Redecorate Your Porch with a DIY Rug

Good Morning All! 

I hope you're having a wonderful Monday!

Today I am so honored to have 

Merri from

MEC Design Studio

Take it away Merri!

Who doesn't like to relax on the back porch at the end of a long work week, or entertain family and friends on a Sunday afternoon? Our back porches are an extension of our homes. When the weather is warm, my family spends as much time on our porch as we can.

The furniture of choice for an outdoor room is made of traditional wicker and rattan or all-weather resin wicker. Most furniture is available in neutral tones, with cushions in a variety of patterns and colors.

Another way to add color and personality to your porch is to incorporate an area rug. If you can't find one that matches your décor perfectly, make your own.

We repainted our exterior doors in a bright raspberry. So, I decided to use the same color in an area rug for my back porch. In interior design, repeating an accent color in several areas pulls the whole room together.

I painted a 24 x 36 in. sample rug. It's perfect for the back door, and I love how it turned out, so I'll probably make a much bigger one.

Choose an indoor-outdoor rug-one with a dense loop pile is easier to paint.

 

I decided on a chevron pattern. It's a graphic, zig-zag design that's relatively easy to reproduce. It's been around for centuries and has been an important design trend in the past several years.

To make your pattern, you will also need:

• Cardboard
• A 90° triangle
• X-Acto knife or craft knife
• Cutting board

You will also need:

• Duct tape
• 3 in. paint roller
• Flat head stencil brush
• Paint

There's no math involved in this method! I decided on an 8 in. chevron pattern because I had an 8 in. triangle. Trace the shape of the triangle on the cardboard and repeat until you get a pattern the same width as the rug.

Since duct tape is 1-7/8 in. wide, I cut out a 1-7/8 in pattern.

Mark the center of the rug with tape. Line up the original chevron pattern with the end of the rug. Use large paper clips to hold it in place.

Stick the duct tape to the rug along the edge of the 1 7/8 in. pattern. Repeat until the entire rug is covered. You will end up with an alternating duct tape, rug, duct tape, rug, etc. pattern.

Pour some paint on a tray. Roll paint on the brush, but don't saturate it. It's better to apply several coats to get a nice crisp edge than to try to do it too fast and make a mess. Roll from the tape toward the rug (not toward the tape). This will help avoid seepage under the tape.

I "rolled" two coats on my rug, and then finished with a flathead stencil brush to get the paint deep between the loops. Hold the stencil brush perpendicular to the rug and tap up and down. The number of coats of paint will depend on the fiber, texture and nap of the rug.

Once the paint is completely dry, remove the tape. You should end up with perfect, straight lines. Not only will it add color to your porch, but you can proudly say you did it yourself!

Merri Cvetan writes on home décor and design, for both inside and outside the house, for The Home Depot. An outdoor rug stenciling proj
ect like Merri's will be particularly inviting for DIY crafters as the warm weather finally begins to show up after winter's cold.


To view outdoor rugs available for your stenciling project, you can visit Home Depot's Home Decorators outdoor rug selection.

Thank You So much Merri for coming on today, and I love the rug, so doing this now!

And thank you all for tuning in!

Until Next Time...