The outside is becoming the new place to decorate. If it is flowers, or water features or landscaping people are beautifying their outdoor living spaces. One trend I have seen is the outdoor rug. It can go under a table or as an area rug in a sitting area. I have looked longily at them but can’t bring my penny pinching fingers to spend $200-$1000 for one! I was waiting for prices to go down, one to go on 90% clearance ( yeah right!) or for me to hit the lottery (yeah right again!). Until a few days ago I had the TODAY show on and Kathie Lee and Hoda had some one on who was showing how you can have an outdoor rug for less. I hear “less” and my ears perk right up.
Turns out you can flip linoleum over and paint it! So I went to Re-Stor-York, here in York, Pa and went searching for a pice of linoleum. I picked up a 9×6 piece of linoleum for $7!!! I LOVE RE-STOR-YORK!!! It is a great place to find building supplies at an awesome price. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! (Bob the Builder…PBS)
Selling new and gently used quality home improvement supplies at unbeatable bargain prices to the public since 2002. Partially sponsored by York Habitat for Humanity
- A joint effort between York Habitat for Humanity and Bell Socialization Services
- A building/home improvement store open to the public
- A friend to the environment by recycling usable materials keeping them out of landfills and incinerators
- A job readiness training center for Bell’s client
- A member of York County Volunteers Association
- A member of York County Builders Association – Remodelors Council A member of DowntownYork Inc.
If you are in the York, Pa area come check them out for your project. It is a win/win situation all around!!
Mask off the edge with painters tape.
There was some sticky from some duct tape on the back of the linoleum. I got off as much as I could. I was going to paint over it any way!!
I used a non standard measurement* of a kitchen towel to add a second boarder on the inside.
*non-standard measurement is something Sid The Science Kid on PBS talks about during one of the episodes. This was a great application and teaching tool for my 4 year old.
Looking like a rug!! I will paint the whole thing and then when I pull the tape off it will reveal the creamy speckled linoleum underneath. I will have crisp lines and nice patterned boarders thanks to the pattern of the linoleum.
My 4 year old helping out with the blue paint. This is coat 1. We did 3 coats because this blue is such a dark color.
Photo credit goes to my 2 year old. Yes, this is me painting another coat of blue.
A close up of the painters tape.
The blue is finished. While coat 2 was wet we spread a light dusting of playground sand on the wet paint. We sealed it in with coat 3 of the paint. This way there will be some traction on the ‘rug’ when it rains. Hopefully it won’t be as slippery.
My daughter helping out with painting the inside color. All colors were paints we have from painting out house. The orange she is using is an ‘oops’ color from the basement. Nothing goes to waste in a penny pinching house! The tray she is using is a plastic storage lid. No need to go by a paint tray when you have plastic lids in the house.
Once we had 2 coats of paint we repeated with the sand and the third coat of paint. This will be under our outdoor table but incase we ever decide to move it I wanted it to be non-slip all over. Then we took a barn red color and a yellow color (more paints from other house projects) and used drinking straws to flick and blow paint on the orange section. *Note the over spray of the paint on the bottom blue section. I painted over it for the next picture.
This is what it looks like when you pull the masking tape off. Pretty cool!!
Finished!! Now I will need to put 3 coats of a clear finish on it to prevent scratching and chipping of the paint. I haven’t decided what to use yet but I will update the post when I decide. I want something clear and flexible. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I want to store this rolled up in the winter.
2 Responses to “Out Door Rug”
March 30th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Cool idea!
June 16th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Excellent stuff – many thanks for posting this!