Erin Spain

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How to Stencil a Rug {on the cheap}

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How to Stencil a Rug {On the Cheap}

I have wanted to stencil something for quite some time now, and I finally got around to it this weekend. I mentioned before that I am working on a dining room makeover, and that we really needed a rug. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to challenge myself and see just how little money I could spend on this project. (P.S. Stay tuned for another stenciling project coming up soon!) I’m going to show you exactly how to stencil a rug, without spending a ton of money!

I won a stencil on a friend’s blog a while back, and I’ve been trying to figure out exactly how I wanted to use it. A Moroccan-patterned rug seemed like the perfect use for this stencil. But are you ready for the best part? This rug cost $18.00. That’s right, a 6×8 rug for $18.00! The entire project cost me around $28.00 since the stencil was free. (I used a wall stencil, and these can be pretty pricey, but you could always make your own for free or tape off a design using painter’s tape.) All I had to buy was some acrylic craft paint and fabric medium, which set me back about $10.00.

And as for the rug? It was a Home Depot find. It’s a cheap, flimsy indoor/outdoor rug, but I knew I could make it look like a million bucks (minus $999,900.00). My husband wasn’t so sure about it — in fact, he may or may not have almost gagged the first time he saw it rolled up on the living room floor before I worked my magic on it. To say it was ugly is a massive understatement. It kinda resembled gray AstroTurf.

How to Stencil a Rug

Ok, let’s get down to business. I’m going to tell you exactly how I did this. I had never stenciled before, so this was quite an adventure. If you want to make sure your stencil pattern is exactly the same around all of the edges, you can take the time to measure it out. I just decided to wing it because I’m impatient and I kind of didn’t care about it being totally perfect since it’s going to live under the dining room table.

Here’s what you’ll need:

How to Stencil a Rug (on the Cheap)

How to stencil a rug (on the cheap)

Step 1

First, lay your rug out flat on top of your plastic drop cloth. Mix your craft paint with fabric medium (2 parts paint to 1 part fabric medium). Pick a corner and line up your stencil, taping it down. If it won’t lay flat, grab random objects and weigh down the edges (I used toys). I know these instructions are very technical (“grab random objects?”) but that’s just my style. Please just go with it.

How to stencil a rug (on the cheap), a step by step tutorial.

Step 2

Apply your paint. I attempted to use a paint roller which would have made this project go about 5,000 times faster, but it just wasn’t working out for me. I think the combo of the thin rug and the foam roller wasn’t a good match – maybe a roller with thicker nap would have worked better, but my roller wasn’t pressing the paint into the rug properly. I ended up using a 2-inch stencil brush for the whole thing. (I know, I’m crazy.) It took a while, and I got a nasty blister on my finger, but it was the most effective method under the circumstances. If you use a brush, use circular motions and do not slant the brush. Hold the brush vertically the whole time to avoid having your paint seep under the edges of the stencil. If you do smudge it, use a wet wipe to blot it immediately. (I always keep wet wipes handy when I paint.)

Always blot your brush or roller on a dry paper towel before painting. It’s best to use very little paint and go over it a couple of times if necessary, rather than slopping on a ton of paint and having it seep through the edges. You will also have to periodically wipe down your stencil as it becomes covered in a thick layer of paint. You can always lift a corner of the stencil and take a peek at how things look to see if you need to make it darker.

How to stencil a rug (on the cheap), a step by step tutorial.

Step 3

Move your stencil and repeat the process. After you’ve finished one section, lift the stencil, move it over – match up the edges and follow the same steps until your whole rug is complete. Allow ample drying time before plopping furniture on top of it, but it won’t take too long. Acrylic paint dries pretty quickly.

How to stencil a rug (on the cheap), a step by step tutorial.

How to stencil a rug (on the cheap), a step by step tutorial.

How to stencil a rug (on the cheap), a step by step tutorial.

How to stencil a rug (on the cheap), a step by step tutorial.

And here she is in the dining room!

How to stencil a rug (on the cheap), a step by step tutorial.

