I fell in love with this batik bird rug from Urban Outfitters. The $89 price tag was a winner. Other buyers confirmed how beautiful it is, but the consensus was that the color bleeds if it gets wet. One reviewer advised future buyers to only buy this rug if “you do not plan on it ever touching dirt.”
That gave me an idea — I could hang it on the wall. The asymmetrical pattern and large print made it a perfect choice. So I ordered it and researched the best way to hang it. There are a lot of options: a curtain rod, staples, velcro, carpet tacking. I decided on upholstery nails.

Tools needed for hanging a rug
- pretty rug
- level
- tape measure
- pencil
- hammer
- upholstery nails
- self-adhesive velcro
Time it took me
- 1/2 hour
Directions
- Determine how high you want to hang the rug, measure, and mark accordingly. Don’t hang it too high. I hung the center of mine at eye level, about 5’5″.
- Hold the rug in place according to the pencil marks on the wall and hammer or push in the upholstery nails across the top of the rug. I started in the center and worked out.
- Be careful not to stretch as you put in the nails or the rug will not appear square on the wall.
- You can use self-adhesive velcro to keep it lying flat at the bottom.
Amazingly I was thinking of hanging this lovely rug (exactly the same yours from UO) I got back in May. The full impact of the design is just not displayed when I use it in my living room and I was searching and searching for ideas on how to best hang it. Now that I’ve seen that it can be done with upholstery tacks I am definitely following your idea! Thank you!
That’s awesome! Great minds think alike ;)
By adding of upholstery nails we can easily enhance the beauty of the wall art or even old furniture.
I just got my first apartment and I was thinking of a way to hang a beautiful rug. I’m going to try this today. Thank you!
Congrats on your first apartment! So exciting. Glad I could help :)
Good post, keep