DIY Painted Rug

Many moons ago, I lived in a gorgeous old apartment in a Victorian house and bought a bunch of rugs at IKEA to help warm up the wood floors. Flash forward to modern days: I have wall-to-wall carpet and, unwilling to part with my rugs, I had stashed my natural fiber rug (like the one shown above) under our dining table. It looked awful there, all bunched up and blending in with the carpet, but I just sort of shrugged it off.

So when I told Sean I wanted to buy an outdoor rug for our newly oomphed balcony, he just looked at me wearily and said, "Do we have to?" I was a bit deflated, but then I remembered this:

I saw this painted rug tutorial on Little Green Notebook more than a year ago and it stuck in my brain. Look at those gorgeous chevrons! So lovely.

Apparently, any natural fiber rug can withstand some latex paint, as long as you have patience and some painter's tape. So I decided I was going to make over that cheapie IKEA rug.

First I swept the rug to remove all the bits of fuzz, and then moved it out to the deck. I didn't want to do stripes or chevrons because, as much as I love them, I was craving something different. I decided to do this modified Union Jack-meets-chevrons design. I taped it off (didn't measure! I'm a wild one, for sure) and got to work.

I used Rustoleum's indoor/outdoor latex paint in flat white. I used a cheap white roller to roll on the paint. I must recommend using the smallest roller you can find; it's hard to get the tape to stay in place on the natural fibers and really really easy to accidentally roll into the wrong spot.

If I had it to do over again, I would be more careful about staying in the lines.

I gave the paint about an hour and a half to dry and then removed the tape. The lines, unfortunately, were not perfectly crisp (story of my life) but you have to practically put your nose on the rug to tell. Otherwise, I loved the effect. All told, it probably took 2 hours and cost me $7 for paint, a tiny roller and a small paint tray.

Et voila! It's kind of amazing how just peeking out the window and seeing the rug cheers me up. It definitely gave the porch some personality, and still looks classic and timeless. 

Sean was concerned about weatherproofing, and honestly, I don't know what to expect. I imagine you could try sealing it, but I'm just going to leave it since it's in a covered area.