Purple Herringbone Painted Canvas Rug (in which I reveal just how cheap I actually am)

February 27, 2013 by Anne 32 Comments

When word got out about the Pinterest Challenge last week, I embarked on a bit of an emotional roller coaster.

First, I was like “awwww” to this adorable video announcing the challenge to “pin it and spin it” featuring the kids of Young House Love and Bower Power Blog. (This season’s challenge is also hosted by Michelle and Megan.)

Then I was like “yay!” Time to surf Pinterest and do more crafts!

And then I was like “ohshootiactuallyhavetodosomething” (a harsh, self-imposed realization).

Then the stage fright set in. (Not sure why. This is my third time participating. I first made a wedding card mailbox and last time I made a succulent terrarium).

Compounding the issue was the fact that I had already blown through my budgeted allowance for the month. One too many work lunches’ll do that to you. So my budget for this not-yet-thought-of project was a whopping $0.

(I should take the time here to note that, when he realized my plight, my husband actually went on Pinterest and surfed around for possible craft ideas. That is how I know he really loves me.)

But then I saw this picture from the Vintage Revivals blog and an idea was formed.

I love this entryway on so many levels. But as our apartment has 8 foot ceilings in our entry-hall and I’d have to paint over it when we moved out, I did just as instructed and did my own spin on this project.

See, I had this rug. I got it from my mother-in-law’s last garage sale. She put it out with some outrageously cheap price on it to make it sell fast and I immediately descended upon it screeching “nooo!!!” while simultaneously trying to sneak it into my car without anyone noticing. At the height of emotion I am not the clearest of thinkers.

This is a canvas sort of flat rug that is great for kitchens. My MIL had it custom made and painted to match another rug she had in her dining room (which I unfortunately could not sneak into my car on that fateful garage-sale day). I already redid this rug once this summer, when I eradicated the red from the circles. And I still like how it looks and didn’t want to lose the circles just yet.

My plan was to paint the back. This looks lovely, right? My apologies to local craftwoman Mary Claire, whose autograph I completely disregarded.

After carefully washing off five years of kitchen grime, I began taping my lines–in a herringbone pattern, of course. I consider herringbone to be the slightly more grown-up version of chevron but I like them both.

I first determined how many rows I wanted (4) and then used a tape measure to mark off the columns. For the crooked rectangle shape (I’m sure there’s a geometry term that I’m missing but I was after all an English major), I cut a template out of a pizza box that I used to get the angles correct.

I wanted to make the herringbone seamless, unlike in my inspiration photo, so I made this nifty diagram to show how to tape everything. I also numbered it in case you don’t realize the order goes from top to bottom. 🙂

You may have noticed where my cheapness came in on that last picture if you have an eagle eye.

I reused the same pieces of Frogtape over and over and over.

My Grandma Donna would be so proud.

This is what my kitchen looked like mid-craft:

(My frugality makes more sense when you consider that the total budget for this project was $0. There’s not a lot of wiggle-room in that number.)

As for the paint, I used what I had on hand–some free samples of water-based Valspar (Porch Gray and Purple Royalty). Once I’d done two coats of the purple and one coat of the gray and let it all dry out good and proper, I slathered the whole thing with Polycrylic. Oh yeah, and I did all of the painting of this rug with a 1″ paintbrush. $0 budget, remember?

Finally, I cautioned Kenny repeatedly not to step on it and we let it dry.

Ta-da! (you can picture me doing a celebratory gymnastics finishing pose on the rug, if you want).

If I ever get sick of this side, I can flip it over to the original circle-y side. But for now, I’m loving our apartment kitchen’s new look. And I stuck to my budget, so all’s well that end’s well. I love a happy financial ending, don’t you?

Linking up here.