How to hand-paint an outdoor area rug on a wood deck with stain. A budget-friendly option for creating a cozy conversation area on a backyard deck. In this tutorial, I'll show you how easy it is to make this easy-care DIY outdoor faux rug.

Hand-Painted Wood Deck Area Rug With Stain

When planning our budget-friendly deck makeover, one of the things at the top of the list was adding an outdoor area rug to create a conversation area beside our DIY Water Wall Privacy Screen.

While outdoor area rugs are designed to be kept outside year-round, on a wood deck there is the concern of rotting and mold building up underneath the rug. Ideally, they should be moved around often to eliminate any moisture-related problems but if you have a small deck like ours, that may not be an option.

Also, here in the Canadian Prairies outdoor rugs take a beating and should be stored during our long harsh winters, creating a storage problem. We live in a dusty climate, so they need to be swept at least once a day to keep clean. Way too much maintenance for this gal!

So painting, or rather staining an area rug on our wood deck is the perfect no-fuss option. Plus it's a much cheaper alternative to buying an outdoor area rug.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of how to make the DIY wood deck area rug, almost all of the DIY projects shared here at Interior Frugalista have step-by-step tutorials so why not get your budget DIY on and subscribe. You can also follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

What You'll Need To Make It

This post contains affiliate links so you can see what products I used or recommend for this project. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Supply List

• Hose or Power Washer
• 1-gallon Sea Foam Green (SC-132) Behr Premium Exterior Wood Solid Stain
• 1-gallon Najavo White (SC-157) Behr Premium Exterior Wood Solid Stain
• Wide Painters Tape
• Tape Measure
• White Chalk
• 3-inch Roller Frame
• 3-inch wide x 3/8-inch Nap Trim Roller
• Roller Extension Pole
• Small Paint Tray
• Fringe And Tassel Stencil or Fringe Stencil (optional)

Here's How I Made It

The first thing you should do before painting the rug is to clean the deck. Depending on how dirty it is, it's better to clean the wood with a mildew-resistant deck wash and power washer rather than a garden hose.

If the finish on your deck is worn, you'll want to give the wood a fresh coat of stain. Luckily ours was recently stained during the deck restoration so all I had to do was sweep it.

Determine Size And Direction For Your DIY Deck Rug

Determine the best size for your painted outdoor rug. Think about the size of the outdoor furniture you'll be placing on top. Just like an indoor area rug, a rule of thumb is to have at least the front legs of your outdoor sofa and chairs to be set on top of the rug.

Next, determine which direction you want your painted outdoor rug to face. If you're not sure, map the rug with white chalk in both directions for a visual comparison. Once you determine which direction works best, use painter's tape to map out the area rug.

I wanted an 8' x 10' area rug on our deck but wasn't sure which direction to lay it. You can see in the photo below that I mapped my rug in both directions with painter's tape. I determined the horizontal direction works best for our outdoor deck furniture.

Mapping Colored Stripe Pattern On Your DIY Deck Rug

For a simple and easy design, I chose to paint our DIY outdoor deck area rug with stripes using a solid stain. I chose two colors, a Sea Foam green (to match the deck skirting) and Navajo White.

Label the colors designated for each deck board with chalk - G for green, W for white, B for the border (as pictured below).

How To Stain A Wood Deck Rug, The Right Way!

Here's where I'm keeping it real and sharing how I wish I had stained our outdoor rug. Instead of getting down on your hands and knees and staining the rug with a 2-inch angle brush like I did, save your knees.

It is recommended that a 3/8 inch nap roller be used for solid wood stains. Use a 3-inch wide trim roller and an extension pole (link in the supply list). A 3-inch wide roller is small enough to easily stain narrow deck boards like on our deck without overlapping the colors.

Painting Stripes On The Wood Deck Rug

I found it easier to paint the stripes over the span of two days so each color completely dried before moving on to the next.

Also, I wanted our rug to have a timeworn look so I only applied one coat of stain. If opaque stripes are your preference, you'll need two coats of stain per color.

Pro-Tip

Avoid staining the rug when there is full sun or on a really hot day. It's better to stain in the morning or evening when it is cooler and there is shade. Also, check your local weather forecast to make sure there is no rain expected for at least 48-hours.

On the first day, I stained the seafoam green stripes on the wood deck area rug and let them dry overnight.

On day two I stained the Navajo white stripes as well as the horizontal border on the top and bottom of the wood deck area rug. If you don't have deck boards running horizontally on the top and bottom of your deck rug, use painter's tape to map out a perfectly straight border.

To Fringe Or Not To Fringe

To fringe or not to fringe, that is the question. Do you think I should add a fringe on both ends of the stained rug or leave it as is? I'm swaying towards leaving it without a fringe.

But if your preference would be to have a fringe on your painted area rug, there's a stencil for that! I've included links for a couple of options in the supply list.

Thanks for stopping by the Interior Frugalista today! I hope you were inspired by this DIY outdoor area rug. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section below or the Contact Me tab at the top to drop me an email. I love hearing from you!

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