before & after: striped rug

If you've read my blog before, it's likely you know what a little terror my 8 year old Australian Shepherd, Dusty, can be.  Terror is also a good way to describe the emotion one look at my carpet brings out in me.  Where Spot Shot hasn't worked, I am hoping rugs can.  Six rugs in a 615 square foot apartment seems like overkill, but when the alternative is visibly stained carpet, I'm ok with it. 

Finding and financing 6 rugs that I like enough to grace my floors is another problem.  Until, I got the brilliant idea to spray paint a cheap, bland-looking rug in a style that is consistent with the rest of my decor.  I've been a fan of using spray paint to spruce things up for a while.  I've used it to update my coat rack and to make my picture frames appear uniform on the wall.  I had my doubts about whether this experiment would work.  But figured if it was absolutely awful, I could turn the rug over and no one would be the wiser.  Thankfully, the project went off without a hitch, and I have a rug I am happy with for under $25.

the goods

1 rug
spray paint (I bought one black and one white canister of flat spray paint)
2 strips of cardboard as long as the rug's width (or something like it to cover the section of rug that you dont want to be painted)
drop cloth (to protect the area where you will be working)

how to

1) lay down the drop cloth in the area where you intend to paint your rug.  Place the rug on top of it.
2) cut two strips of cardboard as long as the rug's width and as wide as you want your stripes to appear on the rug.  If you want different stripe widths, cut several strips in different widths.
3)  place one strip of cardboard on the rug below where you want the first stripe to be.
4) pick a paint color and spray the exposed part of the rug evenly until the paint has covered the rug and the original color of the rug cannot be seen.
5) let the paint dry before moving on to the next part of the rug.
6) cover the painted part of the rug with one of the cardboard pieces.  take the other cardboard piece and place it on the rug so that there is a section of rug exposed between the two cardboard pieces.
7) Take your second color and spray the exposed part of the rug evenly until the paint has covered the rug and the original color of the rug cannot be seen.
8) Repeat steps 6-7, alternating colors, until you have finished painting the rug.
9) Let the rug dry thoroughly before placing it in your home.