So let me give a little background information. Right after mom and I finished reupholstering the chairs and right before I went back to school, we squeezed in a last minute project. Chalk paint is on the rise right now and the coolest part about it is that you can use it for almost anything. It can be used for furniture, walls, and even fabric. So natural mom and I needed to test it out. For this project, like most of the projects we get ourselves into, we generally have no idea is they will even work. This one turned out pretty well and is a great way to get a cheap, but more importantly cute rug.
This really was an easy project and being one that loves to paint, it was relaxing as well. So, we took a piece of canvas and taped out the design we wanted. From there we painted the rug and let it dry of course. Really, as simple as that. An extra step we took was putting a wax on top of the paint. I would not recommend doing this step unless painted furniture with chalk paint. I would not recommend it for a rug because the wax ended up collecting dirt.
This leads me to my most recent discovery. In preparing to use this rug for an event, I really needed to clean this cute rug of mine. So here's what I did. First, I put some dawn dish soap into warm water and soaked the painted part of the rug with it. Dawn dish soap is great for just about anything, but specifically it is a degreaser. This step took the wax off and while it wasn't really an intention of mine, I'm glad this happened. After letting the rug soak for about 30 minutes I washed it in the washing machine. I washed it on delicate although it probably could have handled a regular setting wash. After washing it I dried it in the dryer on a regular setting. The last step I took and it sounds ridiculous for a rug, but I starched and ironed the rug to get the wrinkles out of it.
Here's a selfie of the rug looked like right after it was painted. The color is Annie Sloan's "Barcelona Orange" and the canvas is a fairly cheap piece of fabric.
The reason why I needed to clean the rug in the first place was to use it for my social club's (sorority) grub. Grub is kind of like a fall event basically. So this is the photo booth we made for it, using the rug. It was a nice pop of color to add to our little photo booth.
Chalk paint is universal and is great to use on a variety of projects. Not only is it easy to use, but it is durable and high quality. So get to chalk painting my friends!
Your Favorite Redhead