How to stencil a rug (on the cheap), a step by step tutorial.

The last step: Admire your hard work and allow your husband to tell you how awesome you are for saving a zillion dollars on a rug. Rugs are expensive! This one may not be top of the line quality, but you can’t beat $18.00! Especially since I have kids who are just going to throw food on it anyway. I’ll invest in a nice one when they go to college. For now, cheap but pretty works for me thankyouverymuch!

Would you ever stencil a rug? If you try it, let me know!

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Comments

  3. I recently painted a cheap outdoor mat using acrylic paints and frog tape. Very cute, easy makeover. I love your rug Erin! I’d like a larger rug for my office and I’ll have to look at Home Depot for a great deal like you found!

    Reply

    • Good question. I’m not sure since I’ve never painted a rug before! Mine isn’t located in a high-traffic area, but I’m not sure how it would hold up to lots of traffic. I suppose you could always touch it up with a small brush as time goes on. I’d love to hear from someone who has done this before and see how theirs has held up over time! I’ll update you all as time goes on and let you know how mine is doing.

      Reply

  6. If I were 40 years younger, I would try to stencil a rug. Yours is so pretty. I love the way your dining room looks. I was always a do-it-yourselfer. Wish we had computers and access to smart people like you when I was a newly wed and a new mom. I really enjoy your blog. Keep up the good work!!

    Reply

  7. Found you on Pinterest and this rug is fabulous! I can’t believe it was only $18. We’ve purchased several rugs from HD over the years for our kids rooms because when it inevitably gets thrashed, it’s not a big deal. Ours were more expensive but I’ve been looking for something for under our dining table and this might be just the thing! Great tutorial.

    Reply

    • Thank you! I believe this one is from Cutting Edge Stencils, although Royal Design Studios sells really great ones too. I wouldn’t say it was hard, but tedious for sure. And I had to do a lot of squatting so I was pretty sore the next day! But totally worth it, and yes I’d do it again. I actually bought another rug exactly like this one which I plan to stencil for the back screened in porch – I’m just going to wait a while before going at it again!

      Reply

  11. HI Erin, found you on Hometalk and love what you did with the rug! When you are choosing your rug does it matter what it is made out of? I mean they have pretty cheap rugs at the $ store and wondered if they would work just as well.

    Reply

    • Hi Dee! Thanks for stopping by. I don’t think it matters what it is made out of. Mine was super cheap-looking and felt cheap too. I bet dollar store rugs would work just as well. It remains to be seen how well this one will hold up in the long-term, but for $18, I don’t care! LOL.

      Reply

  14. Erin this is amazing. I found you on Hometalk. Hope to do this project some day as I like to change out my rugs often and they are very expensive. Thanks for the great idea!

    Reply

  17. Found your blog through out local Atlanta bloggers group 🙂

    Love this rug, Erin! And love that stencil. I wish we had wood floors as I just am not sold on the rug over carpet look. BUT we do have tile in the kitchen and I was thinking I might want to try to find a rug for under our kitchen table. Will check this rug out when I am at Home Depot next.

    Reply

  20. LOVE this! I won a $50 gift certificate at a stencil place and bought two stencils and haven’t done anything with them yet. This would be perfect for my new house =)

    Found you via Tip Junkie’s linky party =)

    Reply

    • Thanks for stopping by, Kristin! This was definitely a fun, affordable stencil project. Can’t wait to see what you do with your stencils. There are lots of fun possibilities!

      Reply

  22. This is amazing!! I’m currently on the hunt for a new rug for our living room…AND have two little boys to boot. This would be such a great, guiltless option! 🙂

    Reply

    • If you google “wall stencils,” you will find several sources. I like Royal Design Studios – they have lots to choose from. You can also make your own with a vinyl cutting machine.

      Reply

  31. I found you through google when looking for tips on painting furniture! I love this rug! Have you tried cleaning food from it yet?

