Hi all! So, here's a fun fact; boys are weird! If you married one, grew up with one, and/or are raising one of your own, this is no shock. If you are a man, this should also be no shock. Your kind is downright crazy.
Ridiculous.
We've bunked our boys, (ages 4 and almost 3), in one room together for the past year and a half, (not literally; they're in my husband's old bunk beds but for now they're not stacked). For the most part I've kept their room pretty simple for the obvious reason that putting two boys of this age together in one space is like cornering wild animals. Their sudden, desperate impulses to start wrestling are baffling. We'll say good night to them and they'll seem really tired, snuggling into their pillows, and then 5 minutes later it literally sounds like a zoo. I'll see one on top of the other rolling around, fighting for position and laughing. See? So weird!
But I digress. The point is, for their own protection I haven't decorated the room much. I made some paper airplanes to hang from the ceiling, painted stripes on the curtains, hung a couple pieces of art and called it a day. I love their room; I love seeing them play in and enjoy it, but sometimes it felt a bit sterile. Because I didn't want to put more up on the walls I figured an area rug would be a great way to add a bit of warmth. But let's be honest. They're little boys and I didn't want to invest in a nice rug for their room just to worry about it getting ruined. So, I found a simple navy rug on sale at Home Depot, (brand is Heavy Traffic, so perfect), and painted my own design on it!
For a 6' x 8' rug that cost $19.40 I felt pretty comfortable slapping on some paint. I started by taping off three stripes on the ends.
I used watered down white latex paint and a regular bristle brush, (2"), to paint the rug. After I painted between my blue taped stripes, I started free-handing the diamonds. I really didn't want it looking too perfect, so I let the paint go on unevenly and didn't worry about making exactly straight lines. I did, however, measure off where I wanted the points of the diamonds to be, (every 12"), and marked those off with a piece of blue tape to use as a reference.
Here is the whole rug before, (before I vacuumed, too)
And after!
Another little look around their room
I painted the stripes on their white curtains using Country Grey by Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, (I used the same color for the stripes on their lampshade).
I used a black paint marker to write this verse on canvas. Don't use a black paint marker on canvas. Use a thick Sharpie. It won't smudge every time sweaty little fingers touch it and will save $!
The propped up xylophone has been in my husbands family for at least 50 years!
Paper flag garland was a gift found at Paper Source and my Dad put together the red model plane hanging in front of the closet.
Final note: The bedding. Their coordinating gray sheets are from Target's Threshold collection, as well as the matching dark red knit blankets.
So there you have it! A painted rug. Could you, would you paint a rug? (Reading lots of Green Eggs and Ham lately).
Thank you so much for stopping by!
~Chelsea
This post was originally published on Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.