04:53

The Faux Cowhide Rug

I am a subscriber to both House and Home and Style At Home magazines. And I lust for many of the looks and stylized rooms. Alas, my house has been "house and home-d" thoroughly after 3 plus years, so I must now turn to the dollhouse to fulfill my design fantasies. Plus I have expensive taste, so this is a lot cheaper for everyone.

I really liked the look of a cowhide rug. It goes without saying, unless you had a 1:12 sized cow, the hide look might be a tad, well, hairy. The wheels turned, lubricated with coffee, and Kitty's afternoon nap let my mind wander.

The Inspiration

Design magazines
Living beyond my means
I needed a rug

Supplies

Adhesive backed fabric (DCWV brand "The Adhesive Fabric Stack"). I got it at HomeSense but Michael's sells this brand too
Craft paint (black, tan and antique white)
Paint brushes
Scissors
Aleene's Flexible Stretchable Fabric Glue (came in a 3 pack of mini glues for $3 at Walmart)
Black card stock
A Googled image of a cowhide rug you like

If you Google "cowhide rug" you get great images. I got this one from Pure Rugs. It's clear and not too splotchy of a pattern.

I then stared at the picture on my iPad and let my pencil wander on the page. The rug I drew was 5 1/2 inches wide and 6 1/4 inches long. It works nicely with my sofa and coffee table.

Press lightly and be careful because I found eraser marks tough to fully remove.

I base coated the whole rug in the antique white craft paint. While it was still a bit wet I painted on the black portions free hand (I didn't pencil them in for fear of pencil marks).

The white blended with the black and made for a more realistic look rather then a high contrast black and white.

I let it dry for 30ish minutes. Then I peeled the backing paper off and adhered it to black card stock, which I then trimmed away the excess. It gave it a firm backing. Unintended awesomeness moment! The black showed through slightly as grey on the front of the rug. It made it look more realistic, because what cow isn't blotchy!

Then I applied 2 coats of Aleene's Flexible Stretchable Glue to seal it. I

figured it would be stretching and flexing, so why not? Plus it needed

protection and a sheen for appeal.