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Ideas for carpet protection under art areas?
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We have carpet in our schoolroom, which is in the finished basement, so no getting hardwood or tile. What can I use under the desks and painting areas that will be easy to clean (I’m thinking paints, Playdough, markers, glue, etc) and that won’t move around all over the place? I was thinking office chair mats, but they are much too small for the areas I’m looking to cover (and expensive!). I have one space that is 6.5′ x 5′ under 2 painting easels, and then there are their desk areas – approximately 7.5′ x 9′, unless I rearrange their desks again, but it’s working well with 2 separated out from the other 2, kwim?. Anyone have any ideas, or something you do that has worked well?
I have a washable 100% cotton rug under our art area. It has been through the ringer (spit up, paint, play dough, and many other unnamable things!
). It has worked great. I find that little bits of playdough just dry up and turn into little rocks that can be vacuumed or shaken outside. Looks cute too! It kind of divides up the space. I think we got it from Crate and Barrel about 5 years ago and it still looks new even after the abuse and washings.you can buy a large painters canvas from lowes pretty cheap. And if you want to leave it down you could paint it a design – or let kids do it. After it dries but a few coats of poly on it and let it dry. Then it will mop up pretty easily. Essientially you are making a rug. If you want to do random design then the splatters that don’t come up completely will just blend in. Hope this helps.
What about a carpet fragment from a carpet store? They should have a bunch for very reduced prices and you can have them bind around the edges so they don’t fray – or just negotiate a deal as is and then do duct tape around the edge. Then it could be vacuumed – it woulnd’t bunch up and you wouldn’t have to worry if it was spilled on. I think I might do that as we have very thick shaggy carpet in the basement and play dough doesn’t just dry up and vacuum away.
We’ve also found some fairly large rugs for reasonable prices at consignment/second hand stores (Not Goodwill – we find that they are generally very high in price for the dated things they sell in furnishings.) But Craig’s list might also be a possibility.
We use the cheap rugs at Walmart that are usually used for dorm rooms. I’m not sure the exact size, but we’ve also put two together to make the covered area larger.
You could make a large rag rug – this is an art project in and of itself! Or you could purchase ready made rag rugs and sew them together into one large rug. The advantage of these is that you can throw it into the washer when it gets really yucky with paint, etc…
Thank you for all the ideas! I am going to look into all of them and see what will work best for us.
@amyjane, what is poly? I’ve never done anything like this before, so I am at a loss. LOL
). It has worked great. I find that little bits of playdough just dry up and turn into little rocks that can be vacuumed or shaken outside. Looks cute too! It kind of divides up the space. I think we got it from Crate and Barrel about 5 years ago and it still looks new even after the abuse and washings.
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