Beginner-friendly tutorial for making a DIY checkerboard rug on a budget! No specialist tools are needed. Affiliate links in post.
Was this DIY rug easy, affordable and cute? Yes. Will I ever attempt to do it again? Probably not.
Hello, my friends, and welcome to the checkerboard rug tutorial that I am finally posting. If any of you follow me over on TikTok, you may have seen this months ago and to that I say . . . nothing really. Your girl is very much behind schedule.
Back to the rug, though. As many crafting enthusiasts are, I am obsessed with the craft blog Collective Gen. She’s always making the most stunning creations and giving my Amazon Prime subscription a workout. (Well, you have to use it for it to be cost-effective right?)
Back in March, Collective Gen posted a tutorial on making custom rugs . . . and I simply had to recreate it myself!
Now, I’ll tell you guys the truth: this was not my favourite craft. I 100% recommend recreating it at home for a stylish and budget-friendly statement rug. It’s worth the time investment for sure. But my ADHD brain just did not enjoy having to spend a weekend cutting two big rugs into squares. Way too repetitive for my tastes.
That said, it is one of the easiest crafts to follow along with at home – and you can’t really go wrong! (Unless you do, but that’s on you boo.) Plus, if you’re someone who can pop on a few movies and sit and cut squares for a few hours, you’ll be fine.
Honestly, I think the final version of this rug is a whole ass vibe. The colour palette is neutral enough to suit most decor schemes but you could really jazz it up! A pastel yellow and sage combination would be super cute.
What You Need:
- 2 x soft rugs in your chosen colours. (These rugs are $20.99 from Amazon)
- Carpet seaming tape
- A non-slip rug mat
- Xacto knife
How To Make:
Check out my TikTok tutorial below – the written how-to is below:
- Decide how large you want your checkerboard squares to be and cut a piece of cardboard down to size.
- Working on the bottom/foam side, use an xacto knife to cut your rugs into squares. Use the cardboard as a guide to help! Make sure that you’re doing this on a covered surface. While you do this, seperate the edges and corner pieces for easy access later. (You can try doing this with sharp fabric scissors but I had no luck.)
- This is the fun part! Line your squares up in a checkerboard pattern, foam/bottom side up, and tape them together. Align the edge pieces and corners to create a more finished look.
- Place a non-slip mat under the rug and you’re done!
See – it’s definitely not a difficult craft, just a little time-intensive! If you’re in the northern hemisphere and the weather’s starting to cool down, this could be a great weekend project though.
Some styling ideas:
Now, if I were endlessly rich and I hadn’t left the rug in Canada, here are some of the home decor pieces I would love to style it with.
Alright, my friends, we shall end at the end! I hope you guys enjoyed this craft. Would you try this yourself? What colour combination would you pick? Let me know your thoughts below!
Eveclair Koh says
The rug looks amazing, so creative 🙂 Love your crafts started following you on Instagram keep it up 🙂
Mia's DIY Projects says
Thank you so much 🙂
Shauna says
So soft and cozy! Love this!
Shauna
http://www.lipglossandlace.net
Mia's DIY Projects says
Thank you, Shauna 🙂
Lovely says
The rug turned out cute! Beautiful DIY!
xoxo
Lovely
http://www.mynameislovely.com
Mia's DIY Projects says
Thank you so much, Lovely! xx
seymorbirkhoff00 says
Excited to see more Looks!
Thanks and keep sharing great content.
Seymor
BEST HALAL COSMETICS BRANDS
Mia's DIY Projects says
Thank you 🙂
Her Digital Coffee says
You did such a beautiful job on the rug! It does seem like a repetitive task, but it turned out so perfect. I also love the bookshelf and lamp that you would style it with!
Mia's DIY Projects says
Thank you so much! It deeefinitely was repetitive but super worth it in the end 🙂