I recently painted our Master Bathroom a really fun Gray color {Benjamin Moore’s Rockport Gray} and was looking for a rug that I could put in there to add some color and match some towels I had purchased. I did a lot of shopping around online and found a lot of great rugs that I would have loved to have…but the price tags were a bit too much for me to justify. So I decided to make my own and paint a rug. I have seen several of these DIY tutorials floating around, but the very first one to inspire me was this painted rug that Jen and Shelley made. They have great step by step instructions so I won’t take the time to give you a step by step process, but will share with you a couple of things I did to make mine.
I am REALLY happy with how it turned out. I have to tell you, that I was really nervous about how well it was going to work. The rug I used was a lot more “plush” than the rug that Jen and Shelley used and I was worried that the carpet fibers would move quite a bit in the stenciling process which would then prevent me from getting really crisp and clean paint lines. But I am so happy with how it turned out. So happy in fact that I turned around and made me a second one the very next day!! I have been known to do crazy things like that once in a while!
When I first finished the rug, my bathroom cabinets were an old outdated oak color that we never loved. I loved the rug, but next to the cabinets it didn’t have the “pop” I had hoped for…so….I knew I had another project on my hands. Really…it never ends. We had been wanting to paint them forever, but they had been at the bottom of the “to do” list. Suddenly they found themselves at the top of the list. I will share more about that process in a later post. Painting them totally changed the entire look of our Master Bathroom. It is so light and fresh looking now. I feel happy spending time in there! It is amazing how your surroundings can make you feel.
The rug I used was simply a Memory Foam Runner that I found at COSTCO for $22 and some change. A huge price difference from the $400 dollar rugs I had been eyeing on line. COSTCO still has these rugs in stock people! And the rug is really soft, perfect for cold bathroom tiles on freshly showered feet.
I used the same stencil that I used for this Antique Acid Mirror that I shared with you back in the spring. The stencil is from Cutting Edge Stencils and is their Anna Damask stencil. Then I used some leftover wall paint from our Master Bathroom.
I simply placed the stencil on the rug after planning out how I wanted the pattern to be on the rug, so that it would be even, and then used a sponge paint tool to sponge the paint onto the rug. It worked really well for me and even though the carpet fibers moved a little bit in the process, I just made sure to hold the stencil firmly in place and check the alignment of it often to make sure it had not accidently slid to one side. Then I let it dry for about 20 minutes between each process so that the paint did not smudge. Be sure to check the bottom of the stencil for any leaked paint so as not to get it on your rug as you lay down the stencil each time.
What do you think?
I am loving it in the yellow color as well.
I ended up placing the yellow rug in my bathroom since it made it feel so fresh and happy! The gray rug I placed in our Master Bedroom which we also recently painted Benjamin Moore’s Rockport Gray.
And if you are wondering about how the rug feels with the paint? Truthfully, it is a little stiff…but not as much as I thought it would be. It feels just fine on your bare feet. It also softened up a bit with use and even more so when I threw it in the washer for a test. Now I am trying to think of other places to put a rug! What do you think? Do you have a spot in your home that you could use one of these?
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