Oh How Pinteresting: Those Painted Rugs Everyone is Doing and the Union Jack Attack

I've posted before of my love for all things reigning from those jolly Brits right now.

Seems like my Anlgophile fever has been drawing my eye to all things Union Jack.

First you will see my new bicycle helmet, which I have been sporting with pride on our weekend trips to the grocery store...

Union Jack helmet + Cambridge satchel = a regular Kate on wheels

Then I began to notice the Union Jack popping up in quirky home decor, and I wanted in on that too.

One of the most popular of Pinterest crafts at the moment is the elusive painted rug, a project that I've skimmed over because it looked hard and the patterns displayed looked like something I could outsource to, say, someone who makes rugs professionally.

Search results for "painted rug" on Pinterest -
so many patterns and templates to choose from!

After reading these painted rug posts on The Almost 40-year-old Intern and Gypsy Soul Interiors, rug painting seemed less hard. Then the aha-moment came to transfer these tips to something less patterned and more monarchy related. A perfect solution for the geometry-challenged like yours truly.

First I bought the rug from Ikea and mapped out my design.

My rug taped out with green painter's tape.

Since I have a red sofa, I decided to do a more Warhol-style take on the Jack with a grey and mix of citrus/saffron for the striping. The paint is a quart each of interior matte paint, mixed with two bottles of fabric medium from an art supply or craft store. The Almost 40-year-old Intern lays out the instructions very well - highly recommend reading through her post before beginning yourself!

P.S. I love these paint trays from Lowe's. $2 and I get to throw them away without feeling guilty about the price or carbon footprint. Washing a bunch of paint supplies after a project is le worst.

After letting the paint (almost) dry. I lifted off the tape to see my finished results. LOVE! Taking the painter's tape off at the end is always my favorite part of a paint project and I get so impatient about it...anyone else?

After a full night of drying in the spare room, good ol' Jack was ready to move into the living room and contribute to the mini rock vibe that we have going in there with the gig poster gallery wall. I formerly had a faux zebra hide rug in this space and with the animal print against the red I sometimes feared that I was living in a Planet Hollywood. This is a great replacement in my opinion.

The best part of finishing this project was logging on to JonathanAdler.com afterwards and seeing how much this same rug would cost through his site. With the custom colors and this size I was looking at $1,550.00...&@*%!!! Jonathan, I love you, but I've seen your vacation home and I need to start saving for my own. It's time for me to take my custom rug designs into my own hands.

I'm linking up with The Vintage Apple so you can see more Pinterest projects with other bloggers!

Have you seen anything on Pinterest lately and made it your own with a new design or process?