One common theme throughout the rooms I saw were rugs. They tie a room together and make it look more homey. It's no secret that rugs can be incredibly expensive as well.Of course, I decided that I could make my own.
This room here is a color scheme that Brian said he wanted in his room. I think most of our decor is currently these colors, so he is very comfortable with them.
Mediterranean Bedroom by Long Beach Architects & Designers Sennikoff Architects
Something like this. See the nice rug? I'm shooting for something like that, sort of. Our room isn't going to be quite that big so I will make mine a little smaller.
While searching for a way to do this I came across a bunch of great ideas to make rugs with. Like from Martha Stewart, you can paint a canvas drop cloth to make a rug. We're going to try this, but that is not what this tutorial is about. We are following a tutorial from Vintage Revivals. She is very creative and artistic and many other things that I am not. So it will be a modified version...
First, I needed to nail down my 2 rugs that would become one. Luckily for me, since most of our thing (like previously stated) are already red and tan, we had two rugs in those colors!!! They were bathroom rugs, like these:
I actually had two rugs in different sizes, like in the photo. My red one was the bigger one. There is a huge plus to these, they are super cheap, like maybe $10 each. (I ended up liking the final result so much that I decided to make another for my hallway, later)
Next, I needed some of that tape. To Home Depot I go! I found the tape in the carpet/flooring area. I had to really read the boxes and instructions to make sure I got the right stuff. There are quite a few choices to make. There are double and single sided tapes, Indoor and Outdoor tapes, pressure sensitive and iron on tapes. I wasn't sticking the rug permanently to the floor: single sided. It was and always would be an indoor rug: Indoor. I didn't have (nor wanted to buy) the special carpet iron: pressure sensitive (look for a box that says "No Iron Needed". I picked up a box that looks like:
After that I got my rugs out and started chopping. Since my rugs were different sizes I decided it would be easier to make the rugs of stripes of varying widths, but I still needed all the lengths the same. Drawing on the backs of the rugs was something like this. I used a piece of long cardboard to act as my straightedge and did what I do best: eyeball the stripes.
I used a pair of regular scissors to cut these rugs, although I truly believe that if you use a better rug than mine were, you would need a blade of some kind. They sell those in the carpet area as well.
After cutting all the strips out, I laid them out to see how I liked the varying sizes and make it easier when it came time for taping. (See how I used the old curved ends of the rug for the ends of the new rug? I think its a good idea, but do what feels best.)
At this time I highly recommend brushing as many of the little pieces of the cut carpet off of your individual strips of rug and vacuuming. I didn't and those little things are now everywhere in my house and frequently ended up on my tape.
Next I measured the tape across the rug and decided to just cut all the tap out at the same time. I found out at this point that I would need another box of tape. Also, the tape was wider that most of my strips of rug, so I cut all of the lengths of tape in half, lengthwise.
After that I decided to jump in! I took the tape and laid it sticky side up and put the first piece on half of the tape.
Then I brought the next piece and put it as close to the other piece as possible. To make sure the tape sticks, I decided to walk on the rug a bit.
Throughout the project I had tons of help with the pressure part of making a rug...
Here are the first couple of pieces together.
I just kept working, piece by piece, until they were all stuck together. Once it was altogether I had to trim some of the edges that weren't flush with the other pieces. I didn't stress too much about this because I knew the more we walked on it the more the rug would get shifted and once it was more "settled" I could then asses whether more trimming would be needed.
The big finish! I know it looks nothing like the one in the photo, but it will serve its purpose in the new place.
Brian contributed to this project a little more than the others. He graciously went out to get my second box of tape, he let me cut us his favorite rug (the red one) and he took some of the pics! You're the best bro, even if in the beginning you were skeptical.
Also, special thanks goes out to Leena (Brian's cousin). She took the great pics of Bailey(the cutest dog on the planet).
Any questions? Let me know!
Something like this. See the nice rug? I'm shooting for something like that, sort of. Our room isn't going to be quite that big so I will make mine a little smaller.
While searching for a way to do this I came across a bunch of great ideas to make rugs with. Like from Martha Stewart, you can paint a canvas drop cloth to make a rug. We're going to try this, but that is not what this tutorial is about. We are following a tutorial from Vintage Revivals. She is very creative and artistic and many other things that I am not. So it will be a modified version...
First, I needed to nail down my 2 rugs that would become one. Luckily for me, since most of our thing (like previously stated) are already red and tan, we had two rugs in those colors!!! They were bathroom rugs, like these:
Next, I needed some of that tape. To Home Depot I go! I found the tape in the carpet/flooring area. I had to really read the boxes and instructions to make sure I got the right stuff. There are quite a few choices to make. There are double and single sided tapes, Indoor and Outdoor tapes, pressure sensitive and iron on tapes. I wasn't sticking the rug permanently to the floor: single sided. It was and always would be an indoor rug: Indoor. I didn't have (nor wanted to buy) the special carpet iron: pressure sensitive (look for a box that says "No Iron Needed". I picked up a box that looks like:
After that I got my rugs out and started chopping. Since my rugs were different sizes I decided it would be easier to make the rugs of stripes of varying widths, but I still needed all the lengths the same. Drawing on the backs of the rugs was something like this. I used a piece of long cardboard to act as my straightedge and did what I do best: eyeball the stripes.
I used a pair of regular scissors to cut these rugs, although I truly believe that if you use a better rug than mine were, you would need a blade of some kind. They sell those in the carpet area as well.
After cutting all the strips out, I laid them out to see how I liked the varying sizes and make it easier when it came time for taping. (See how I used the old curved ends of the rug for the ends of the new rug? I think its a good idea, but do what feels best.)
At this time I highly recommend brushing as many of the little pieces of the cut carpet off of your individual strips of rug and vacuuming. I didn't and those little things are now everywhere in my house and frequently ended up on my tape.
Next I measured the tape across the rug and decided to just cut all the tap out at the same time. I found out at this point that I would need another box of tape. Also, the tape was wider that most of my strips of rug, so I cut all of the lengths of tape in half, lengthwise.
After that I decided to jump in! I took the tape and laid it sticky side up and put the first piece on half of the tape.
Then I brought the next piece and put it as close to the other piece as possible. To make sure the tape sticks, I decided to walk on the rug a bit.
Throughout the project I had tons of help with the pressure part of making a rug...
Here are the first couple of pieces together.
I just kept working, piece by piece, until they were all stuck together. Once it was altogether I had to trim some of the edges that weren't flush with the other pieces. I didn't stress too much about this because I knew the more we walked on it the more the rug would get shifted and once it was more "settled" I could then asses whether more trimming would be needed.
The big finish! I know it looks nothing like the one in the photo, but it will serve its purpose in the new place.
Brian contributed to this project a little more than the others. He graciously went out to get my second box of tape, he let me cut us his favorite rug (the red one) and he took some of the pics! You're the best bro, even if in the beginning you were skeptical.
Also, special thanks goes out to Leena (Brian's cousin). She took the great pics of Bailey(the cutest dog on the planet).
Any questions? Let me know!
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