A few weeks ago I went to a Zero Landfill event and came home with lots of carpet square samples. I remembered an article in ReadyMade Magazine about how to reuse carpet squares, and among the projects was how to make a runner or area rug.
Here’s what I did…
I pulled out the carpet squares from the sample book. They were glued in pretty tight, so I used pliers to get a good grip. I removed as much of the paper & glue backing that I could, but again they were on there really good, so I felt comfortable leaving what I couldn’t remove.
Then I laid out my pattern and taped it together with duck tape. To do this, I unrolled the tape sticky side up and laid squares down to cover about half of the tape. Then I laid my next row down one square at a time. Cut the tape at the end of each row to be flush with the carpet.
FYI, I’ve heard Gorilla Tape may be a more durable option than duck tape. I have yet to try it though (I’ll let you know when I do!)
After connecting all my squares together, I turned the carpet over to the back side.
I ran duck tape down each column.
Then I laid the rug on the floor to admire my work and smiled because it only cost me the price of some duck tape!
I’ve used Gorilla glue before. It is really awesome. I bet the tape is good too.
I’m trying to do a similar thing with 18″ pottery barn carpet samples I snagged for $1 a piece. The edges area finished on all four sides. Any thoughts about how to deal with that? I was thinking of just slicing off the interior edges so they “match” better…
I would probably use a utility knife to cut off all the finished edges except the ones that will remain on the edges. Sounds like you found a great deal.
Could you take pictures for us when it’s all finished? I’d love to see it.
Or you could keep the finished edges if you like the look of them. They might add some nice texture.