriental, and heirloom rugs. Museum-grade methodology, every stage in our Skokie workshop, documented chain-of-custody.

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Antique Persian rug restoration in progress on the workbench at Ahmadi Rug's Skokie workshop
  • 5.0 ★Google · 79 reviews
  • MuseumTrained methods
  • 3rd-GenFamily conservators
  • DocumentedChain-of-custody
  • 10,000 sq ftSkokie workshop
Free insured pickup

Free insured pickup from Chicago, the North Shore, and surrounding suburbs

We collect your rug, restore it in our Skokie workshop, and deliver it back wrapped and groomed — pickup and delivery are always free and fully insured, and fragile antique foundations are rolled properly on site. Choose your area for local detail, or call (847) 440-1349 to schedule.

Restoration is a different discipline from repair

A repair addresses a specific injury — a moth area, a torn fringe, a chewed corner — while the rest of the rug is sound. Antique rug restoration is a complete conservation treatment: foundation integrity, pile height, dye condition, and cleanliness all evaluated and brought back toward original. It is the kind of work museums commission for their textile collections, performed over weeks rather than days — and it is governed by a single principle: do as much as the rug needs and nothing it cannot withstand. Here is exactly what conservation-grade restoration involves, and why each stage matters.

01

Condition survey & documentation

Before anything is touched, the rug is examined front and back under raking light and logged in detail — foundation integrity, dye stability, pile loss, prior repairs, structural weakness, and provenance markers all photographed and recorded. You receive a written condition report that states exactly what we propose to do, what we would leave untouched, and what the rug can and cannot recover.

Why it matters: restoration is governed by what the original textile will permit. The survey is what separates honest conservation from over-treatment — and it is the document your insurer or appraiser will ask for first.

02

Treatment plan & reversibility

We write a staged plan that follows conservation principle, not cosmetics: do as much as the rug needs and nothing it cannot withstand, and keep every intervention reversible so a future conservator can undo our work without harming the original. You approve the plan and the price before a single knot is tied.

Why it matters: irreversible shortcuts — glued backings, synthetic over-dyeing, machine patching — raise a rug’s value on the day and destroy it within years. A reversible plan protects both the piece and its market.

03

Foundation stabilisation

Everything else depends on a sound foundation, so the warp and weft come first. Rotted or brittle cotton is consolidated or re-warped under tension, broken wefts are rebuilt, and the structure is brought back to load-bearing before any pile work begins.

Why it matters: reweaving onto a failing foundation simply rebuilds beautiful pile onto threads that are about to give way. Stabilise the structure first and the restoration lasts generations; skip it and it reopens in a season.

04

Reweaving & pile restoration

Lost pile is rebuilt knot by knot on the rug’s own foundation, following the original knot type, density, and pattern, at the original height. Ghorban performs the structurally significant reweaving himself. A single square inch of dense, dye-matched reweave can take four to eight hours of handwork.

Why it matters: a restoration is only invisible if the new wool or silk ages and catches light like the old. The wrong fibre or a flat single-dye match reads as a patch from across the room, however perfect the knotting.

05

Dye work & conservation cleaning

Migrated dye is drawn back and re-set where chemistry permits, sun-fade differential is brought into tonal alignment by selective hand re-dyeing, and the whole piece receives a pH-managed, fibre-appropriate cold-water wash — the same gentle method used on museum textiles, never truck-mount or high-alkaline chemistry.

Why it matters: dye correction and conservation cleaning are what unify a restoration. Done with the wrong chemistry they bleed, brighten, or flatten the abrash that gives an antique its depth.

06

Final inspection & documented record

The finished rug is checked against its intake photographs, and you receive a before, during, and after photo record with a written summary of the work performed. Many clients pair this with an updated appraisal, since a properly restored antique often appreciates well beyond the cost of the treatment.

Why it matters: the documentation is the proof the work was done as agreed — the paperwork an appraiser or insurer relies on, and the provenance record that travels with the rug for the rest of its life.