    Reply

    • Hi Colleen! Yes! I actually have cleaned plenty of food off of it thanks to my 2 year-old and 4 year-old sons. It’s held up great! I actually thought about posting a follow-up about that. I have one of those swivel sweeper vacuum things that I use on it almost daily and it works like a charm for crumbs, and the few times I’ve had to spot clean it, it has come clean very easily. Thanks for stopping by the blog!

      Reply

  35. Hello Erin, I love your stenciled rug project! I would like to make one myself, as this will help me to save money because the ones in the stores and the web are are so expensive. I am not understanding a few things though. Please explain to me…..what happened to the paint that is on the outside of the stencil? What did you remove the excess paint with? Did you put something on the rug in between the stenciling because I see paint on the outside of your the area that you traced with your paint brush? What is paint medium and what does it do? How did you remove the paint from the areas that look like you would not want paint to be? Thank You for answering my questions so that I can make this rug.
    Sincerely,
    Kiaty

    Reply

    • Hello! The medium helps the paint adhere to fabric. I used it because I was using regular craft paint and not fabric paint. As for the stencil, no I did not put anything between the stencil and the rug. The stencil is clear, so you are seeing paint all over the outside of the actual stencil which I could then just wipe with a wet paper towel. When I was finished, I washed the stencil with warm soapy water.

      Reply

  36. Wow you did a great job! Thank you soo much for sharing. Myself I love to do things as thrifty as I can it makes me feel good. You have the right idea, when you have little ones don’t spend a lot of money, it may get ruined or you will constantly saying be careful.

    Reply

  40. needed this info for making seasonal door mats with the grandkids and for game mats in their bedroom. hopscoth to the paint store, thank you

    Reply

  44. Did you find that the edges of this rug frayed at all? I’m wondering if I should buy the same rug as you, or go to a flooring store and get them to bind the edges of a remnant.

    Reply

  45. Great job on the rug!! I want to do the exact thing, just on a smaller scale! Where can I get a good cheap stencil? Or can I make one?

    Reply

    • Thank you! You can try to make your own, but with a rug it’s a little more tricky than a wall. I used a good quality wall stencil and unfortunately those aren’t super cheap. Royal Design Studios and Cutting Edge Stencils are a couple of companies that sell them. You may be able to find discount codes online.

      Reply

  48. Score! I purchased the same rug at Costco tonight and want the same morraccan design!!! Thanks for the instructions!
    I bought beige to match our living room, but I adore your striking grey rug!!

    Reply

    • Thanks Tobi! So glad you are going to try this project! Let me know how it goes 🙂

      Reply

  50. It looks awesome 🙂 fantastic job. I have a quick question i recently made a fabric headboard its geometric octagon shape , grey and kemon yellow shade. my guest room wall is light lemon yellow. can you please suggest me how can i convert my existing old rug into some thing like yours. and what colors would you recommend :). your suggestions are highly appreciated. thanks much

    Reply

    • Thank you! I would do a gray rug — you could do gray and white like mine. What type of rug do you have? This method really works best with a flat rug with very little “shag”. If your rug is already a color, I would roll it with paint (or paint with built-in primer depending on existing color of rug). I’d probably paint the whole thing gray and then stencil over it in white. Good luck!

      Reply

  52. I just stumbled upon your site when googling “first time diy step by step furniture painting” and after reading your tutorial (and wondering if I am cray-cray to attempt such a task having never done anything so advaned before) I then saw this post. While the rug came out.lovely, I was more interested in your dining room set – may I say, I LOVEEEE your chairs. Would you mind sharing the company/style of this set? As ofr the furniture, I will let you know if I can convince myself to ever take the leap and refinish a piece of furniture. It’s been a dream of mine to buy old/vintage, solid beautifully crafted pieces and give them new life. Because, as we all know, trying to find craftmanship like that nowadays is impossible! And forgive me, but I refuse to spend $1000’s upon $1000’s on this veneered MDF crap they sell in these high-end stores! But I digress, I would love to gain the courage to tackle such a project; I am looking for a new hobby, so perhaps this was the inspiration I needed to finally take the leap! Now I just need to find some good old-fashioned furnutire in need of some TLC (believe it or not, Craigslist has not been a fruitful place to find pieces – I’m in NY so either its too expensive for a DIY 1st timer, or all the ‘good’ stuff gets swooped up by antiques dealers). I wouldn’t want to spend/waste a lot on something I am petrified I will forever ruin…..thanks again!!

