How to Paint a Canvas Area Rug

Step by Step to Creating a Work of Art for Your Floor

Painted canvas area rugs are a very trendy design concept that has shown up throughout hundreds of years. Painted canvas area rugs are durable, add a designer touch to your home, and can cost you very little of you know how to do it your self. You don’t’ have to be a professional artist to create beautiful painted area canvas rugs. Here are a few tips to help beginners and those of you artistically challenged on how to paint your own canvas area rug.

The first thing you have to do is to buy the canvas to paint. Most people might not really know right away where to buy canvas, but there are actually quite a lot of sources out there. Arts and crafts stores, hardware stores, art supplies stores, and fabric shops will all have canvas that is perfect for painting and making into an area rug. For larger pieces of canvas definitely visit the hardware or art supply store first. You can create a painted area canvas rug at any size, so go big if you want to.

Now that you have your canvas lay it out on a big open space. Tape the rough canvas edges underneath using a heavy-duty tape like duct tape. This creates smooth finished edges on the canvas rug. Next, paint a coat of primer or gesso on with a paint roller. You can paint your canvas with a brush if it is smaller. For smoother surfaces though, use a roller. Allow the primer to dry over night.

Once the primer has dried completely you are ready to paint your base coat on the canvas. Dark painted canvas rugs will show less dirt. Patterns always hide dirt well too. I recommend putting a base coat of paint on your rug so that when you paint your designs on the canvas none of the white primer shows through.

Once the base coat has dried you are ready to paint your canvas rug designs. One of the simplest ways to start is to tape off a border. Paint this border on the canvas rug an accent color. Now you can deal with what designs to paint on the middle of your canvas floor rug. Always use other rugs as inspiration. You can go art deco, traditional, contemporary, minimal, and retro. It is your choice and your painted rug!