Rugs in Ixelles: buying, restoration, cleaning

The building stock

More than half of the housing stock of Ixelles predates 1919. The Tenbosch–Châtelain district was built for the most part between 1875 and 1905 to a very consistent standard plan: a single-family middle-class house between party walls, a raised basement, two or three reception rooms in enfilade on the first floor (drawing room, dining room, veranda) and a staircase set in the corridor. That is the geometry that made the fortune of the long, narrow rug — and the dread of every collection, because the stairwell turns tight.

It is that enfilade that made the long, narrow rug, and it is the stairwell that makes getting it out difficult. We roll the piece on a tube, never folded, and it goes down in one go to the van, bound for the washing workshop.

Damp and water

The storm basin under the place Flagey — 33,000 m³, and up to 40,000 m³ when the car park is brought in — came into service in 2008. The square stands on the site of the former Grand Étang d'Ixelles, in the Maelbeek valley; before the works, it was regularly under water. The whole of lower Ixelles is still a valley bottom: cool basements, walls that draw damp upwards, rugs that go mouldy in cellars.

Lower Ixelles is still a valley bottom: the walls draw damp upwards and a rug stored in a cellar goes mouldy out of sight. Bring it out and show it to us — a wash taken in time saves heavy restoration later.

Collection

Ixelles is the only town in the Region that does not form a single block: in 1864 the City of Brussels annexed the avenue Louise and the bois de la Cambre, cutting the municipality into two non-contiguous parts. The result is still visible today: an address on the avenue Louise is in 1000, while the street at right angles to it is in 1050. That changes the parking regime from one pavement to the other.

On the avenue Louise you are in 1000, in the street at right angles to it in 1050, and the parking regime changes from one pavement to the other. Give us the exact address: it decides where the van stands to load your rugs.

Who lives here

51% of residents are foreign nationals in 2025 — the highest proportion in the Brussels Region. The French form the largest group (11,762 people in 2022), ahead of the Italians (4,736) and the Spanish (2,812). Around 5,675 residents of Ixelles work for an international institution, or one working person in seven.

A great many homes here are put together and taken apart at the rhythm of postings. We wash before the move in, we wrap before the departure, and we buy for cash the rugs that will not follow into the container.

The household profile

61% of Ixelles households consist of a single person — the highest proportion in Brussels — for an average size of 1.72 people, with a strong over-representation of 25-34 year-olds. In practice: a stock of furnished flats and house shares with rapid turnover, rugs that pick up stains, frequent moves and many pieces carried over from one home to the next.

Furnished flats and house shares with a fast turnover: the rug takes the wine, the coffee and the shoe sole, and it changes home every two years. A wash between two tenants puts it back in order, flat at the workshop, never with a hose in the living room.

The rug market

Matongé, between the porte de Namur, the chaussée de Wavre and the galerie d'Ixelles, is the district of the African diasporas in Brussels. Ixelles also has only 5% of its territory in accessible green space, for a density of 13,578 inhabitants/km² (2022): it is a town of narrow, crowded streets, not of gardens where a rug can be spread out.

No garden to spread out wet wool, no room to dry it: that is exactly why we take the rug away. Washing, rinsing and drying flat are done at our workshop, and you get back a piece that is dry and back in shape.