y husband knows I am a big fan of area rugs and that I am always on the lookout for a good deal on one. Too often, the ones I really want are out of my price range. Take for instance an animal hide rug. They really aren’t that expensive, comparatively speaking. Ikea has a nice one for $249.
Not too terribly expensive. The only problem with buying it is the 1 1/2 hour trek required to get to our nearest Ikea (Charlotte). So what are the other options? Make one! Let me break the suspense by saying no animals were harmed in its making!
I have had a small drop cloth, about 5′ by 5′, on hand for a while now. It is a little small for the majority of my paint projects, hence it doesn’t have a drop of paint on it. After reading tutorials on how to make floor clothes, I figured this material was perfect for my new animal skin rug.
I cut the square to mimic an animal hide and then used brown gesso to paint my “stripes”. Seeing as how I do not have a lot of experience with zebra, I referenced a photo via Google. It made the painting so much easier and the end result much more realistic. After I finished painting, I trimmed the fabric again so the paint came right to the edges. Unexpectedly, the edges curled up, giving the appearance of a real skin. With how I did it aside, hear is the final product. I love how it turned out!
See what I mean about the edges? It almost looks real.
I still have to polyeurthane it to seal it from stains, but I just could not justify one more trip to Lowe’s during the weekend. It’ll have to wait! Until then, I will be dreaming up other designs for more floor clothes.
(Here is one more photo to give perspective of its size)
I can’t believe how you have transformed a dropcloth into a animal skin rug that looks so REAL! Such a great idea. I would love to try this out, too. Thanks for sharing!
(found you via betterafter)
This is awesome, I can’t get over how real it looks, thank you for posting this, I’d love to give it a try.