“A restoration is finished when the rug looks like nothing ever happened to it — the foundation sound, the dyes in balance, and our hand invisible. And it is done right when the next conservator can still undo it.”
— Ahmadi Rug workshop, Skokie

Not sure whether your rug needs full restoration or a targeted rug repair? Our essay on antique rug repair vs. restoration lays out the decision, and what Persian rug restoration can and cannot save is the honest version. We also pair most major work with a formal rug appraisal so you know what the piece is worth before and after treatment, and where only a section is salvageable we re-finish the sound portion through rug resizing rather than discard it.

What restoration resolves

The conservation problems a full restoration is built for

These are the conditions that move a rug from a targeted repair into full conservation. Each is a different problem with a different sequence — and each must be done in the right order.

Foundation rot & structural failure

Long-term moisture, basement or attic storage, and undetected leaks degrade the cotton or wool foundation that the entire rug hangs from. Once the warp and weft begin to rot, pile loss follows, ends unravel, and the rug can no longer carry its own weight. This is the most common reason a piece crosses from targeted repair into full restoration — the damage is no longer localised.

We consolidate or re-warp the foundation under tension, rebuild the broken wefts, and bring the structure back to load-bearing before any pile is touched. Stabilising the foundation first is the single decision that determines whether a restoration lasts generations or reopens within a year. Where only a section of foundation is sound, we will say so honestly and discuss salvaging the recoverable portion rather than pretending the whole piece can be saved.

Rotted, unravelling foundation of an antique Persian rug before structural stabilisation — Ahmadi Rug, Skokie IL

Widespread moth-belt damage

When clothes-moth larvae have grazed wool down to the foundation across wide bands of the field — often along edges or under furniture where the piece sat undisturbed for years — the loss is too extensive for a single targeted repair. The active infestation has usually spread by the time the bare areas are noticed, so eradication and reweaving have to be staged across the whole rug.

Restoration here is sequenced: conservation cleaning flushes out larvae, eggs, casings, and frass; the foundation is stabilised wherever the grazing reached it; then the lost pile is rebuilt knot by knot, dye-matched to colours that have shifted over a century. We currently hold position for moth-damage work in Chicago, and full moth restoration of an heirloom rug is one of the most common rescues we take on.

moth treatment & prevention →

Antique wool rug grazed to the foundation across a wide band by moth larvae before restoration — Ahmadi Rug, Chicago

Water, flood & mould damage

A burst pipe, an overflow, or a basement flood does layered harm all at once: dyes bleed, the foundation rots wherever it stayed wet, and mould sets into the pile within days. The visible stain is rarely the real problem — the structural rot and the active mould beneath it are. This is emergency restoration, and speed changes the outcome.

Full water recovery runs in strict sequence: mould remediation first, then foundation stabilisation, then drawing migrated dye back and correcting the affected colours, then reweaving any lost pile. The documentation we produce at every stage is exactly what an insurance adjuster needs. If a rug has just been soaked, get it off the wet floor and call us before it dries in place.

our water-damaged rug restoration guide →

Reconstructing a water-damaged corner with dye bleed and foundation rot during restoration — Ahmadi Rug, Skokie IL

Sun-fade differential & dye bleed

Years of window light fade one half of a rug while the protected half stays saturated, leaving a line straight across the field. Separately, a fugitive red or navy that bled during a careless wash or a spill leaves a halo around the motif. Both are dye problems, and both are restoration rather than repair when they run across the whole piece.

Selective hand re-dyeing brings a faded side back into tonal alignment with its protected half, and migrated dye is drawn back out and re-set through controlled conservation chemistry rather than painted over. Where bleeding has fully set, targeted correction rebalances the affected area. This is dye work that respects the original abrash, not a flat over-dye that erases an antique’s depth.

rug color correction →

Selective hand re-dyeing to bring a sun-faded half of a rug back into tonal alignment — Ahmadi Rug, Chicago

Undoing earlier amateur repairs

A surprising share of restoration work begins by undoing someone else’s. Synthetic yarn used to mend a wool rug, holes hidden behind glued or sewn patches, machine-overlock applied to a hand-knotted edge — each prior shortcut has to be carefully removed before the rug can be rebuilt correctly, because the old repair pulls at the surrounding knots and hides ongoing structural loss underneath.

