Use spray paint on rugs and carpet

You just have to love how people are becoming so creative with Rust-Oleum spray paint - even I have been discovering how versatile this spray paint can be on fabrics and carpeting. Over at Design Improvised, Haeley used Rust-Oleum spray paint to transform a somewhat blah rug for her deck. The result is amazing.

 

Am I insane for making it? I did ask myself that a few times during the process in the midst of running through four cans of spray paint and a roll of masking tape, but I am pretty excited about the end result!

With just a few materials you can end up with a one-of-a-kind rug for a few hours of work. Who knew it would be so easy to transform a rug with just masking tape and spray paint? I figured the same idea could be achieved on a larger scale. I initially thought I would apply the same chevron pattern, but I pretty quickly realized I would indeed be insane to attempt that the taping work would take forever on such a large surface.

YOU WILL NEED:

Inexpensive plain outdoor rug
1 roll of 5cm-thick masking tape
Rust-Oleum Painters Touch
Drop cloths

 

CONTINUES BELOW

 

 

HERE'S HOW:

For the taping, I laid the rug out in my living room and started free-handing (no measuring needed!) the design with masking tape, going a little past the edges of the mat. Rather than breaking off long pieces, I held onto the roll as I pulled the tape across the rug. The total taping process took me about 45 minutes.

Now for the fun part, bring on the spray paint! I laid the rug out on my roof, using drop clothes around the edges. I started with the neon pink paint on the vertical stripes side, doing a couple applications a few minutes apart. Then I moved to the diagonal striped side, spraying every other stripe green. I let that dry for 15 min. or so then went over the remaining stripes in yellow.

Seeing the bright colors revealed is the most exciting part! I pulled off the tape about 30 minutes of dry time and it was fine. I then left the rug outside overnight for the paint to dry completely.

The total cost of the rug came to about R220 and took around 3 hours from start to finish - not bad. Hopefully it will hold up well under the elements - I will give an update at the end of the summer. In the meantime, I'm loving how much colour this has brought to our roof garden!