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Once the stitching is complete, he’ll shear the wool to match the original precisely. “And then it’ll last for another 100 years.” 

The Golden Horn also sells rugs – new, handmade carpets imported from Turkey, Pakistan and India as well as antique Persians.

“If the carpet’s in such bad condition that customers don’t want to get it fixed, we’ll buy it, fix it and sell it. And because of the Iranian embargo, you cannot bring a Persian carpet into this country today, so most of the antique business is Persian carpets.”

Without any formal study, Durmus can spot a rug and “tell right away that this is from this age and it came from here,” a valuable service since many customers who inherit beautiful rugs “don’t know what they have, so that’s why I go myself to see if it is or isn’t worth it to restore.”

Most of the time he and a mover will travel to the customer, usually in Manhattan, Fairfield County and Westchester County “to give free estimates, because every carpet is different and we cannot tell on the phone and the price range is all totally individual.”

Because Durmus works long hours, six or seven days a week, he averages an impressive 20-plus finished restorations a month. Typical services include restoring color and worn patches, repairing holes, fixing fringes and binding, putting in a cotton foundation and cleaning pet stains.

“We get a lot of business because of the pets, you know? And we love the pets,” Durmus joked.

“Most of the time, we’ll fix a hole or worn area and the customer will say, ‘Where’s the restoration?’ They cannot see where it’s been fixed. I mean forget about somebody else, even the carpet owner can’t tell where it’s been fixed and that’s what we want to hear from our customers, and it happens all the time. That’s a good restoration.”

Avoid the cheap fix

There are two major reasons to get a rug restored, he said.

“A lot of these carpets go generation to generation and they have a real sentimental value. They’re attached to the family” and worth treating well, especially if they’re displayed in a prominent place in the home.

But these rugs obviously have another kind of value, too, and that’s one that owners may be overlooking.

“If your carpet gets aged, it’s worth more money. But if it’s worth $100,000 and it gets aged in poor condition, then it’s not worth anything, and so you have to get it restored in the right way.”