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So I’m a little late jumping on this DIY bandwagon, but I thought I’d give it a try anyway.  Chevrons are really super popular (where do these trends start? I’VE ALWAYS WONDERED) and they are on everythingggg.  I especially like them on rugs though, and when we moved into our new apartment we had a plain boring mat in front of the door…so I made it not so boring!  Step by step instructions below:

 

The part that seemed trickiest to me was cutting out a proper chevron.  I hate the way wonky chevrons look…so I spent a lot of time on this part.  If you are nervous about how to cut out a chevron as a template, read these incredibly detailed (haha) instructions.

Materials
1. Cardboard (I used an empty printer box), cardboard is better than paper because the paint won’t seep through.  I’m sure you can also tape it off with painter’s tape
2. Pen
3. Paint, paintbrush/sponge brush
4. Scissors or razor
5. Some sort of mat/rug

I honestly think this project could work on any type of mat or rug.  I happened to have a doormat by Mohawk Flooring that my mom gave to me.  No idea how much it was or anything like that.  Also, in terms of paint I used one interior hi-gloss and one stain resistant paint and primer in one…because these were in the ‘oops section’ at Home Depot and therefore $2 each and I have no idea what those descriptions mean.  I love the Oops paint at Home Depot because it is SO CHEAP

The only issue is that sometimes you don’t get exactly what you think is in the cans.  Above I thought I was getting a cream and a purple.  The purple was perfect and beautiful, but the cream ended up being gray.  Oh well!

Making the Chevron Template

1. Get a piece of cardboard that is the same width as your rug.  Cut another piece of cardboard that will act as your guide.  It should be however long you want the edges of the chevron to be.  Mine was probably 6 inches or so.  If you want your chevron pattern to be perfectly centered on your rug, make sure you measure the middle of the cardboard and then the middle of each section.  This is where you should have your ‘point’ of each chevron. (does this make any sense?!?)  Basically you should have two triangles touching in the middle of your rug.
2. Draw a line along the guide.  Then switch the guide so it is going from the point of the chevron back down (ie make a triangle, hello kindergarten).
VOILA triangle 1.  Ignore The Boyfriend’s amino acid drawings or whatever at the top.

3. Just cut this out and move it over as a template for the second triangle (and third or fourth, depending how wide your rug is).  Trace your triangle.  Mine isn’t cut out because I had already made my chevron template and this is simply prettier for the blog.
VIOLA triangle 2 and first part of chevron

4. You have to make the top part of the chevron.  Decide how ‘thick’ you want your chevron to be (mine was probably three inches or so).  Measure up from one point and make a mark.  Then do the same to the other point.  This makes sure that your chevron will be equal/centered/perfect/whatever.

 

Now you have equal tops for your chevron.

5. Take your triangles you cut out and simply move them up.  Make sure the top points touch where you made your marks and that their bottom inner points are touching.  Trace with a pen.

VIOLA! chevron.  This one looks a little wonky but it’s not the one I used.  It’s just to show the steps.
6. Cut out your chevron.
7.  The rest of the project is super easy.  You essentially lay your chevron template down, corners touching corners of your rug, and start painting.  There is literally no technique for painting.  I just glopped on a bunch of paint and spread it out.  The cardboard was nice and thick so I could hold it in place and make a nice clean line with the brush.
I personally didn’t find painting the hard part, I felt like cutting out a perfect chevron was the hard part.  You really just need a lot of patience.  I watched Archer and did all of the stripes.  I also did two coats and it had to dry for a solid 24 hours.  Another option would be to paint it all one color and then just do the stripes of one color.  It’s really up to you.
And you’re done!  You can get as fancy as you want…adding borders or multiple colors or whatever.  Also, DON’T WORRY about it bleeding.  If it bleeds, you let it dry and paint over it.  Sigh…I love paint.

Mine has a crease from being folded up in the moving van :(

And that’s it!  Hopefully this wasn’t too confusing…I should really start doing video instructions because I’m terrible at writing them out…but let me know if anyone does this project!  It’s really quite easy despite the amount of time it takes and it brightens up a room nicely :)

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