Create One of a Kind Area Rugs from Samples

If you love area rugs that have beautiful designs in them, you're going to LOVE this project!

It's not only easy, it's fun, exciting and wildly CHEAP!

Visit the VictoriaLarsen.Com website for lots of tips and tricks to decorate your home to become the home of your dreams! You can do it!

Some time ago, I had a friend names Susan that was what I call the "do it yourself" queen! She was this way mostly because she never had an extra dime to her name. If she didn't "make" it, she didn't "have" it.

We were in my office one afternoon when I got a bright idea! I thought I would cut unique shapes out of carpet samples and create a neat, custom area rug for my office. (OK, it was one of those days where I was bored out of my mind and needing a bit of artistic escape from the drudgeries of product producing!).

Little did I know that she had worked for a carpet company in years past and what a world of knowledge did she possess!

With our new project exciting us, off we went to every carpet store in the area to purchase their samples. Wow! They were cheap and plenty! Large carpet samples (3x4' versions) were only $8.00. Small samples as little as .50 cents!

With the car stacked to the ceiling with colorful samples, we drug them home and laid them out on the floor.

I decided on a leaf pattern and begin designing leaf designs. We chose our colors out of all of the neutral carpet samples and began by using carpet scissors (available at Lowe's and Home Depot) to cut the binding off the edges of each of the samples we planned to use.

We laid 4 complimentary large samples on to the floor, face down. I traced the leaf designs on to paper then transfered them on to the backs of the samples in a random pattern with a permanent marker. I did the same on to the backs of contrasting samples.

Using an exacto knife and the carpet scissors, we then cut the designs out of the carpet samples and set them aside.

Now flipping the samples upright, we inserted the contrasting leaves in to the large carpet samples. They fit perfectly! And with a little "fluff" of the fibers, you couldn't tell they were separate pieces.

With Susan's professional knowledge, we then ordered heavy muslin for cheap off Ebay.
Once it arrived, we bought a small can of carpet glue (again available at Lowe's and Home Depot). We turned all of our samples face down and pushed them as close together as possible then applied the glue to the back side of our new makeshift rug (leaving the last 2" around the full carpet free of glue).

Beginning at one end, we placed the muslin over the back of the carpeting and began unrolling it as we went, smoothing it in to place over the glued samples.

 

We let that dry for 48 hours.

Once it was dry, we went back and trimmed the muslin 2" larger than the sample. We folded the edges under to create a finished edge and glued it in to place. After it was dry, we removed all loose fibers with the vacuum, fluffed the rug and glued decorative edging (from the fabric store) around the entire rug with a hot glue gun. It was gorgeous!

Sadly, I never did take a photo of it. Of course, that was long before I started the website and the practice of showing how to do creative and fun home decor projects such as this.
BUT I STILL have carpet samples in the storage room and many more design ideas for creating cool rugs. Now if I only had the time!

Searching the internet for rug designs, I found these super easy ones for you to get ideas from.

As with any art, the creative part is up to you.

Do something simple, or something wonderfully elaborate.

Some of your designs might be something you may want to actually hang on a large wall as artwork.

These are relatively simple patterns. Once you do a few of these you'll be clambering to do something more elaborate.

Trims come in a variety of styles, from super simple to fringe type, so peruse the fabric store for your favorite.

Comments

[Lauri]

Victoria..you are always a wealth of information and do come up with the greatest projects to create...I have been wanting to do this rug making (only incorporating it into my wall to wall where there have been "dog" accidents that, although I've tried, couldn't remove a stain)..now I'd better get busy!

[Marilyn]

I have enjoyed your Decorating With Class website for a long time and it always gives me a creative burst of energy and inspiration. The rug story brought back a memory of a very busy entire summer way back in the early 70's. The four kids and I made many excursions to the carpet companies in town and accumulated a huge pile of scrap shag carpet left over from the new housing boom installations. We cut the pieces into an abstract patchwork pattern and glued them to heavy canvas. Had the most of a bright yellow shag and edged the rug with that. The finished rug measured 12 X 15 feet. It was great for our budget as the only cash layout was for the canvas, glue and several carpet knives. We enjoyed it for years in our family room and then passed it along to a friend when we moved.

[ahmed]

good