Paint Your Own Rug

2007.03.15.paintedcanvascarpet.jpg We have always wanted to paint our own canvas rugs. This is one of those projects that pops up in DIY shows and magazine articles, and what better room to give this a try than a kid's room? After pricing area rugs for a kids room, we realized that we could be spending a lot of money to put something on the floor, and this might be a more economical solution, not to mention a more fun one. And since we are big fans of DIY projects, we might just give this one a try.

Of course when we looked for instructions, we turned to Martha first, but in the process, we found a few other sites with good advice and instructions.

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DIYNetwork instructions for kids: hey - its their room, let them design it!

J'adore your rug!: Instructions for a french country look.

Simplified instructions: We aren't all as meticulous as Martha.

HGTV Version: A PETA approved zebra rug.

What we didn't see in the instructions are any real guidelines on durability, and of course, these don't offer any padding to kids playing on the floor. But they might be fun to make together as a family, and it looks like a reasonably inexpensive way to let kids experiment with paint, and colour choices, and patterns.

And of course, if you try it and your project really goes awry, you can always buy one! That is the Ebenenzer bump cloth, pictured above. Sometimes the best DIY projects are when someone else does the 'DI' part.