Outdoor Rug-Sometimes You Need a Plan B!

A fair amount of my projects are instigated by ideas that I've seen on other people's blogs.  Home bloggers are the best!  Every day I never fail to find new inspiration.  

This DIY outdoor rug recently caught me eye.  So, of course, I wanted my own awesome outdoor rug!  I purchased the same rug from Home Depot that Kristin did.  The size and price were great...$18 for a 6x8.  It's not the best quality rug ever, but I think outdoor rugs are mostly disposable after one season anyway.  And, I've never seen an uglier outdoor rug than this one in it's original state.  But it didn't stay that way for long!

Kristin's blue was beautiful, but you know I'm more of a green person and thought that the green would blend better with my things I already had for my patio.  I also had a stencil that I planned to use, just because it's what I had on hand. 

I spent over an hour stenciling one evening and only got three sections done.  The next morning I was not happy with it at all.  I didn't like the color or the pattern once it dried.  I think it was too detailed of a pattern to show up well.  Time to come up with plan B!

I knew I needed to cover up what I had already done, but wanted something that would be much quicker and easier than my initial attempt.  So, stripes it was!  I wanted 5 wide stripes, so I marked off about 14.5" spaces and taped the stripes.  I was a little worried about the edges because the tape did not stick well to the rug at all.  But, I worked to keep the roller straight over the tape and not work the paint under the tape.  When I peeled the tape off the edges were fine.  By the way, your paint will most likely bleed through this rug, so put a liner under it.

I did spray a little primer over my green pattern, but it still was not covering up very well.  Oh well, I just turned that corner to the side where it will be mostly covered up.  

I pretty much didn't do anything the way Kristin recommended.  She suggests acrylic paint but I knew I would go through a lot of paint so I used leftover latex that I already had and just rolled it on.  My black paint was very watered down and went on much more smoothly than the white, and didn't feel as stiff as the white when dry.  I used a whole quart on the 2 white stripes, and could have used more.  Next time I would have added much more water to the white, maybe even as much as 1/2 water 1/2 paint.  

Here's a peek:

Someone had dusty feet while photographing this!

I'm working on a few other projects for the patio that I'll show you soon, 
so this is all you get for now!

Please visit Kristin's blog, the HUNTED INTERIOR,  for a fantastic tutorial for painting an outdoor rug.  Her photography is gorgeous, her projects are amazing, and her taste is impeccable!  Her blog is one of my favorites right now.  I know you'll love it too!