Over-Dyed Rug–DIY

Happy belated Thanksgiving!!  I hope yours was a fun-filled, family/friend-filled, edible occasion!  We drove to my sister’s house in Florida and, while our time spent there was a blast, that seven-hour drive is always so F U N with kids.  ;)  But, I guess it’s like anything – pregnancy and labor, the job interview process, research papers, school in general – you have to waddle and labor, hop around the interview train, read, read, read, and study, study, study to get that baby/job/A+/graduate.  You feel me, right?  LIfe can’t be easy or we’d all be bored out of our minds.  So goes road trips.  The miles might be hard but getting to that destination is super sweet.

And, I don’t mind if I do swing it around but, painting a rug might carry the same sentiment.  Let me explain.  I told you I painted the rug in the kids’ room, right?  Well the process wasn’t necessarily a party but the result IS.

When my sister and her fam moved into their current house, the owners’ left behind this rug:khouse (3)
They had it under their dining room table and so it wasn’t the cleanest of all the rugs in the land.  Well, my sister didn’t want it but I thought maybe it had some dyeing/painting potential so after a visit last year, we wrapped it in plastic and hauled it home, roof-top style, all those seven hours.

It got stuck up in the attic until further notice and then we moved, twice, and to this current house it came, still wrapped in that same plastic.  We made progress though – we unwrapped it, laid it outside to shampoo the heck out of it, and then laid it in the kids’ room.  As is.  Not pretty.  But, it is super heavy (which made washing it a feat of CrossFit-sized proportions) and thick and I loved the idea of having a fun round rug in their room…emphasis on idea.

The One Room Challenge lit a flame under my rear to finally get it colored something else and well, if you’ve seen the reveal, you already know what color it turned out to be, but in case you need a reminder:after kids

I’ve never turned a rug a whole different color before so I wasn’t positive how this was going to turn out – success or fail – but it looks exactly as I envisioned with that big ‘ole punch of color.

Here’s everything you need to know about how I painted our rug and how you can too.  You know how I do.  ;)