I wanted to do a post for the archives with some DIY floor/rug ideas especially since I’ve received a few more related projects to share. First to recap, here is the link to my painted floor:
and the zebra rug from Chantel at Haas Home I shared earlier in the week.
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Nicole from Design Blooms did a beautiful job on her floors with a pretty diamond pattern. She makes it look so easy:
“Check” out my floor!!
I have been very busy this weekend, working on our entry way floor. My legs are sore -its like doing twister for 5 hours but you can’t move because you can’t mess up the paint! But it was well worth it! I’m not a mathematical person AT ALL, and when it comes to painting checks on a floor I thought that I wouldn’t be able to do the measurements and it would be waaaayyy off when I got the the opposite wall. But-turns out I didn’t have to do ANY measuring, all I needed was a few tiles to trace!
Here’s what I used:
pencil
a few floor tiles (standard size)
a cat (you’ll see in a minute)
floor paint
polyurethane
paint brush……yeah that’s it!!!!
My house owner friends…..if you have an area that needs to make a statement (like an entryway) painting the floor can give the space a more defined purpose. If you don’t want to do it…call me and I will paint it for you…no joke. Just bake me some cookies and have a glass of wine ready for me when I’m done, that’s all the payment I need.
Here’s what I used:
pencil
a few floor tiles (standard size)
a cat (you’ll see in a minute)
floor paint
polyurethane
paint brush……yeah that’s it!!!!
My house owner friends…..if you have an area that needs to make a statement (like an entryway) painting the floor can give the space a more defined purpose. If you don’t want to do it…call me and I will paint it for you…no joke. Just bake me some cookies and have a glass of wine ready for me when I’m done, that’s all the payment I need.
Dip helped….he made sure my pencil stayed in place..how sweet of him.
I laid the tiles from wall to wall, traced them, and just worked backwards. A professional probably would have laughed at this process.
Always sweep the space before you paint.
I didn’t tape it off, because it would have just confused me even more so I just painted very slowly and made sure I stayed inside the lines. Lastly, poly it to protect it. Now I have a defined entryway!
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And Suzannah from Adventures in Dressmaking created a stunning chevron rug. Here is her post:
I am SO proud of my DIY zig zag rug–Tutorial!
You’ve all seen those zig zag rugs around on design and home dec catalogs, websites, magazines… The zig zag/chevron pattern is everywhere this season and I have been craving it as I redecorate our bedroom with something more contemporary!
I was s
o excited to copy these gorgeous zig zag rugs:
I was s
o excited to copy these gorgeous zig zag rugs:
(West Elm)
(Madeline Weinrib Atelier)
(West Elm Rug, Rachel of Kenzipoo’s house)
(West Elm rug, from Four Walls and a Roof)
(Madeline Weinrib rug in Nicole Balch’s home, from Making it Lovely)
(Domino)
Anyway, LOVING these zig zag patterns, and the West Elm one really isn’t that overpriced, but I didn’t want to spend $100-600 or whatever, depending on the size. But I really thought my bedroom needed some zig zag in it! And I have enough to put on the walls, so I wanted to make a zig zag rug. I thought about taking a plain white cotton rug and freezer paper stenciling the zig zags, then painting black on it, but I couldn’t find any plain, cheap white rugs and they all had to much texture anyway. So I went old-school. Remember floor cloths?
To DIM (do it myself), I bought a yard of white “duck cloth,” which actually comes in a lot of lovely colors at JoAnn for $7.99/yard. It’s really sturdy and has a clear weave to it, not like twill, just straight-grain. Anyway I had a coupon, but because of some sale and the piece I got had some dust on it so she counted it as a remnant… it ended up being $2.73 for the yard-sized piece. It’s about 60″ wide, too, so it was about the size of a 3’x5′ rug. See, here is it is folded in half.
