The DIY Series – “Guide To Fixing A Shag Rug”

My husband and I joke that, because we have two small children and one very large Labrador puppy, at this point in our lives we just can’t have nice things.  We joke about it but, deep down, we are speaking the absolute truth.  Furniture, rugs, you name it, have a rough life around here at present.  Spills, dirty shoes and dog feet, food, and even super gross things like vomit (I’m sorry! But it’s just truth!) inevitably end up on almost every surface at some point in time.

My goodness!  Don’t you wish you had an invite to our house right about now?

On a recent trip for Spring Break we left our 8 month old lab puppy at our house with the grandparents keeping watch.  Well, he apparently experienced some boredom, or some kind of existential crisis over us leaving him, or he was just being a brat for the grandparents (most likely it was a combination of the three) that manifested in him deciding that our shag area rug deserved to be punished.  Long story short, we came home to two bald spots on our rug. A rug that is in a spot in our home that is high traffic, aka. “very noticeable.”

 

This rug was not a terribly expensive buy from IKEA.  While this particular rug is no longer available, you can see a similar one Here.  Although not pricey enough to cause me to have a meltdown over the damage, I still like this rug in this space, and really did not want to go out and spend a few hundred dollars on a replacement.

Instead, I decided to try a little DIY fix-it project.  The anatomy of a shag rug is really quite simple.  Pieces of yarn are pulled through tiny loops on the rug base.  They are then knotted and done!  That’s it!  It seemed simple enough so I went out to gather supplies.

I lucked up on my first stop, at The New Dime Store, right down the block in my neighborhood.  This off-white yarn was a perfect match and you can’t beat the price!

I then cut the yarn to appropriate lengths using a piece from the rug as a guide.

My mother had several different sized crochet hooks which made the job much easier.

Using tweezers, I gently loosened the loops in the rug in order to pull the yarn through.  (And I swear I vacuum this rug regularly!  But the dirt and dog hair are just a part of life around here!)

I then pulled approximately 3 pieces of yarn through each loop with the crochet hook.

Once pulled through, I knotted the yarn off.

I like to believe that someone is very sorry for what he did.

Once finished, you can’t even tell there was any damage to begin with!

This process was a bit tedious, I’ll be honest.  However, I saved the rug for a grand total of $3.99 versus going out and buying a new one for several hundred (or more) dollars. I am practical to a fault.  I’d rather see this rug live on another day, get us through a few more years, and then buy something new once the dog and children are a bit less messy and accident prone.  That time does exist, right?

Hopefully this will inspire you to try a little DIY magic at your home the next time you have one of those, “oh no!” moments.  You might just be very pleased with the results!

-Courtney