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Did You Know You Can Paint a Rug?

I didn’t know painting a rug was an option. I custom designed my foyer area rug to my own color scheme and love the results. It’s so easy to paint a rug!

Published

11 years ago

July 29, 2015

Ayesha Harris

I recently discovered that you could paint a rug! Did you know that was even an option?

It all started this past fall for me when I was involved in The One Room Challenge. You can click on the link to see the whole project (pictures have been updated).

I participated in this event and had to remodel my foyer in six weeks. My biggest challenge was finding a rug that would fit under our front door when it opened. I was limited to a 1/2″ pile thickness and that is hard to find.

I ended up buying the rug pictured above through Macy’s website just to get the project completed. I was disappointed when the rug arrived. The colors were much lighter than shown on the web but I didn’t have any other options so I made the best of it. I felt that I would find the “right” rug once the pressure of the event was over.

Fast forward months later and I came up empty handed. I didn’t want the rug to be too busy as it was next to my leopard stair runner.

Since my rug was the perfect size and fit under my door, I started to do some research for dying rugs to see if that was an option. That’s when I stumbled upon several articles that said I could paint a rug! That was news to me. I was so excited I couldn’t wait to get my project going.

The Best Part About Painting Your Rug is Choosing Your Own Colors

There are many great blog posts out there with tutorials on how to paint rugs using stencils and painters tape. (Please see below for some resources). You can create designs and be as creative as you want.

I already liked the concept of my rug which was like an abstract painting. I just didn’t like the colors. I wanted a deeper red to tie in with the rooms on each side of the foyer.

My dining room has a red and blue oriental rug and the walls in our den are red.

Materials Used for Painting Rug

Acrylic Paint

Fabric Medium

Sponge Brushes

Acrylic Spray Coating

I purchased Martha Stewart’s Acrylic Craft Paint and mixed it with her Tintable Fabric Medium. The fabric medium helps the paint to have a softer more flexible finish. You cannot skimp on the medium or you will end up with stiff carpet. Follow the directions on the bottle.

How to Paint A Rug

Once I mixed the paint and fabric medium, I just applied the mixture with a sponge brush. I didn’t want a solid red rug; I wanted the variations of different shades of red. This rug became my canvas to create my own design.