Painted Floor Rug - DIY

Canvas floor cloths have been around for centuries. But how long have vinyl painted rugs (or mats) been around? Well I’m not sure…but they are quite fun to paint and very inexpensive to make. The hardest part about making a painted vinyl rug can be deciding what you want to paint on it.

I purchased the vinyl sheet flooring at Home Depot, the kind of sheet flooring that is on a roll and the employees cut for you. Do not purchase the vinyl that is already wrapped in plastic (ready-to-purchase), the vinyl is to thin. The vinyl that is sold on the big rolls and sold by the linear foot (12 foot wide) is a better quality. Feel the difference in the thickness of the vinyl - make sure you get the best quality vinyl without the padding attached. Trust me - do not get vinyl that is to thin - it will be too flimsy and can be easily torn! Since the vinyl comes in 12-foot widths –you’re stuck purchasing that width. I purchased a 4 x 12 size piece and cut it into 2 pieces (with a box cutter) making the size 4 ‘x 6’. The vinyl cost around $35 to purchase – not bad considering I’m making 2 rugs out of it. The downside of a vinyl rug: not warm and comfy under your feet and vinyl rugs only work on hard floors. The creative possibilities are endless - how about a hopscotch rug?

Supplies you will need:

Vinyl Sheet Flooring – the glue down version
Primer
Paint
Sealer
Scissors or box cutter
Paint Supplies i.e. roller, tray etc.
Step 1:
Gather all your supplies -including drop cloth or paper (we want to prevent paint from getting on everything but the floor rug).


Step 2: Turn your vinyl over to the wrong side. That is right, we are going to paint on the backside of the vinyl. The backside of the vinyl is now the top :). Paint with primer (I used water-based primer). Let this dry completely.  If your vinyl is thin, I would not paint the wrong side. I would paint the correct side of the vinyl. You really need good quality vinyl to do this.

UPDATE: I feel that painting the correct side of the vinyl is best....I know I mentioned the wrong side earlier.  It seems that the really good quality vinyl is too expensive to do this project with. The good quality vinyl is what you need to really make this work.  The downside to using the correct side of the vinyl is the "imprints" of pattern on the vinyl. Make sure to purchase thick vinyl that has a simple pattern.


Step 3: Paint your design. I used a salad plate as a template, drew around the plate in pencil and painted the main area (black) first. Then I filled in the colors for the polka dots. The colors I used on this polka dot rug:
Sherwin Williams Black Magic (6991)
Sherwin Williams Pink Moment (6857)
Cupcake (8367) is a Martha Stewart color that is no longer available. Since I happen to have the color formula, SW made a color match for me. Let the surface dry thoroughly. The circles turned out quite well after I painted the actual paint color on them. The way you use the paint brush is important to get that round circle shape.

Step 4: Now for the most important part – painting the rug with a couple coats of waterproof sealer. The water-based kind is easiest to clean up and work with, and very low-odor. Once you've sealed the vinyl, you are done for now, though you will want to add another coat every few years.

To prevent the rug from sliding on a slippery floor, the back can be painted with a thin coat of a liquid non-skid backing, this product is made by the company that makes the plastic dipping medium for tools (can be found in the paint department of Home Depot).

When it is completely dry you have a fantastic piece of art. You can easily clean your rug with mild soap and water. All you need to add is your imagination to create a unique, one of a kind, hand painted original vinyl rug.