Painted Drop Cloth Rug

We love the screened in porch in our new house. 

We've been spending a lot of time out there enjoy these beautiful southern temperatures. 

After purchasing new patio furniture and making some new throw pillows 

(I found this fabric on clearance at an outlet store, only $3.50 a yard!) 

I knew I had to find a great rug.

After searching everywhere and finding nothing I like I knew it was time for me to make one. 

I read several tutorials on painted floor cloths and

I decided to test out the technique with an inexpensive drop cloth from Lowe's.

I already owned this stencil from Martha Stewart and I love several of the designs.

My new favorite are these small "sample" size paints. Less than $3.00 at Lowe's. 

I chose a chocolate brown and red. 

And some clear satin polyurethane.

I used my ping-pong table (it was nice to have a large flat elevated surface to work on), and taped my drop cloth 

Personalized Door Mat

This project has been on my list of things to do and I finally got around to it!

A good way to Welcome in the New Year.

I started out with this rug from IKEA (it was less than $5.00!)

And then I made a little trip to my personal paint store (under the stairs in my basement).

 White I was down there I found some black satin finish paint.

 I cut out a large "M" and used masking tape to adhere to the rug as my stencil.

 Using a small brush I went around the edge to create a nice clean line around the inside of the stencil.

 Here's how it looked before I filled it in.

At this point I figured out something that I did not like... This "M" looks a lot like the "M" logo for the University of Michigan. The blood in this house is Illini orange and blue. We can not have this! 

So... I looked around the basement and found a nice circle and went to work to on another design.

 I used a sharpie and traced the outside of the dart board

 to make a border for a large circle in the center of the door mat.

 I proceeded to fill in the large with more of the black paint. 

And then back to my store to find another color for my next step.

 Again, I created a large stencil. This time just a nice scrolly "M"

 Filled in my my new paint color.

And here I have my new personalized door mat!

I love it! So far it's been out in the rain and the snow and it's still looking pretty good!

Chevron Painted Rug

Chevron stripes are all the rage

and I was dying to put to do them on something. 

A painted rug seemed to be the perfect place to start.

I found a 4 x 6 Sisel Rug at TJ Maxx for only $10.00!

I cut out a couple Chevron stripes with my Silhouette 

(my husband thinks you should know that you don't really need a Silhouette to make a Chevron stripe). 

I needed it to be pretty big. So I cut it out a couple times and then taped it together.

 Then I taped around each stripe. 

And burnished down on the blue tape so no paint would bleed through.

 I used some semi-gloss paint (this beautiful blue came from my friend's kitchen) 

and a couple of foam brushes.

 And then I went to work "dabbing" the blue paint in my taped off section. 

This took me a while. But it was a good work-out for my arms!

 Adding lots of paint to seep in between all the groves.

The paint seemed to dry pretty quickly.

As I peeled off the tape my Chevron stripes were revealed.

I love the way it turned out!

The perfect compliment to all the new things in my laundry room.

Check out these links for other Chevron stripe creations:

 House of Smiths

MADE

Tatertots and Jello

 Craft-O-Maniac