Anyway, LOVING these zig zag patterns, and the West Elm one really isn’t that overpriced, but I didn’t want to spend $100-600 or whatever, depending on the size. But I really thought my bedroom needed some zig zag in it! And I have enough to put on the walls, so I wanted to make a zig zag rug. I thought about taking a plain white cotton rug and freezer paper stenciling the zig zags, then painting black on it, but I couldn’t find any plain, cheap white rugs and they all had to much texture anyway. So I went old-school. Remember floor cloths?
To DIM (do it myself), I bought a yard of white “duck cloth,” which actually comes in a lot of lovely colors at JoAnn for $7.99/yard. It’s really sturdy and has a clear weave to it, not like twill, just straight-grain. Anyway I had a coupon, but because of some sale and the piece I got had some dust on it so she counted it as a remnant… it ended up being $2.73 for the yard-sized piece. It’s about 60″ wide, too, so it was about the size of a 3’x5′ rug. See, here is it is folded in half.
So here’s my tutorial.
- Fold a 1-2″ hem around all the edges . I wanted mine to be sturdy and have a lot of weight on the edges, so it won’t roll or fold up a lot.
- I tested the freezer paper with my craft paint (black acrylic paint mixed 2:1 with fabric medium). You can sort of see the freezer paper scrap on the underside of the hemmed rug, with a smudge of black paint on it.
Then I peeled it off.
- Cut your freezer paper strips into 2″ long pieces. Cut those into pieces 3 3/4″, 5 5/8″, and a few pieces just under 2″ squares. I didn’t count how many I needed, but… a lot. Most of the ones I needed were the 3 3/4″ size.
- Lay the strips out on the rug at one corner. I used a 45 degree angle. Iron it down in rows.
- In order to space the next row, use the spare strips or a ruler to measure 2″ from the top row.
- Repeat this all the way down! I stopped halfway through to paint the first side, because I was so excited to see the end result and because I was sort of afraid of the corners coming up as I kept moving the rug and bending it a little to get the next row down. Sorry, no pics of this part…
- Peel the freezer paper off! It’s not perfect, but it gets the look!
- Last step: I realized I needed to protect the unpainted parts from dirt, so I added a coat of polyurethane. Stinky! Hopefully when it dries it will be evenly plastic-ey.
Yay! I’m so excited about this! I put a rug pad under it even though it’s on carpet, just to make it even stickier.
Aren’t they beautiful?! The next time you can’t find that perfect area rug in the colors and design you’re looking for, I hope this post inspires you to DIY and I hope you’ll share it with us!
amazing ideas!
That zig zag rug is fanatastic! I might have to try that one. Great Job! 🙂
I love your entry way! That looks great!
Such patience needed in order to make these happen! The zebra rug is amazing!
that was so fun to see those transformations – loved the entry way..NICE.
AWESOME! I wish I had the patience (and the back) to be able to do floors like these. The rug is unbelievable.
Smiles~
Marilyn
She lost me on the freezer paper and painting of the zig zag. What did she do? Why freezer paper? I feel like I'm missing a few steps.
OMG that painted floor is stunning!!!!! – You are so talented.
I wish I was brave enough to do this. What patience to stay within the lines but the final product, stunning.
These are great! I'm not sure if I'm that brave yet. 🙂 The entryway is BEAUTIFUL! I've been busy this week myself–also wanted to tell you that I'm doing a giveaway on my blog right now for some recovered (by me) vintage books and would be interested in sponsoring a giveaway for your readers as well. Is that something you do? Again, loved this post!
Did you read my mind?? I've been looking for a fabulous (cheap) rug. My entire home is hardwood and I have one small rug in front of the fire place. Yep, it's a problem… I NEED a few rugs. So, thank you SO MUCH for the awesome tutorial. I am going to this, HOORAY!!!
God's blessings,
Sarah 😀
I'm so impressed that anyone could pull off the checkerboard floor without taping. I could only imagine the train wreck that would occur if I tried with my unsteady hand. LOL!
I am in awe of the creativity you showcase on this blog. So much inspiration! Have a great day!!
Fabulous–just love the rug! I just love DIY projects!! I wish I just had more time to do them all! ha ha