We remove the earlier intervention, assess the true condition beneath it, and re-restore with the right fibre, the right knot type, and reversible technique. It is slower than a fresh restoration, but it is the only way to give a rug that has been "repaired" badly a second, lasting life.

Heavy wear & pile compression

Decades in a hallway, under a favourite chair, or across a doorway wear the pile flat until the foundation shows through as a pale, low path while the rest of the field stays deep and full. When the wear runs the length of a rug rather than in one spot, normalising it is restoration work: reweaving to rebuild pile to original height across the worn zones, then conservation cleaning to lift the compressed wool around them.

The craft is in the dye-matching — old wool fades unevenly, so the replacement yarn is built from multiple dye samples until the rebuilt pile disappears into the surrounding abrash. A layered, sampled match is what makes a worn antique read as whole again rather than patched.

Rebuilding worn-flat pile to original height during full restoration of an oriental rug — Ahmadi Rug, Chicago
Why Ahmadi restoration is different

Conservation, not cosmetics

Most rug “restoration” in Chicago is cosmetic and much of it is quietly shipped overseas. Ours is conservation work, governed by museum principle, done here by the family whose name is on the door.

  • Trained in museum conservation

    Between 1984 and 1993, Ghorban Ahmadi trained under conservators whose work served the Louvre, British Museum, and State Hermitage collections. That discipline governs every restoration: do as much as the rug needs and nothing it cannot withstand.

  • Reversible by principle

    Every intervention is designed so a future conservator can undo it without harming the original. Reversibility, matched materials, and structural integrity are the rules — not glued backings or synthetic over-dyeing that look fine until they fail.

  • Honest about limits

    We tell you before you commit what the rug can and cannot recover. Heavily compromised foundations, set dye-bleed, and extensive prior synthetic repairs sometimes mean part of the original character is lost forever — and we say so rather than over-promise.

  • Every stage in-house

    Nothing is shipped to an overseas subcontractor and quietly returned. Foundation work, reweaving, dye correction, and conservation cleaning all happen under one roof in Skokie, and your rug never leaves our custody.

  • Documented chain-of-custody

    A before, during, and after photo record travels with every restoration, alongside a written condition report — the provenance and insurance documentation an appraiser or adjuster relies on.

Case studies

Rugs other people had written off

Three real recoveries from the workshop. Names and rooms kept general; the work is exactly as it happened.

Multi-rug antique recovery · Kenilworth

A collection of antique rugs, recovered from an attic

Antique Persian rug showing widespread moth grazing and worn ends before restoration — Ahmadi Rug, Kenilworth IL
Before
The same antique rug cleaned, rewoven, and stabilised after full restoration — Ahmadi Rug, Kenilworth IL
After

A Kenilworth family discovered that several antique rugs, rolled and stored in their attic for years, had been quietly eaten by clothes moths the whole time. The damage ran across the collection at varying severity — some pieces lightly grazed, others with bare patches down to the foundation and ends that had begun to unravel where the wrapping had failed.

The work was staged across the collection. Every piece first went through conservation-grade cleaning to flush out moth larvae, eggs, casings, and decades of attic dust — a step that has to come before any reweaving so fresh wool is never knotted onto a live infestation. Several rugs then needed end reweaving, with fringes and selvedges reconstructed to stop the unravelling. The most damaged required pile reweaving knot by knot in the grazed areas, dye-matched to colours that had shifted over a century. Finally, the fragile foundations were stabilised with a full preservation treatment to halt further deterioration.

It was a multi-month project — conservation work of this scope cannot be rushed without risking the very pieces it is meant to save. The outcome was a collection returned to its true value: not only the antique-market worth recovered and protected, but the family and heirloom value of rugs that had been written off as beyond saving.

