DIY Painted Rug
I’ll admit that I’ve been lazy. Well, maybe more nervous. Lazy nervous?
I bought the Erslev rug from IKEA because I saw that someone had painted a cool design on theirs. It was $40 and my thought was that the possibilities were endless. I’m not totally into home decor because I am also afraid of color (we should talk about fear in a future blog) but I’m challenging myself to live outside the box and take a chance with decor. Here’s the rug.
Here’s where my inspiration came from.
Source: Hayley Photography
(click for her tutorial)
I mean, sure, it’s not anything crazy-looking but the idea of taking a white rug and painting it semi blew my mind. I’m not looking to create a chevron design but I do want to try something. Dare I say that I want to have a pretty fancy geometric design in navy or even red?
The rug will go under my table.
Screeeeeeeech. White rug under the same table where my son adds ketchup to EVERYTHING? Ummm…new plan.
I may have to go with red.
After 7 months, the freaking rug is still rolled into a tidy plastic wrap in the coat closet. I NEED to do something with it.
I went looking for more inspiration.
Side note: Almost everyone has tried the chevron design.
Knowing that some of you might be interested in figuring out how to SIMPLY create a pop of color or design to our homes, I went looking for EASY tutorials and, as a result, found some pretty rad bloggers. They are really creative (and some have a great sense of humor).
To start things off, here’s what you’ll need:
- A gallon of indoor flat paint
- Liquitex (one bottle per pint-ish)
- Flat woven rug. (I can’t find the IKEA Erslev rug anymore but you can use the Egeby and paint it like others have or just find any flat woven rug)
- Paint roller
- Drop cloth or plastic for under the rug (just in case)
- Frog Tape or green masking tape by Scotch or 3M
Now that you have all your supplies, you’ll need to decide on a design. Is it a knock-off of another design you’ve seen or is it something unique?
I found this chevron rug and it looked different than most. More “soft”. I read the blog and she actually sanded it after she painted it. Yep, I like her style. She didn’t want it to appear too perfect. Click the image to see how The House of Smiths did it.
Source: The House of Smiths
(click for tutorial)
I’m not interested in a chevron design and I like darker colors (refer to ketchup comment above), I went searching for a more unique design with using dark colors. I started reading the tutorial for the rug in the image below and I immediately wanted to be her friend. She’s funny and has sass. Click the image for the darker rug tutorial by The Little Black Door.
Source: The Little Black Door
(click for tutorial)
The Jonathan Adler design? The amazing painting award goes to Almost 40 Year Old Intern who created the Adler-inspired red/pink rug below. It’s near perfect.
Source: Almost 40 year old intern
(click for tutorial)
Finally, I’ve found my design. Black and white stripes. I love it, have always loved it and will probably always love it. It feels classy without being stuffy. Two Thirty Five Designs did a simple look on a not white rug. They made it look fabulous.
Source: Two Thirty Five Designs
(click for tutorial)
Bottom line: You can do it.
Grab your paint color, unroll that tape to create a design you like, roll a few coats of paint on the rug and let it dry. Throw your new rug in a space you want to show off and BOOM, you’ve got decor.
It’s that easy, right? I’ll post my rug when I’m finished.
Have you ever done this?