    Reply

    • Thank you, Vanessa! The dining set came from Z Gallerie several years ago. Bummer that Craigslist hasn’t been successful for you — you could try yard sales or flea markets. Small towns (if there are any near you) often have lots of hidden treasures. I definitely think you should give furniture painting a try! It’s really not as difficult as it may seem, and if you mess up you can always just paint it again! I’m sure you’ll do just fine and then you’ll be hooked and painting furniture all the time. Good luck!

      Reply

  53. I followed a link from the blog “From Woo to You” about stenciled rugs. I too have children and want a cool rug that costs very little and has a Morocan pattern. Cheers!

    Reply

  54. Came out lovely! Do you think this would be difficult to do on a cheap low nap rug? I just want to do one stencil in the middle of an anchor in deep blue to match my couch in a nautical room. Tx, Dee

    Reply

    • Hi Dee! It should work fine. Low nap is definitely important — I don’t think it would work on a really shaggy rug or one with higher nap. You could try a roller first although I found that the brush in circular motions worked best for me.

      Reply

    • Thank you! I didn’t have a problem with it bleeding on the top of the rug, however it did seep through a bit in a couple spots which is why I used the plastic drop cloth underneath. It wasn’t a problem though.

      Reply

  57. Where did you find your cheap rug? I’ve been looking everywhere for a cheap rug to paint, but I can’t seem to find a large one that will take paint well and isn’t too expensive.

    Reply

  59. How is the rug for walking over? I’d like to have a bit of resistance so it doesn’t let my foot, or any furniture leg make a dent in it. Getting on a bit and don’t want wrinkles that might catch my foot and cause a tumble. I do that enough on my own, lol. But this rug is exactly what I am looking for and can’t afford. I love the pattern.

    Reply

    • Thanks for your comment! We have always kept a table or other furniture on top of it, so it’s been ok. It is thin and flimsy though so I think it would definitely wrinkle if it wasn’t weighed down by something. We’ve never had a problem with it though!

      Reply

    • Hmm, good question! I guess you would have to be careful about overspray, and I don’t know if it would absorb into the fibers as deeply and therefore might wear off faster? But I’m not sure. I’d love to hear about it if you end up trying it!

      Reply

    • Thanks Melissa! After a couple of years, there is some fading, but it seems to be pretty evenly faded. Could be more from our dog licking food off of it constantly than the chairs pushing in and out though. 🙂

      Reply

  64. Hey thanks for sharing .. I Habe a sisal rug want to do random leaf pattern what if I mess up the paint or it bleads?? Or I want to change the color is there a way to start over
    Thank you

    Reply

  66. Hi there I was wondering where you got the stencil
    I know you said you won it but I cant find a stencil that you paint the outline
    Just ones you paint the inside
    Please help 🙂

    Reply

    • This one came from Cutting Edge Stencils and it’s called the Marrakech Trellis Allover Stencil. I have also gotten stencils from Royal Design Studio.

      Reply

  67. Great job Erin! You made it sound so easy to do. Your instructions are very easy to follow on how to make this area rug. I think I am going to try my hand at stenciling an area rug for under my coffee table.

    Where do you think the best place is to buy a stencil with seashell,s on it?

    Thank you for sharing your amazing post.

    Kinda

    Reply

    • Thank you, Kinda! I don’t know if I’ve seen one with seashells. My go-to stencil source is Royal Design Studio, so you could check with them. I highly recommend their products!

      Reply

  69. Te felicito erin, eso es increible y gracias por la idea yo estoy redecorando mi casa y empeze por mi recamara, tengo una alfombra parecida pero clara y creo que le pondré ese acabado en negro ya que resaltara mas y conbinara con mi recamara que es negra 🙂 GRACIAS! mujer lista!

    Reply

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