Antique Persian Kashan · Gold Coast

Silk highlights, rebuilt after moth damage

Before
After

An interior designer brought us an antique Persian Kashan from a Gold Coast residence with a roughly two-by-two-foot area where moth larvae had destroyed the silk highlights, leaving the field around them intact but the detail gone. Silk reweaving is among the most demanding work in the workshop — the fibre is fine, lustrous, and unforgiving, and the original colours had aged into subtle, hard-to-read tones.

The colour was matched from several dye samples until the replacement silk read as original under the light, then the highlights were rebuilt knot by knot at the rug’s original density. The reweave ran about eight weeks. Returned to the designer, the restored area disappeared into the pattern — invisible to the client, and to the room.

Silk Qum · Winnetka

A silk Qum after a burst pipe

Before
After

A burst pipe in a Winnetka home soaked a fine silk Qum and left it sitting wet long enough to do real structural harm. By the time it reached us the corner foundation had begun to rot, deep dyes had bled into the lighter ground, and mould had taken hold in the saturated area.

Recovery ran in sequence: mould remediation first, then the rotted corner foundation rebuilt and stabilised, the migrated dye drawn back and the affected colours corrected, and finally the lost pile rewoven to match. The full restoration took about twelve weeks. The documentation produced at each stage supported the homeowner’s insurance claim — and the Qum, written off as ruined the day the pipe failed, went home whole.

Pricing

What rug restoration costs in Chicago

Restoration pricing reflects the hours of conservation handwork required. Full restoration starts at $1,000 — most antique restorations range from $1,000 to $5,000 — and multi-rug recovery or museum-quality work can reach $10,000+. Five things move the number:

  • Extent of foundation work

    Consolidating a brittle foundation is one job; re-warping a rotted section under tension is another. How much of the structure must be rebuilt is the largest single driver of a restoration estimate.

  • Area of reweaving

    Restoration is priced in hours, not square feet. A single square inch of dense, dye-matched reweave can take four to eight hours, so widespread pile loss and detailed pattern areas cost more than open fields.

  • Fibre & dye matching

    Wool, silk, and custom multi-lot dye matching to a faded antique sit at very different points on the range. Silk reweaving and layered dye-sampling are the most demanding — and most valuable — work we do.

  • Dye correction & cleaning

    Drawing back set bleed, correcting sun-fade differential, and conservation cleaning are part of most restorations and are quoted in the plan, coordinated in-house with the structural work.

  • Conservation complexity

    Reversibility, matching an antique’s irregular knotting, and undoing prior amateur repairs add skill and time beyond a straightforward modern treatment.

Every restoration receives a free written condition assessment and a staged plan before any work begins. We do not quote until we have examined the rug in person at our workshop — a restoration estimate from a photo alone is a guess, and guesses are how people get surprised.

Turnaround

How long restoration takes

We never rush conservation work. Rushed restoration risks the very piece it is meant to save — and a rug that has lasted a century deserves the weeks it needs.

  • Focused restoration
    4–12 weeks

    Targeted reweaving, dye correction, and cleaning together.

  • Antique reconstruction
    3–6 months

    Extensive foundation work and full pile rebuilding.

  • Multi-rug recovery
    Staged

    Whole collections, sequenced piece by piece.

Insurance & documentation

Documented restoration for insurance and estates

When a covered loss damages an heirloom rug, the piece is often worth far more than the adjuster realises — and the difference comes down to documentation. We produce the paperwork a claim needs and work the process with you so the settlement reflects the true value of the piece.

  • Formal written condition reports, itemising damage and the staged treatment plan.
  • Chain-of-custody photography documenting the rug before, during, and after restoration.
  • Direct coordination with adjusters and estates when you authorise it.
  • A formal valuation through our appraisal service, before and after treatment.

Common covered scenarios include water damage from a pipe burst or flood, fire and smoke, certain pet-damage claims, theft, and transport damage. For the valuation an adjuster or estate needs, see our rug appraisal service.

