Enduring Floor Art
It touches me when I hear from my clients about the durability of the hand painted canvas rugs for interior decor. Years after purchasing they call or email to tell me how much they love their rugs and how well they have endured. As an artist, this is so gratifying. However, never one to rest on her laurels, there is always something new to learn, challenges to resolve and innovations to discover.
Recently, a client had a small canvas rug in her bedroom positioned next to her bed. All houses have different foundations, especially in Costa Rica; they can be quite inventive when it comes to building codes! The parquet floor was laid on concrete and generated cold moisture which chilled her feet. The canvas rug insulated this chill. But after a couple of years the floor’s moisture build-up affected the raw canvas backing of the rug. We do not generally seal the back side of a canvas rug. Even if a large spill causes the underside to get wet, it’s best to turn the rug over and allow the canvas to dry.
In this home, however, slow steady erosion caused by moisture eventually compromised the raw canvas backing and the rug was falling apart. The client initially declined to allow me to replace her rug saying she wanted to remodel and replace her floor first.
Innovative Remedies for Photos, Feet and Floor
While I was recreating some of my older rug designs to replace photos on my website I decided to paint a new Chinese Stencil rug that had been this client’s original bedroom rug. I used a beautiful bold red with a black border. After the photos were taken I now had the rug in my inventory and very much wanted to present it to this client. However, I did not want this rug to fall prey to the cold moisture that had affected the first rug.
On another project I had sealed the underside of another rug that was used on a covered patio in the northern part of Costa Rica. Living in the tropics encourages us to spend a great deal of time outside under covered porches. Innovation is the name of the game when it comes to moisture, humidity, etc.
Although canvas rugs are not made for full exposure to the sun or rain they are perfect floor coverings for a covered patio. If a strong rainfall wind brings a mist of rain onto the porch this does not bother the rug as it can easily be mopped to dry.
Mission Accomplished 2-Fold
For this client’s replacement, we have taken special precautions by sealing the underside of the rug with a single coat of varnish. This seals the fibers of the raw canvas and protects it from damage caused by moisture and allows for flexibility. This was a perfect solution to my client’s bedroom rug: she now has a pretty new rug and her tootsies are protected from a cold floor.
I am so excited to present this rug to one of my very first clients. She still raves about her Mexican tile kitchen rug and her custom canvas living room area rug. I just love my appreciative clientele.
So, mission accomplished! Acquisition of new photos for my website and client received her her new bedroom rug. Another applied innovation with hand painted custom canvas rugs. Questions? Comments? Love to hear from you below…
Warm Regards,
[sc:signature ]