$10 Stenciled rug with Cutting Edge Stencils and a giveaway!!!

Last week, Cutting Edge stencils was kind enough to send me a stencil of my choice to try out.

I spent too much time looking through all of their great stencil choices and I have to tell you, 

stencils are not what they used to be!

Remember the ugly bunnies and the flower basket wall stencils you could get in the 90's? 

There are none of those to be found.

phew!

Instead there are some great all over patterns 

Like this Zagora stencil

This Anna Damask stencil

This beautiful Rabbat stencil

And this one that I chose, 

The Julia Allover stencil

I took the stencil and made this beautiful custom rug for my den.

Wanna know the best part? 

 It only cost me $10 to make!

How you ask?

Well, I picked up this 5x6 rug at Big Lots for $10

It was the last rug they had and it was pretty sorry looking.
and that's saying something for a rug at Big Lots!

There wasn't a price on it, and after pointing out the flaws in the rug, the manager and I agreed upon $10.

can you tell it's been rolled up just a little too long?

I watched the quick how to stencil video from Cutting Edge Stencils

and got started.

I had some painters tape and used that to position the stencil to the rug.
In hindsight I could have spent more time thinking about the repeating pattern and how to place the stencil, but in keeping with my personality I went with random, cuz that's how I roll.

I had the perfect paint colors in my garage that I picked up FREE (my favorite word) 

from a local business.

The company is contracted to do painting in local area businesses and offices and when they have leftovers, they place it on a pallet outside for free.

There are so many great colors to choose from.

These are the two I picked for this project.
**the grey on the left was too light, so if you look at the other pictures, you can see I traded it in for a darker color for the actual project.

I also used the dense foam roller supplied by Cutting Edge
and some foam brushes I always have on hand.

I started painting and rolling on the rug and was really pleased with the results.

Four hours later, I had completed the rug.

I was amazed at how easy it was to use the stencil.

I didn't have to wash the stencil between uses

It wasn't messy

There was very little clean up
I didn't have to be too accurate with my placement...it all just fell into place

And the stencil made perfect crisp lines every time!

I found the perfect spot for the rug in my den.

I love how the yellow in the flowers matches the carpet.

I couldn't have planned that better!

My goal in decorating is always to make it look expensive without it being expensive.

I think I achieved that with this $10 rug don't you?

In case you are interested in an update of how my stenciled rug is holding up after several years. Come on over and see for yourself!