Written condition report and chain-of-custody photography for a rug restoration — Ahmadi Rug, Skokie IL
Repair, restoration & what comes next

Not every rug needs full restoration

Restoration is rarely cheap and is not always warranted. When damage is localised, targeted repair is the honest call — and where a piece is beyond saving, there are still good options. Here is where to go next.

Rugs we restore

We restore every tradition of hand-knotted rug

From a village Kazak to a fine silk Qum, each tradition has its own wool, dye, and weave — and its own correct conservation.

  • PersianTabriz, Kashan, Heriz, Kerman, Isfahan, Qum, Nain, Sarouk, Bidjar, Mashhad
  • TurkishHereke, Oushak, Konya
  • CaucasianKazak, Shirvan, Karabagh
  • MoroccanBeni Ourain, Boucherouite
  • TibetanWool and wool-silk knotted pile
  • IndianAgra, Jaipur
  • ChineseArt Deco, Peking
  • ArmenianAntique and tribal weavings
  • AfghanBokhara, tribal Baluch
  • PakistaniBokhara and fine hand-knotted
From the workshop

Before & after

Real rugs, real homes across Chicago and the North Shore. Photos are being matched from the workshop archive.

  • Rotted, unravelling end of an antique Persian rug with exposed warp threads before restoration — Ahmadi Rug, Skokie ILBefore
    Antique Persian rug with rebuilt warp ends and reconstructed fringe after full restoration — Ahmadi Rug, Skokie ILAfter
    Antique Persian
    Foundation & end reconstruction
    Skokie
  • Wool antique Persian rug grazed to the foundation by moth larvae before restoration — Ahmadi Rug, North Shore ChicagoBefore
    Wool antique Persian rug with rewoven pile after moth treatment and full restoration — Ahmadi Rug, North Shore ChicagoAfter
    Antique Persian
    Moth-belt restoration
    North Shore
  • Before
    After
    Silk Qum
    Water-damage restoration
    Winnetka
  • Before
    After
    Heriz
    Sun-fade re-dyeing
    Lake Forest
  • Before
    After
    Kashan
    Silk highlight reweaving
    Gold Coast
  • Before
    After
    Oushak
    Pile & wear restoration
    Lincoln Park
Reviews

What our clients say.

★★★★★
5.0 · 79+ Google reviews
  • ★★★★★
    “I can't speak highly enough of Bobby and Ahmadi Rug! Before we called, we had significant damage to our handmade wool rugs from small clothing moths. I called several rug cleaning services and none came close to the level of expertise, service, and kindness I experienced with Bobby. They look great now and I'm so happy.”
    Linda Braasch
    Chicago
  • ★★★★★
    “Wonderful! My handmade rug was restored and cleaned beautifully after having been on my floor for over 20 years with pets. The sides had been damaged from cats and the fringe was uneven. I had almost considered it beyond repair and was so surprised when it was rolled out in front of me.”
    Deborah Kraak
    Chicago
  • ★★★★★
    “Highly recommend for silk rug cleaning! We had a silk rug that needed a deep clean as well as glue removal and we could not be happier with the results. Bobby was very communicative throughout the whole process and answered questions as needed!”
    Heather Arden
    Chicago

Common questions

  • How much does rug restoration cost in Chicago?

    Full restoration starts at $1,000 and most antique restorations run $1,000 to $5,000, with multi-rug recoveries and museum-quality pieces reaching $10,000 or more. Restoration is priced by the hours of conservation handwork involved — foundation rebuilding, reweaving, dye correction, and cleaning — not by square footage. Every restoration receives a free written condition assessment and a staged plan before any work begins, so you approve the price first.

  • What is the difference between rug repair and restoration?

