DIY Fail! (guest post)

This is another guest post by frugalportland.com, who blogs about saving money and getting out of debt in Portland, Oregon.

I'd like to think of myself as crafty, so when I recently moved into a basement apartment with tile floors, I was excited. I got an idea into my head that I would buy ugly rugs and paint them.

So, I went to Pinterest. There were all kinds of success stories, so I made a list.

First, I wanted to find rugs. So, I went to Goodwill, which I love, and found a pair of rugs for $15. I thought they were just ugly enough:

I thought these were ugly, but I had no idea...

I cut off the straggly parts of the rugs.

Serious DIY-ers don't cut corners

I started taping. I even bought that blue trimming paint stuff from the Home Depot, so you could tell I was serious.

Look at all that tape!

Then, I started painting. But, because I am a DIY expert (insert serious look here) I mixed textile medium with my acrylic paint because everyone knows that adding that stuff to paint will make it soft.

Charlie Brown, I think I found your rug!

Maybe you can see where this is going.

Unfortunately, I could not. After the first day, the rug absorbed a lot of paint. "Oh, you must have been thirsty, rug!" I said, and painted more.

On the other rug, I decided taping was for amateurs and now that I had all this experience under my belt, I wasn't going to fall for that.

It was a disaster. I had told everyone about it and everyone was skeptical. Cautiously optimistic at best.

After 12 coats of paint

I had to wait, though, to show my boyfriend, because it was too funny not to share.

He came over, gave me a big hug (perhaps one of the only benefits of a long-distance relationship: the hugs are stellar) and then I said, "look what I made!" while pointing to the hideous messes.

"Oh, honey," he said, "what did you do?"  I was laughing, and he was too. "How much did you spend on these rugs?"

"Fifteen dollars."

"Each?!"

"No, for the pair," I said proudly.

"Oh, well, let's pretend the paint was five dollars, so you really only wasted $20 on this... experiment." He paused. "So, can I take these to the dumpster?"

Finished Product! Now I really found Charlie Brown's rug.

"Yes please."