My husband and I were living on a limited income and our living room floor really needed carpet. So we started collecting carpet squares or carpet samples from the various carpet stores in our area until we had enough to do this room. These work great because they are very reasonable usually 25-50 cents a piece, stain guarded or stain resistant, easy to install, you get to use your creativity as far as color and design and you usually get better grade carpet this way. And best of all if one gets stained, just take it up and replace it.
This room cost us about $35.00 to do. You will need to remove the binding from all your squares before you start to lay the floor. It is easier to clear the entire room and start laying the carpets out the way you like them until the whole room is done to your satisfaction. You can cut and piece anyway you like, any shape or size. Then go back to where you started and start stapling the pieces down to the floor until you have the entire floor stapled down. Once this is done, vacuum and stand back and admire your creativity and handiwork. This process works for any room you want to do.
By Connie from Towanda, PA
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Awesome! This would be a great idea for a childs room too! Or a baby room in all pastel colors. I really like this one.
This is fantastic! Great idea and fab pics.
Great idea.
Love this idea! I have a hard time finding places that sell the samples, but found one this past weekend, the bigger size for $1 and the smaller ones 2 for a $1. I bought a few, 1 for the van under my daughters feet and the other two to use under the kitty litter box (cuts down on how much they track out of the box).
I thought the room was really pretty and the price was right! I couldn't believe it was only about $35 to do the entire room. What a bargain and it looks great too!
Very nice!! Anyone have any thoughts on how this would work to make a big area rug? I live in an apartment and could not staple to the wooden floor but would love to find a place that sells samples and try my hand at an area rug.
Thanks for sharing!
Editor's Note: There is an iron on tape that carpet installers use to join pieces of carpet together. You may be able to find something like it at Home Depot, Lowe's or a carpet store.
Oh I LOVE this!! I have heard of doing this and always thought it would look tacky, but this is wonderful! It looks like a patchwork crazy-quilt!
Staple it to the floor??#@!!##:(
I hope you're not renting. Wouldn't it be easier to duct tape the seams together, nail furring strips around the perimeter, and use carpet nails only on the outside of the room?
If one of your staples gets loose (you've heard of the wild, endangered staple, have you not?), it would be as much fun as a straight pin loose in the carpet. :yikes:
O.
I love love your idea. Very creative and I can see where a person would have a lot of fun putting together the variations. Thank you for sharing, I can`t wait to start collecting! cadia
Years ago, when my son was little, I actually made a rug for his nuresery w/carpet samples. I think back then I was able to get them for free. I then took the colors I wanted and used fishing line and a large needle and stiched them together.
A big thanks to the editor for that tip. Appreciate it! Now if I can have a visual -big smile- I will be great. And along with some time to find so that I can try this. Thanks again and much thanks to the original poster for an awesome idea :)
Thank you everyone for your comments and praise. We had a lot of fun with this project and the cost was great. You can use anything you can afford or feel comfortable with to secure the squares or make an area rug. The only bad part is that I had to be the one to remove all the bindings. That was a chore but I was able to do that while sitting watching tv or just when I had free time to sit and work on them. Connie, Towanda, PA
What was the size of the room?
I love this idea. My daugher needs carpeting and I am going to suggest this.
if you google free carpet samples, you can come up with some places that will send you carpet samples at no charge.
might want to try that frist before buying samples.
Pam: Sorry it took so long to get back to you, I have had a busy couple of weeks. The room if I remember right was 12' wide by 26' long, we don't live there anymore so I had to really think about it.
Niccy: That is a great idea, looking on the internet first. I hadn't thought about that one. I will try that if I decide to do another room. Thanks.
Tone: I may end up trying this project as an area rug in my new place since I can't find what I want anywhere. If I do, I will be sure to post it on this site so you can get that visual, that is if you haven't already beat me to it.
A friend of mine grew up with her basement done up like this--and that was 25 years ago! Glad to see the idea is still around!
This is an inexpensive way to add so much color and warmth to a room! I found some cheap carpet squares and thought they would make a beautiful rug. After reading the editors comment about carpet tape (thanks:) I made the most wonderful area rug for $21.00! I found some iron-on 6 inch carpet tape. I bought the heavy traffic type. I have a rubber non-skid run underneath. The taping process took about an hour and a half. I cut a few pieces apart to give the rug some color and originality, it worked well. Maybe next time I'll cut the bindings off and see how well that works!
Hi. I am looking to do something similar, how do you remove the binding from the carpet?
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