$5 DIY Cow Hide Rug

Soooo how many of you drool every time you see a cow hide rug? I know I do! I've wanted a big beautiful cow hide to mix in with my fun bright colors for as long as I've been able to "dream decorate". Now I want one even more, I mean how perfect would a cow hide blend mine and Reeds style... mmm soo good just thinking about it :)

Basically, you can tell I want one real bad. Sadly we don't have the budget for me to buy a rug just because I want one. And yes I know that SAMs club sells them for about $100 and yes I know most people would consider that cheap but for us if it is over $30 its too much :)  I had to get creative and come up with a way to get the look I wanted without spending the money. 

I figured painters  drop cloth is my favorite thing so why not use it as a rug! All I had to buy was a $5 4x5 painters drop cloth from Lowe's find an image of a cow hide that I liked and copy it! And y'all know me, I didn't just want a normal cow hide rug so I went with my favorite blue that is all over our house. Drop cloth soaks up a LOT of paint so it took about 3 layers for me to get the vibrancy of the color I wanted.

Once I started I realized I didn't really have a place for this beauty. Luckily I still had to figure out my front porch! I knew I wanted it to be a vibrant eclectic mix of new and old. The porch still isn't finished but adding a rug sure did make it feel more of a finished space.

What are some of your favorite drop cloth projects and would you be bold enough to go beyond the typical black and brown cow hide prints? I'm certainly so glad I did!! 

No Sew Drop Cloth Table Runner

Wasssuppp peeps! Y'all are so sweet and encouraging when I share my life with y'all :) I feel like I get on and talk so much about problems that I'm learning from and I hope it doesn't seem to be whinny, but God teaches me so much when I just sit and write down what He's teaching me. Lets just say y'all teach me a lot too and I greatly encourage the community y'all give me! mwah!!

I feel like it's been forever since I've posted a DIY or tutorial so I'm changing things up this week! Here is a super quick and easy way for you to make your own no sew table runner!! I'm not even joking when I say super quick and easy, plus CHEEEAAAPPP :) 

I started the project off with a 9ft x 12ft canvas drop cloth, yes the kind you can buy at Lowes for $21. Just give it a quick run through the wash to soften it up, and clean it up. ( I mean you would think something new would be clean, but trust me it needs to be washed with lots of detergent!)

As you can see from above I've used my drop cloth for another project first. I will be sharing a bit on that later. So what I did was measure out the size of the table runner I wanted. Then cut a strip of drop cloth. 

I knew I didn't want to have to sew anything and that I would be painting it so once the edges where cut I started to peel away some threads to create a fringed edge. And no they are not even, yes if you are a perfectionist cut a straight line and take all the time in the world when peeling your fringe. But I am not so I just eyeballed it and that is totally fine by me! 

Then I just used masking tape to lay out a pattern. I didn't have true masking tape so I used my washi-tape and painters tape to give it some different thicknesses. Once you have your pattern all set you can now simply paint it!
I was a bit nervous about this part cause I've tried painting drop cloth before and it bleads through bad. This time I tried spray paint and it worked wonders! It took about 3 layers for me to get the color I wanted and it is still a bit washed out in spots. But once you have the color the way you like peel the tape off and WA LA you have a lovely patterned table runner :)

I like the washed out look, I think it goes well with the course-ness of the material and the frayed edges. Makes it look "antique". And yes this table runner is pretty long for my table, but it isn't meant for my table soooo hopefully it wont drag the ground for it's rightful owner :) But I do love it with my red chairs soooo I may have to make myself one too!!

Easy peasy lemon squeezy! Drop cloths are the bomb.com. I mean where else can you get 9x12 ft of fabric for $21!!?? Basically I use them for everything, table cloth, table runner, recovering furniture, papasan chair cushion, drapes, and soooo many more ideas :)

What are some of your favorite uses for drop cloth??