face lift for the floor

You may remember my post about how I painted one of the rugs my husband brought with him from his bachelor days (if not, get acquainted with it here).  Well, rug number two was just beckoning for me to make it so much prettier.  This time, I thought I would try something a little different than what I had done before.  I had a lot of people compliment my rug and I really did appreciate it.  Though, most seemed to see the process as somewhat hard to do.  I was like "oh junk, it's not...it's so simple!"  So, I thought I would do something a little less 'free form' and a little more structured and doable for those a wee bit less crafty than I.
I chose stencils as my weapon of choice.  My husband and I decided on two different small designs we liked and I used some paint from my last rug and bought one more color...for good measure.  (I talked about the paint I used for this projects in my first post, it's just fabric paint)  At first I wasn't quite sure what sort of pattern or design I wanted to do.  I knew I wanted to do a border on the rug, so I taped it off with painters tape.  I used the flap from a shipping box (thanks Mom for sending my craft supplies!) as my guide so that I would have a relatively straight line.  I use a cut off plastic cup to hold my paint, it works well! I then started from the corners, again because I had no real plan.  I suggest having some what of a plan, as it makes it a bit easier!  I decided on a pattern and stenciled it in, alternating the stencils.  I knew that being a textured surface, I would not get exact and perfect designs, so I just went with it.  The brushes I used were stenciling brushes.  You just tap the paint into the stencil, tapping ensures you don't get too much paint under the edges which distorts your design.

Well, there it is!  I just added here and there as my little imagination wheels turned.  I thought about doing a large P in the middle to personalize it.  Though, decided against it as I wanted this rug to be simpler than the last.  Once again, this was SO simple!  It took me maybe an hour total to complete this project and I used such common tools.  I promise you can do it!  Now that your inspired, get creative!