Carpet square rug...the poor girl's floor covering!

[BeaverLard]

When I moved into my own apartment I needed something to cover up the awful apartment carpeting I was stuck with.  CL didn't turn up much other than a lot of old-fashioned floral numbers, and even though it was easy to find some beautiful rugs in the store, they were just too expensive.
With a working girl's budget in mind, (which for most of us DIYers means "as little scratch as possible") I looked all over the internet for ideas.  I found those classy carpet squares that fit together, but the price tag was terrifying.  After looking at a few tutorials here and there, I ventured out to my local carpet store.  

I used:

• carpet squares (mine were just $1 each)
• Box cutter
• Carpet binding tape
• Carpet edging tape
• Scissors

I laid out my squares the way I wanted them, and flipped them all over.  I used a pattern made of cardboard and cut around the edges with my box cutter.
  


Heads up, your rug gets much smaller as you do this!


I used carpet binding tape to join the edges.  This stuff gets a little pricey, I stopped using it (i.e. ran out) about halfway through and just bound the rest of the edges with white glue.  Meh, who cares.  Its your damn rug, right?


Voila!  
Its easy to make and pretty to look at, but you want to know the best part?  Last week I spilled something on it and I didn't feel bad at all.  I love affordable projects.


Websites that helped:
http://tiny.cc/Handy_tute
http://tiny.cc/Another_handy_tute
http://tiny.cc/Classy_carpet_squares

[wewilltaketothesea]

That's so awesome! What a great idea. Funny thing is, people probably pay like $500 at Pottery Barn for a rug that looks like that. Suckers!

Great work! 

[envirocraft]

This is awesome because if you spill on one, you can replace just that part if you want to!

[pollyprissypants]

I love the rug, it looks fantastic. But I think my favorite part of the post is how you describe/explain/justify things. Gotta love a post with a sense of humor!

[ElizabethsMom]

I bow to you, my new hero!!! I have nasty, kid trampled carpet in my apartment and have been looking for over a year at rugs for the living room. This is BRILLIANT!!!! I am going to totally steal your idea! I promise to take some pics and share them with ya, tho!  It will probably be a couple months (budget permitting) but OMG I am so excited to do this!!!

[tlvandercar]

On an old episode of 'Design on a Dime,' or some such show, they made a rug like this.  They used a hot glue gun and sticky mesh drywall tape to adhere the pieces to one another.  It works pretty well! 

Great job on this project!  I imagine the shaggy pieces are the best to step on with bare toes!

[Taramor]

Great idea, and the result is lovely. (And I, too, love your humor  )

[Tabikat89]

This reminds me so much of the flooring we had in dorms. Cheapskate caretakers used to cut holes out of the fitted carpet and stick new squares in. The only thing is, I think they held competitions to see who could find the worst carpet samples ever!

It gave you a headache just looking at it...

So when I saw the title of this post, I was worried.

OH HOW WAS I SO PLEASANTLY SURPRISED !!!

Now I'm just hoping carpet sample are as cheap in France!

[riverun]

Oh my,  that brings back memories.  I did my daughter's bedroom floor in the same fashion 35 years ago.  I think the carpet samples were the same price then.  Great job 

[1CrazyStitch]

I love the patchwork look. It looks like you bought it that way. Great job!