You can paint a rug? Really?

So the title of this post is really what you get whenever you mention this DIY project to anyone. Josh was hugely skeptical. The folks at Home Depot thought I was  nuts and frankly when I first came across the idea, I was quite unsure about it all too. But I'd read enough posts from others who have done it and  I'd seen quite a few pictures of other people who actually paint rugs to think that it wasn't THAT far fetched. Plus this rug was so old that I didn't really have much to lose. So here is my post about how I did this project.

First off, time frame. If you read my last post about 'getting it done', this project was huge lesson in that. I had made the decision that I'd like to try and paint the rug, but still added it to my 'to do' list with huge question marks (as though I was giving myself permission to not actually get to this if time ran out). Then over the weekend we had a day with nothing planned except to get some wood plugs for the bed, so I told Josh I'd pick up the stuff to do the rug as well. By that evening the rug was painted and drying. I'd say that the whole process of taping off and painting took maybe 2.5 hours? The sanding the following day took about 20 mins. So this project to totally do-able in a day.

 So here is the rug before. I was lazy and just ran a vacuum over it. I didn't bother with spot cleaning, but I guess you could do that too.

 Next is taping off your design. I watched this video on how to create Chevron stripes.  It was a good video. This dots are to remind me  where NOT to paint.

 Using an exacto knife, cut away at the parts of tape that you don't need.

 Now can you see the pattern coming through? It's ready for paint.

 So the paint I used was regular indoor latex. Sorry I can't remember the actual size, but it's not the gallon size can. It's one size down. For the pattern I did, which covers about 1/2 of the rug, I used every last drop. The rug will soak up a lot of paint. I will come back with measurements of our rug. (Ethan is sleeping right now)

 Buy the cheapest, crappiest brush you can. It will be ruined anyways. I bought a 5 pack of these cheapies, but actually only needed one. For painting, there's no real technique except for smooshing the brush every which way. Up, down, side to side in order to get good coverage. That's why you don't want to use a good brush.

 Here it is drying. The video said to pull up the tape before it was totally dry. You can see how solid the paint it. I also put a large piece of cardboard underneath, but turns out I didn't need it. You can't even tell I painted the rug from the back side as nothing seeped all the way through. That's not to say that I recommend painting without the cardboard. :)

 After the paint was dry you could really feel a difference under foot where the paint was. It had a tacky/ crunchy kind of feel. Other bloggers recommended sanding it with an orbital sander so that's what I did. Really, I just went over the paint quickly and didn't press super hard. I guess it's personal preference on how 'worn' you want it to look. Obviously the more you sand, the 'softer' it will feel under your feet too.

There you have it. A painted rug. The texture is probably what I wondered the most about before I did this project. I have to say that to walk on it after the sanding, I really don't mind it. It's not so obvious that it's painted after the sanding. At the same time, it's not so soft that I'd go rubbing my face on it either. Generally I don't tend to do that, so I'm happy with the fresh new look of our rug for Ethan's room.

Happy painting!