    Repair is targeted — fixing a specific hole, fringe, selvedge, or worn area while the rest of the rug is sound. Restoration is comprehensive conservation of a whole piece whose condition or value calls for it: foundation stabilisation, extensive reweaving, dye correction, and conservation cleaning together. Many jobs start as repair and stay there; we recommend full restoration only when the damage is extensive enough to affect the rug’s value, and we tell you which is appropriate before work begins. Our repair service handles the localised cases.

  • Can an antique Persian rug really be restored?

    Often, yes — antique and heirloom Persian rugs are a core specialty, and we routinely recover pieces owners had written off. The deciding factor is the foundation: if enough sound warp and weft remain to rebuild onto, even extensive pile loss, multiple holes, moth grazing, and damaged ends can be restored. We assess the foundation first and give you an honest answer, because some heavily compromised pieces cannot be returned to original — and we say so before you commit.

  • What types of rugs do you restore?

    Antique and modern hand-knotted rugs of every tradition — Persian (Tabriz, Kashan, Heriz, Kerman, Isfahan, Qum, Nain, Sarouk, Bidjar), Turkish (Hereke, Oushak), Caucasian (Kazak, Shirvan, Karabagh), Indian (Agra, Jaipur), Chinese, Tibetan, Afghan, and Armenian weavings — plus fine silk pieces and museum-quality wool-silk commissions. Each tradition has its own wool, dye, and weave, and its own correct conservation approach.

  • How long does full rug restoration take?

    A focused restoration typically runs 4 to 12 weeks depending on the area of reweaving and dye work involved. Complex antique reconstruction and multi-rug recoveries can take 3 to 6 months. We never rush conservation work — rushed restoration risks the very piece it is meant to save — and we share photo updates at each milestone so you can see progress. The written plan gives you a realistic timeline before work begins.

  • What does museum-grade restoration actually mean?

    It means the work follows textile-conservation discipline rather than cosmetics: reversibility, matched materials, and structural integrity govern every intervention. Between 1984 and 1993, Ghorban Ahmadi trained under conservators whose work served the Louvre, British Museum, and State Hermitage collections — and that same standard is applied to the rugs in our Skokie workshop. In practice it means we do as much as the rug needs and nothing it cannot withstand.

  • Is rug restoration reversible?

    It should be, and ours is by principle. Every intervention is designed so a future conservator can undo our work without harming the original textile — matched, removable yarn rather than glued backings, conservation dye chemistry rather than permanent synthetic over-dyeing. Reversibility protects both the rug and its market value, which is why irreversible shortcuts that look fine on the day are exactly what we avoid.

  • Will the restoration be visible?

    The goal is that it is not. A restoration becomes invisible when the new wool or silk matches the original in fibre, spin, lustre, and dye, and when the knotting follows the original structure — so the rebuilt areas age and catch light like the rest of the rug. A visible restoration is almost always the result of the wrong fibre or a flat single-dye match, which is precisely what our multi-lot dye sampling is designed to avoid.

  • Can you restore a water-damaged rug?

    Yes — but act quickly. Water brings three problems at once: dye bleed, foundation rot wherever the rug stayed wet, and mould within days. Restoration runs in strict sequence: mould remediation, foundation stabilisation, drawing migrated dye back and correcting colour, then reweaving lost pile. Getting the rug off the wet floor and to us before it dries in place is what makes it recoverable rather than a total loss. Our water-damaged rug restoration guide explains the triage.

  • Can you restore moth-damaged rugs?

    Yes, and widespread moth restoration is one of our most common antique rescues. Because the active infestation has usually spread by the time bare areas are noticed, restoration is staged: we first eradicate the larvae, eggs, and casings and clean the rug, then stabilise the foundation where the grazing reached it, then reweave the lost pile knot by knot, dye-matched to the surrounding field. Reweaving without eradication simply puts fresh wool back onto a live infestation, so the order matters.

  • Do you restore the rug’s original colours?

    Where dye has faded unevenly or bled, yes — through selective hand re-dyeing and controlled conservation chemistry that draws migrated dye back and re-sets it, rather than painting over it. We respect the abrash, the natural colour variation that gives an antique its depth, and build any replacement yarn from multiple dye samples so corrected areas read as original rather than flat or freshly over-dyed.

