If You Can't Buy It... Paint It!

Okay that doesn't always work but in this case it did.... After we decided on wood floors for the living room we knew we'd need to get a rug to put down. After a brief search I stumbled upon this beauty at West Elm.

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I was in love. the colors the shape everything was perfect, well almost everything. After realizing the price was a bit out of our budget we settled on a rug from Home Depot that was half the price. I was a bit heart broken as I was sure that rug was meant to be in our room. So.... I got creative (as I often do) and ran to the store to pick up a few supplies and after some tedious moments with a blank canvas and some pattern tape I came up with this...

I printed off a picture of the rug and laid down the tape lines accordingly. I then went on to mix and match paint to match the colors of the rug, though you could use any colors really. After the fact I realized it would have been easier to paint the whole canvas the neutral color between the color blocks since I didn't want to leave it white and it was a pain to go back in and cut the lines, but lesson learned I guess. 

The finished product now resides in the living room on the shelves above the couch. Styled with a few trinkets that were in my old apartment and a few new additions. I feel pretty good about it. It is a good substitute for the rug and the kaleidoscope pattern makes for interesting custom artwork and the cost of supplies (about $10 for the canvas and the pattern tape) was a steal in comparison to a $400 rug that my cat would have probably puked on anyway :) I guess the moral of this post is that if you like something that is out of reach like an expensive rug or painting or print... don't be afraid at trying your hand at reproducing it. You don't have to be an artist to make art and in the end I think it will mean more to you then dropping the money on the original item.