DIY Zebra Painted Rug

My sister, Jessica (sister #3), had her eye on the West Elm Safari Rug for some time.  She wanted it for a small nook in her dining room.  We went to the store a couple of weeks ago to pick it up, but the size that she needed was only available for delivery.  Bringing the cost of the rug to about $130.00.

Which I guess ended up being a good thing, because she fell in love with this Capiz Chandelier.  She figured her husband would not be thrilled with both purchases being made in one day. 

We considered keeping my younger sister's old West Elm rug for the space, but the brown was not working with her new grey chandelier.  Here's a picture of the brown one.

We sent each other about 20 texts that night and the idea of painting a rug came up.  I found a bunch of links, including this one by Tatertots and Jello and sent them to her.  She was sold.  We spent a couple of days trying to find a cheap enough rug, the right size, that would work.  She found the perfect one at Ross for $8.99, yup that's right.

This is what happens when you try taking a picture of a rug with a three year old in the house. The Batman crawl.

We used painters tape to block out the small edging the rug had. It really didn't stick that well, so we pressed down pretty hard.

We used wax paper to trace out the pattern in the original brown zebra rug pictured above.  The idea was genius and can really be done with any pattern. It would work great with florals and other graphics.  Here you can see the traced lines if you look closely enough.

We used a can of Martha Steward latex paint in a grey color.  We cut out the pattern from the wax paper. Basically, it was our stencil.  We placed the rug on her dining room table, to make it easier on our backs.

We found the best technique was to dab the paint on.  For a few reasons, you can see above the brush, where we actually brushed the paint on, it changes the texture of the rug.  We realized this after a few rows of painting.  Also, dabbing allowed for the paint to get into the actual rug piles/loops (whatever that's called).  Having the wax paper was key.  We just held it down and it actually allowed for sharper lines. When we tried to free hand a line, it looked blotchy.  

Here it is.  It took the two of us about two to three hours to get it done.  Thank goodness for my mom who was doing crafts with my niece and nephew.  Without her help, I think it would've taken like three days.

We were actually quite shocked at how incredible it looks.  There are no texture issues and the rug looks amazing. I think we stared at it for about an hour after we were done.  Actually, that whole night my sister would randomly text me pictures of it.

Here's a shot with the fabric memo board.  She is going to have the space painted and add a desk or console to the area

What do you think?  What a way to save about $110.00.  We can't remember what the can of paint cost, but figure about $20.00 for the whole project.  It's not a high traffic area, so we think the durability will be fine.  My sister's philosophy right now is, if it lasts a year, she'll get the real one then, but at least she got her chandelier and her rug.  I would have to agree.

I'll be linking up to these parties