DIY: How to Paint a Jute Rug!

Okay so I am picking out things for the new house and came across this very reasonably priced handmade natural fiber jute rug.  It looked perfect under my dining rom table… until my dog got sick and puked on it.  Did you know it is IMPOSSIBLE to clean a jute rug???  I didn’t, but found out very quickly!

Mistake number 1 was using carpet cleaner on it.  This just bleached the rug and made it worse.  Sadly, even using a too much water can discolor a jute rug.

Here is the bleached out spots made from carpet cleaner after the dog puked here.

So the rug was ruined and I had a chance to experiment with it.  I have heard of other people painting rugs and started googling.  I found a lot of good blog posts online where people updated there jute or sisal rugs by painting them..  Apparently it is pretty easy to paint a rug!  It also looks great!  I used the site jimmychoosonthetreadmill.com for my motivation.  I also like this rug painting post on natalme.com.

So easy!  The only supplies your really need are some foam bushes, a gallon of regular latex paint, and some painters tape.  I painted mine right in the house after the kids went to bed.  I just put a tarp underneath it.  This rug has a thick plastic bottom and didn’t even soak through to the tarp, but the tarp made me feel better just in case.

So here is the rug before I did anything to it. This is a close up of the texture it has.

I decided on a Chevron pattern and made a triangle from construction paper to make sure the chevron strips were exact.  Then I outlined the triangle back and forth with painters tape.

Notice my pink construction paper triangle. I used this to measure and make sure my chevron strips were uniform.

After I had the design all mapped out on my rug, I painted! I used a soft foam brush and regular indoor latex paint, just like you would use to paint your walls.  Make sure to get a pack of foam brushes as I went through 3 or 4 on this project.

Can You Spray Paint a Jute Rug?

Personally, I decided not to use Spray Paint on my Jute Rug.  There is nothing that would limit you from doing so but I feel it would leave too shinny a finish.  Instead I used regular latex pain.  I got the paint from Walmart.  Did you know that they have pre mixed colors for 50 – 75% off?  It is hit or miss on what colors they have available, but I was happy to find this shade of grey for $4.

I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on this project since it was my first time painting a rug and I wasn’t sure of the outcome.  I am now ready to admit that I like the rug even better than before!  Considering I bought a $4 gallon of paint and a $4 roll of painters tape, I basically redesigned this rug fabulously for less than $10.

After the paint is dry, peel up your painters tape to see the masterpiece!

A close up of the rug after the painters tape was pulled off.

Looks awesome right!

Guests come over and are shocked when I tell them the rug didn’t come this way.  It looks great and I feel so talented! ha! I might even want to try this out on another rug!

Some of the other posts I found on this told me to sand my rug with an electric sander when it was done to take away the crispiness the paint can leave.  I did not do this since this is a jute rug and it already has a tough texture anyway.  I can see how this would be a necessary step on a smoother, less textured rug.