Unbraided Bliss.

Take a braided rug. Roll it up and put it on a shelf for 20+ years and ignore it.

Dial forward the 20+ years, when you realize that you probably have one or two perfect spots for it in your renovated cottage. Spots that could truly benefit from the warmth that an area rug with rich red tones would add to the beautiful pine floors.

Vaguely remember that some of the braiding had started to separate and you were constantly mending portions of the rug(probably a contributing factor to rolling it up and hiding it).

Take the rug down from the shelf and, once the dust cloud has cleared, unroll it to find that about 1/3 of the stitching has come undone (convince yourself that you would never have put it away in this condition).

Come to the realization that cotton thread (or whatever was used) has a finite life span of less than the storage period.

Vacuum the rug repeatedly - both sides, being careful not to inhale the separated braids and the many strings of busted thread.

Then sit down for three nites running with upholstery thread, a good thimble and mindless television.

Voila - 12 hours later, your braids are stitched back together - at least sufficiently (you hope) to survive a much-needed cleaning.

Lessons learned:

Even the hardiest rug will suffer the consequences of being ignored for an inordinately long period of time.

Proper storage is a much better idea - as is checking periodically on the condition of a stored rug.

Sewing a rug back together is not nearly as much fun as hooking a new one.

However, lovingly (slight overstatement) repairing this rug and getting it ready for its second life, I am now committed to finding the perfect spot.