Painting a rug isn’t much different than painting anything else: you need the object to paint, the proper paint for your kind of surface and an instrument to apply the color, as a brush or a sponge.
My rug was pretty textured, but you should choose a flatweave cotton rug for the best results. Actually, any rug would work as long as is has a short loop pile ori a flat texture like sisal, jutta or cotton.
I prefer Annie Sloan Chalk Paint for the great coverage on any type of canvas, and this paint was my choice for the rug project too. You will not find this brand in stores, but only at Annie Sloan’s stockists, so you should check her webpage to see which stockist is closer to your location.
Have a question about this project?
How do you clean a painted rug
I have used (many years ago) a heavy calico to make my.own flat weave rug and this is before we had chalk paint here in England ( newish thing over here) but I used a 50/50 ratio of PVA glue and water mixed well together and applied it as a varnish using a foam roller into my rug...world a great !! I have experimented the years using treasured old fabrics to even cover a chest of drawers and I.used the same process..Mod Podge ( new over here too, so hope I' he spelt that correctly;) does a similar thing..That spray bought in camping shops for waterproofing tents is a very good way of stopping upcycled projects like this getting ruined by tea spillage etc..vital in my house as I have MS lol
This is a great tutorial! Could you do the other side, perhaps differently? If so one could have two rugs for the price of one.
Thank you for the idea, Brenda! Actually, I was thinking to try a different pattern, something closer to boho - nordic style, but I didn't take into account the other side of the same rug :)) Thank you again.
I have a large area rug which I would lie t change the color of at least the middle (rose color) to maybe a moss green or a medium grey, The nap or pile is regular size for an area rug
Any suggestions?
Hi Nancy, I see that you asked your question almost a year ago, I'm sorry no one was able to reply to you sooner. I have a suggestion for you, and that is all it is, for you or anyone else wondering the same. Let me make this disclaimer first: I have never painted fabric with anything but fabric paints and have done very little of that.
Anyway, my thinking is if you have a rose colored rug that you want to change, I think painting a wash of white or off white would be the first thing to do and after the light color dries then paint your green. I'm thinking if you painted green over the rose dye, it would turn your lovely green a bit of a brownish color. I don't know if that would be the result but that is something I suggest you consider, that I would consider if I were painting a decorated rug. Alternately, maybe you could carefully spot treat the rug dye with a bleach solution to fade the colors some before painting. Not too strong of a bleach solution then rinse thoroughly and dry completely before painting.
I love this painted rug posted by Gabi!
Good luck, Nancy!