Jennifer Bertrand: If you are ready to take paint beyond the end door, a painted faux rug is a simple way to brighten the patio. In just about a day you can transport a concrete slab into a warm outdoor space and I'll show you how. My goal is to do a contemporary painted faux rug with an Italian flare to it, the cool part is you won't be locked in the standard rug sizes by making one of your own.

First, we need to make a base for a painted rug. Use a porch and floor paint that's made to go over concrete. I am using one that's self priming and self sealing, be sure to check your can for a dry time. Once the paint is dry, then you can see if you need a second coat. Now that our paint is dry, I can go ahead and start marking where I want to put my floor pattern, the design is only going around the perimeter.

So, I am going to start by creating the edge of my carpet, like you do your pen marks first, then you can just run your tape along it and it will go much quicker than if you do one mark at a time. You don't have to do it exactly like this, do whatever fits your floor. Now that we have taped it off, it's time to start painting. You want to use a little roller and carefully paint between your tape, trying to not make more of a mess than you really need.

These thin lines will form the outside border of the rug that you are creating. Be sure to press on all of the edges, so that way you don't get bleeding underneath the tape. That will save you a lot of touch up. I got the inspiration for this design from an Italian love sonnet. But you can draw inspiration from anything. Because this is an oil-based paint that I have on the floor, I'm going to use an oil-based paint for my design.

If you're handy with the paintbrush, you could freehand your design. I like to use a marker to outline my concept before I painted it. Keep in mind, when you're working with oil-based paint, you'd want to either wear mask or be in a well ventilated area. You can have fun with the color you use, you can keep them tonal, you can contract, you can go with totally different colors, the sky is the limit.

Here's another example of what a difference that can a paint make. In only a few hours with some paint and tape you can give an outdoor space a warm homey looking feel.