Have you ever wished your rug was a different color or had a different pattern? You can easily coordinate your rug to your décor by painting it!

Did you even know that you could paint a rug? No worries, I did not initially either. You are in luck because today I am going to show you how to paint a rug. 🙂

Our outdoor sisal rug was in bad shape. It had gotten rained on several times and had some stains that would not go away, even with washing. However, it was still in good condition otherwise, so I thought maybe there was a way I could salvage it. When I first had this idea, I was not sure it would work but I was willing to try it. After all, we had all the supplies on hand, it only took my time. Since then, this rug has actually been painted twice! Ha!

Supplies to paint a rug

*There are links to products in this post that I use or are similar to products I use. If you buy something from one of these links, I may make a small commission (with no additional cost to you) from the purchase. I will not recommend anything that I would not buy myself.

Latex paint (indoor or outdoor)
Paint brush
Small roller kit
Painter’s Tape
Drop Cloth or old sheet
X-acto knife

Before you paint your rug, you want to make sure you have a clean surface to work on. If it is an outdoor rug, spray it down with the hose and I sometimes even throw a little laundry detergent on it and scrub it with a brush. Then let it dry completely in the sun.

I started by painting the whole rug a tan color with the roller. I do not have any before pictures of the rug since this was before I was blogging. Luckily Mr. Wonderful grabbed some pictures of the progress of me initially painting the rug so I have some to share with you! Tape off your pattern with painter’s tape. I wanted to do a chevron pattern so we taped diagonally and figured we would remove the tape on every other zig zag stripe.

I can’t remember the specifics, but I know we figured something wrong and had to re-tape a couple lines, I believe the lines we were painting would have been too skinny if we did it how we initially figured. Good thing this is not a tutorial how to paint a Chevron pattern! LOL Make sure to press your tape down firmly. You could even roll a brayer across it or run a credit card across the tape to make sure it is stuck down all the way.

I initially used a small roller on the rug to fill in the zig zags. While this was a quicker way to do it, it left a couple spots where the paint crept under the tape. I got a little better as I went along though, not using as much paint. A good tip, which I clearly did not do, is to start on the tape and pull back so you are not pushing a bunch of paint under the tape. 😉

The other option is to use a brush and tap it straight up and down along the tape, then fill in with the roller. Continue painting your pattern and let the rug completely dry before you tape off and paint the binding.

I used regular indoor latex paint and it held up great until I repainted the rug several years later. It even made the rug more waterproof as nothing soaked into the rug anymore. This also made it very easy to clean as well.

The sheen of the paint doesn’t really matter either if the rug is for an outdoor area. I used a satin finish paint in the tan and maroon color and a semi-gloss on the black binding since that is what I had on hand. After just a short while it all looks matte if it is outside exposed to the elements. If you are painting an indoor rug, I would opt for a matte paint.

Repainting the rug

When it was time to give our patio a refresh, I knew the rug would not match anymore. Since I was updating the patio on a budget, I did not want to buy a new rug. I decided to repaint it. This time I used a navy color to coordinate with the other accessories on the patio.

I did not paint the binding again as it was still looking pretty good. Also, I did not tape anything this time. Instead, I used a small paintbrush to paint the edges and a bigger brush to fill in the space. I did not want to use a roller to chance messing it up. This way was a little more time consuming but more precise as well.

Since I was painting it again, I was finally motivated to go back with tan paint and clean up the “mistakes” from the first time painting where it seeped under the tape. LOL.

A nice transformation

It was great to be able to give new life to this rug, not once, but twice! But next time I will be replacing it for a bigger rug. 🙂 Just as a side note, it does leave a harder surface when you walk across the rug with bare feet. So if you are looking for a soft rug, this may not be the best option. But if you want a nice looking, sturdy rug, this is a great choice!