Happy Monday! How was everyone’s weekend? Mine was awesome…filled with family, friends, food…you know, all the things that make summer amazing. Anyway, I’m re-charged to start the week (even charged enough to deal with a very fussy bebe this morning :) and wanted to share my latest DIY project!

{Disclaimer: Before I even launch into my latest DIY project, I must give a giant shout out to Sarah M. Dorsey Designs for inspiring this project. Her design of her Moroccan Stencil Rug is essentially what I created, but with a slightly different technique. And while we’re at it, you should check out her blog. Especially if you’re a sucker for amazing DIY’s, like I am.}

We’ve had this rug from Ikea for a few years and it has been through the ringer. It’s been our back door mat and let me just say “wear and tear” doesn’t even begin to explain its grossness. There were so many times that I wanted to chuck it into the garbage but I knew it had a greater destiny (oh yes, I said destiny about a rug). I had the idea to paint it a while back but hadn’t landed on a design I liked, until I ran across Sarah’s blog.

So let’s get down to the nitty gritty of painting a rug. I shutter to even think about showing you the grossness of this rug. But here it is, in all its glory.

Yep, gross. And because you need to see a close up of all the stains and muddy boots that have walked on it…

Oh, I hang my head in shame. But it gets better! ;) The first step was to measure the rug and create a quick mock-up of the design. I did this using InDesign but you can use any program on your computer. I’m including a printable version of the shape so feel free to download it. You could even old school it and use a copy machine (oh yes, a copy machine!) to play with the scale. My mock up is below…

And just to be sure I liked the scale, I took it one step further and cut created a live mock-up of the scale. I took pieces of scrap paper and taped them together at the size I wanted (which was 10″x 10″). After I quickly laid it out and liked the overall size, I cut out my stencil.

Tape the shape to a piece of cardboard and cut it out with an x-acto or utility knife.

And you’ve got yourself a cardboard stencil!

Once this is complete, paint the rug your base color. I used regular wall paint because I had a quart leftover from another project and I wasn’t concerned with it being soft. If you want it to be bendable and soft to the touch, I would recommend a fabric medium to add to your paint (Martha Stewart has one you can find at Jo-Ann’s or Michaels). But I just straight up used Benjamin Moore White paint (Satin finish). And at full disclosure, this particular rug soaks up a TON of paint. It took me three coats and 3/4 of the can! But be patient and grab yourself a movie and a glass of wine…it’ll be worth it!

No more stains! Hallelujah! Once the rug is dry, find the middle point of the rug and mark it where the stencil will go.

I used Martha Stewart’s paint for the blue pattern…it says on the label that it works on wood, glass, fabric, etc. So I figured this would cover all my bases. It worked like a charm!

Lay your stencil on the rug and paint away! For anyone that has never stenciled, you can use any brush but make sure to move the brush in an up-and-down motion (also called stippling) instead of dragging it across the rug. This will help control any bleeding around the edges of the stencil.

First shape is done! Just measure out the placement of the other shapes according to your layout and repeat, repeat, repeat!

And you’ve got yourself a new rug! I’m loving how it turned out…I was going to continue to use it for our back door mat but now my hubs said that it looks too nice. Ha! So for now it’ll travel around a bit until I figure out a good spot for it. But this is so much more cost effective than buying a new rug…I’m thinking I may need to do more of these. :)