How to protect my carpet for art studio?

[MarijaB]

Hi there 

I need to find an effective way to protect our high pile carpet in front room. I'm converting it to an art studio. I'm an artist and use acrylic paint which is likely to land on the floor and possibly the walls. If there is a way to protect the walls, please let me know.

We want to keep the carpet for now, although we don't love it.

There are floorboards in the hallway, see pictures.

thanks for your help.

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @MarijaB. It's terrific to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about protecting carpet.

You might like to lay some Builder's plastic over the carpet and tape it to the skirting boards with Painter's Tape. After this protective layer is placed you could install some foam tiles over the top. These will be more aesthetically pleasing than the plastic.

For the walls, you can use taped drop sheets. They are super-handy as they come pre-installed with tape, which you can attach to the top of the walls and drape the sheeting over them. 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[Dave-1]

Afternoon @MarijaB 

I have found an old rug across the floor area works well for accidental drops or splats of paint. I liked the idea of plastic sheeting but an old carpet rug has worked for me (I wasnt the artist btw lol). As to wall coverings, maybe ex political party coreflute signs reveresed and put up against the walls where paint may splatter comes to mind

Dave

[MarijaB]

Thanks so much Dave - this is super helpful

[MarijaB]

Awesome advice thank you Mitchell

[MarijaB]

Hi Mitchell

Could you use carpet tiles over the top of the builders plastic instead?

and do you sell those?

[MitchellMc]

We do sell carpet tiles @MarijaB. However, since they are not interlocking like the foam/rubber mats, they'd likely slide around over the plastic. If you were to use the larger carpet tiles, you could potentially use double-sided tape under all the joins to secure the mats together and to the plastic. The tape I've linked to is very thin and designed to secure floor coverings. I wouldn't use the tape with a foam core.

Mitchell

[MarijaB]

Hi again

what about using big sheets of vinyl flooring instead?

[MitchellMc]

Vinyl sheet flooring could be an option, @MarijaB. Depending on the thickness of your carpet pile, it could be a bit spongey underfoot.

Mitchell

[Dave-1]

Afternoon @MarijaB 

The old carpet mat (old as in out of style) worked really well over my slate tiles. As to the question about carpet tiles depending on what you are laying them on they can work well. I have some straight on concrete in my garage without being stuck down and they havnt moved an inch.

If you keep an eye out on local market place sites their are small quantities that go cheap or better yet go to a capet place and see if they have old second hand tiles. That is what I did and got a good price and the carpet style was still current. Putting plastic underneath kind of worries me as they come with a rubber back and whatever breathing they do I would rather let it breath.

Dave