Spray Painted Outdoor Rug for Camper or RV

Sometimes the simplest projects turn out to be the most satisfying. This stenciled camper rug started as a plain outdoor mat and turned into a fun little personality piece for our RV setup. With a bit of spray paint and a custom stencil, I gave this rug a fresh look that feels welcoming, playful, and perfectly suited for outdoor living. It’s proof that even small details can make your camper feel more like home.

This spray-painted outdoor rug project is easy; you can do it this weekend!

Lulu loves all rugs. Let’s see how I turned an inexpensive big-box-store rug into a custom outdoor rug to match my camper.

Spray Painted Outdoor Rug

Ah, so much better! You can see how I paint fans in the post Customized Plastic Fan. Today I’m sharing the painted outdoor rug.

Tape the Border of the Outdoor Rug

I wanted to spray-paint a border on the simple outdoor rug. I tried to tape off a border with painter’s tape, but it wouldn’t stick to the texture of the outdoor carpet at all. Enter Gorilla Duct Tape! This extra-tough duct tape worked well! As you can see, I used a tile coaster to space the outside and inside pieces of tape. It was sweltering, so I did the taping off inside and rolled the rug up to take it outside to paint.

Rolling up the rug crinkled the duct tape a little. I walked around the carpet—stepping on the tape to straighten it out.

Spray Paint Outdoor Rug

The cardboard was intended to prevent overspray, but after testing, there was none on it. The paint is Sea Glass by Krylon.

When spray painting something like this, it’s best to spray straight down, not at an angle.

I love the new spray-painted border on the outdoor rug. It was so exciting to see the pretty mint color.

Remove Tape

The outdoor rug is very thin and easy to manage. It isn’t heavy and folds easily into a small rectangle, fitting in the camper’s storage.

Here’s a close-up of the pretty color. But it looks like it’s missing something, right?

Apply Contact Paper Stencil to Outdoor Rug

I made a stencil on my Silhouette Portrait out of contact paper. I meant to show you how I use these types of stencils, but I forgot to take a picture. The entire piece of contact paper was placed on the rug before any letter weeding was done. You can see in this picture that I still needed to weed the ER in CAMPER.

Prepare the Stencil With Paper and Painter’s Tape.

I used the backing paper and painter’s tape to protect the outdoor rug from getting overspray.

The contact paper stencil curled when the spray paint was applied. Again, I sprayed straight down without any angle.

Yeah, that didn’t work! The camera saw it pretty well, but the spray-painted stencil did not show up in this image or in real life.

Trace Stenciled Letters With a Paint Pen

I used a black paint pen to trace the Happy Camper letters and the inside and outside of the stenciled camper. Do you LOVE the sea glass color as much as I do? I wish the lettering and the trailer were larger.

The stencil was purposely put in the bottom 1/3 of the outdoor rug because the chairs will most likely be near the camper.

Click here to pin for later

I love the “pop of color” the spray-painted rug and box fan add to the camper! Isn’t it amazing how well the spray-painted box fan matches the trailer?

Lulu is a Happy Camper!

I’ve done some stenciling and painting for rugs and flooring. I’ve stenciled on a small pet mat rug and a piece of vinyl wallpaper as a rug for my laundry room. I bought an inexpensive outdoor rug at Home Depot to use with the new Vintage Cruiser camper.

gail

If your camper space feels a little blah, don’t overlook what’s under your feet. A painted rug is an easy way to add charm without spending much, and it’s something you can change whenever the mood strikes. I love projects like this because they remind me that creativity doesn’t have to be complicated to make a big impact.

But this project isn’t limited to RV living. These rugs come in all sizes and are suitable for indoor and outdoor use.