Floor Cloth

Floor cloth or decorative area rugs are pretty easy to make and they're not only cool looking but durable and easy to take care of. It's just a matter of vacuuming or sweeping, and wiping them clean like you would your floor.

Floor cloths also make cool art for the wall. Paint them any color you want, leave them solid or paint a design, it's your artistic decision.

I suggest using fabric with a little weight such as upholstering material, or heavy cotton canvas. You don't want a flimsy fabric. The look of the finished mat depends a lot on the fabric that is used.

Make the floor cloth any size you want. A small one for in front of the kitchen sink or an area rug for in front of the couch. The two pictured here are area rug size, 9' x 6'.

These two floor cloths are completely different fabrics used with completely different paint types. The floor mat with the painted design I made quite a few years ago. I used a heavy cotton canvas material. To maintain this mat I also apply a floor wax to it periodically. It has a really cool appearance, it looks like leather laying on the floor. I originally made it to place on the floor in front of our couch in the living room, now it's being used for the kids playroom.

The materials used for the rug with painted designs; primer, latex paint and polyurethane. You can use a paint brush or a paint roller. Use primer on both sides of the mat first. Primer will help seal the material creating a more uniform color. Paint both sides of the mat, let dry and paint your design.

After drying, brush on a couple coats of polyurethane on the top side of the mat for protection. Polyurethane will change the color of your paint, it has the tendency to yellow.

I have read that Minwax Water Based Polycrylic Protective finish does not yellow, even a white paint maintains it's crisp white appearance. I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know if it really works.

The solid color mat I made as an area rug for our enclosed sun porch. I used an upholstering material that I found really cheap.

I wanted it to hold up to moisture so I used a wood deck paint. I painted an indoor outdoor primer on both sides of the material first and than painted both sides with deck paint to protect the material. I finished with a couple coats of polyurethane on the top side of the mat for protection.

Using the deck paint for this rug seems to be working. It has held up to the occasional rain drops and moisture.

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