How to Make a Rug out of Carpet Remnants

Jamie here! We just finished having carpet installed in our basement, which left us with a nice large piece of leftover carpet.  When you spend the money on quality carpet, it’s not likely you’ll be willing to let a nearly room-sized piece be tossed out without trying to come up with a use for it. (Am I right?)

Our installer gave us some tips on how to use the scraps – and I immediately started calling around town and researching how to make a rug out of carpet remnants. What I found was a great frugal way to make a large area for very little money!

You can also purchase carpet remnants at flooring centers near you. We found some nice pieces of discounted carpet remnants while, in the process of searching for ours.

There are three ways to make a rug out of carpet remnants – Gluing, Stapling, or Professional Binding.

Let’s look at each of these to see which is most cost-effective, with results you’ll be happy with.

1. Bind it yourself with a DIY Carpet Binding Tape

This product is a VERY good DIY solution to make rugs out of carpet remnants. You basically flip the carpet over and hot glue a binding onto the back. The reviews on this carpet binding tape are all good; in fact, many reviewers post photos of their finished projects that are nice and professional. You’ll want to consider that the $54 pricetag gets you about 50 ft of binding – so that comes out to about $1 per linear foot.

Other than a little patience and a big space to spread out the carpet, you’ll need a decent hot glue gun with a high wattage + long, pointed tip if you plan to take on this project. Also, have several glue sticks at the ready.

To decide how many feet of tape you need, add together all the sides of the remnant to be used. Final cost = About $60.

2. Bind it yourself with a Carpet Edge Binding Stapler

This process involves stapling a binding tape to the edge and gluing it to the bottom with hot glue. It’s not as easy and will set you back a good chunk for the stapler, staples, and binding tape. The first method is much easier and cost-effective, and looks better, in my opinion.

Final Cost = Between $60 – $80

3. Professional Binding

A local flooring center or carpet warehouse will offer professional machine-serged binding – for a price. I called around six places near me and found prices between $1 (Sweet!) and $2.75 (Yikes!) per lineal foot. It pays to be thorough, the Carpets of Dalton warehouse I called first was who I really thought would be cheapest – but they weren’t.

Since I just want a 4 x 6 living room rug, having it bound at $1/ft will only cost me $20. (Remember – just add each side together for lineal footage). If you were doing a big 10 x 10′ rug, your cost would still only be $40. A 12 x 12′ rug would be just $48. Guys – I have never in my life heard of a 12 x 12′ area rug for $48.

If you live in an area where you can find an inexpensive carpet binder, then this is DEFINITELY the way to go. (There are some things that just aren’t cheaper to DIY!)