  • Do you work with insurance on restoration claims?

    Yes. We provide formal written condition reports, document the rug with chain-of-custody photography at every stage, and coordinate directly with adjusters when you authorise it. Water damage from a pipe burst or flood, fire and smoke, certain pet-damage scenarios, theft, and transport damage are common covered claims. For the valuation an adjuster needs, we coordinate with our rug appraisal service before and after treatment.

  • Should I get an appraisal before or after restoration?

    Often both. A pre-treatment appraisal establishes the rug’s condition and value for an insurance claim or estate; a post-treatment appraisal documents the value a properly restored antique recovers — which frequently exceeds the cost of the restoration itself. Our appraisal service issues RICA-certified written reports accepted by every major US carrier, and we coordinate the timing with the restoration plan.

  • What if my rug is too far gone to restore?

    We will tell you plainly. When a foundation is too compromised to rebuild onto, we say so rather than taking on work that will fail. Even then there are good options: sometimes the sound portion can be cut free and re-finished as a smaller rug through our resizing service, and sometimes a formal appraisal supports an insurance total-loss claim. Honesty here protects you, and it is why our complaint rate across three generations is zero.

  • Do you offer free pickup for restoration?

    Yes. We provide free insured pickup and delivery throughout Chicago and the North Shore — Lincoln Park, Gold Coast, Skokie, Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Northbrook, and Glenview — plus western suburbs including Hinsdale, Oak Park, and Naperville. We roll fragile antique foundations properly on site and photograph the rug for chain-of-custody before it leaves your home.

  • Can you undo a bad previous repair?

    Yes, and a great deal of restoration begins this way. Synthetic yarn used to mend a wool rug, holes hidden behind glued or sewn patches, or machine-overlock on a hand-knotted edge all have to be carefully removed before the rug can be rebuilt correctly, because the old repair pulls at the surrounding knots and hides ongoing structural loss. We undo the prior intervention and re-restore with the right fibre, knot type, and reversible technique.

  • Is the rug cleaned as part of restoration?

    Yes. Conservation-grade, pH-managed cold-water washing — the gentle method used on museum textiles, never truck-mount or high-alkaline chemistry — is part of nearly every restoration, coordinated in-house so the piece is handled once. With moth, pet, or water damage, decontamination must come before any reweaving so fresh wool is never knotted onto a contaminated or infested foundation.

  • How do I prepare my rug for a restoration assessment?

    Very little is needed. Remove furniture from the rug if you can, and note the specific problem areas and any history you know — a leak, a move, a prior repair — so we flag them at intake. Leave the rolling and wrapping to us, since rolling a dry or brittle antique foundation the wrong way can crack it. If the rug is wet from a leak or flood, do not let it dry folded; call us first.

Service area

Serving Chicago and the North Shore

Ahmadi Rug provides rug restoration for homeowners and interior designers across Chicago and the North Shore. We offer free insured pickup and delivery from Lincoln Park, Gold Coast, Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, Lake Forest, Highland Park, Northbrook, Glenview, and Skokie — as well as western suburbs including Hinsdale, Oak Park, and Naperville.

Restoration timelines depend on the extent of conservation work — focused restoration runs 4–12 weeks, and complex antique reconstruction or multi-rug recovery 3–6 months. We give a realistic timeline in the free written assessment.

To schedule a free pickup from anywhere in our service area, call (847) 440-1349 or submit an estimate request online.

Related services

From our journal

Free written assessment

Your heirloom is more recoverable than you think.

Send a photo or book a free insured pickup from anywhere in Chicago or the North Shore. We examine the rug, give you a written condition assessment and a staged plan, and only then quote the restoration.

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  • RICARUG Index Certified
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Tell us about your rug

Free download

The Rug Owner’s Care Guide

10 pages covering fiber care, rotation schedules, spill response, moth prevention, and when to call a professional. Written by Ghorban from 40 years of conservation work.

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