Inexpensive Spruce-Up...and Testing Martha Stewart

I had cruddy mismatched carpet tile samples in my laundry room (aka the air lock...currently one of our most-hated spaces in the Hayley House).

It was time for them to go.

After months of looking, I finally found a rug that would work (I needed a difficult size: 2.5'x4') on clearance at Target.

Yay!

I didn't want to spend a ton of money on this project, I didn't want to buy a rug gripper pad to hold it in place. So I used a trick from Martha Stewart (found via Pinterest) to give the rug grippy-ness (is that a word): caulk.

A few lines of acrylic-latex caulk, every six inches did the trick. Let it dry completely, then put your rug in place.  

I've read reviews that this isn't a smart solution if you have wood floors because it can cause fading. I, however, have funky linoleum in the laundry room and wasn't really concerned about potential damage.

It works just as expected. I don't know if the caulk will stay on when I wash the rug - it was worth the $2 to try it out, though.

For now, my rug stays where it should and looks much better than my mismatched sample carpet tiles.