Can I paint a badly stained carpet?

I would put a rug over it. I think paint is going to be a bad idea.

I think paint would be a bad idea. When cleaning the rug, the reason the stain reappears is cause its coming back up from the carpet pad because you are getting it too wet. I run the carpet cleaner over cleaned rugs repeatedly in just the suck up the gunk mode to make sure its not wet..... and then I put fans on the rug to dry it fast.

I would try spraying the area with some carpet foam and use a soft carpet brush. Another idea would be to use some non-bleach whitener like Dollar Tree's Awesome Oxy-clean substitute in a spray bottle.

Hey Carolyn!

You could probably use white fabric markers to 'paint' the carpet so it won't stiffen it, only thing is that finding a perfect color match may be hard! If you haven't tried steaming the carpet with a white towel and an iron, I would try that first! I worked in the leasing office of a large apartment community and this is what our professional carpet cleaner would do, lay the white towel on top of the stain, then use the highest steam setting on an iron and the stain will be on the towel when you pick it up! Keep repeating it until the stain is gone! There were very few stains that this method wouldn't remove! You can always patch the carpet as well if you have any leftover carpet scraps! Hope this helps!

I've heard carpet can be dyed if it's not too dark. You would have to hire a professional carpet clearning company. No idea how expensive.