DON’T RUN AWAY JUST BECAUSE I SAID PHOTOSHOP!
Disclaimer, I am NOT A PRO Photoshop user, which hopefully will make this tutorial approachable for you! This is seriously SO easy and I wanted share the love so you can do it too!
First of all, you will need Photoshop. 🙂 You can either download a 30 day trial… OR! OR you can do the smarter thing and sign up for Adobe Creative Cloud which gives you the latest version of Lightroom AND Photoshop for only $10 per month. And they update it for you whenever a newer version comes out. That is what I did and it has CHANGED MY LIFE! I’m not compensated in any way to say that, but I was given this valuable info from Beth at Unskinny Boppy during her Lightroom class at Haven.
Second of all, if you have been shopping for area rugs locally, you know how spendy they can be, with not always great quality. Or with very limited options for things that are stylish but neutral.
#thestruggleisreal
Well, I have great news for you! Rugs USA is having a MONTH LONG Black Friday Sale of 75% off of TOOOOONS of beautiful, high quality rugs. And they even have a huge selection of $99 area rugs with FREE SHIPPING! I’m serious people! You can’t even get carpet remnants for that cheap!
Once you have narrowed your selection down to a few (or more) rugs, if you are like me, you are hesitant because you just aren’t positive the color or pattern would look good with your wall color, or decor in the room where it will reside…
ENTER: THIS TUTORIAL!!
Step 1: Open Photoshop and open a blank canvas. Resize it to 10 inches x 10 inches.
Step 2: Open a photo of your room. (If you don’t already have one, take a pic in natural light and upload it)
Step 3: Select the picture using the rectangular selection tool, copy it, and paste it in the “Untitled” canvas that is in the other tab.
So far, hopefully, all of this has been pretty basic, easy peasy.
Now I’m about to show you a game changer….
Let me introduce,
“The Quick Selection Tool”
This tool allows you to select a space or area or object quickly, without having to ever-so-carefully trace around it. This tool is basically a genius and knows (most of the time) where I was to select, just by clicking around the perimeter of the object/space/area.
Step 4: Select the area where your new rug will reside.
Here you can see the dotted lines around the table and below (everywhere where the ugly rug is), If you don’t have a rug, you could just select the floor where the rug would sit. All I did was slick on the rug, then kept clicking, going along the outside of the table, until I got the entire area rug selected.
Because that “Quick Selection Tool” is sometimes a liiiittle over-zealous (notice the parts of the leg that were selected above), you have to occasionally deselect some areas (in the same way you selected initially), to get it perfect. There is a button at the top, with a subtraction sign next to the Quick Select brush, which will allow you to easily do this.
Now, you can see I fixed those areas, and…
Step 5: Delete the selected area rug.
Hallelujah!
Step 6: Head over to Rugs USA to save the rugs you have narrowed down and want to ‘try out’ in your space!
(tip: save each rug image as the name that is actually is, so it will be easier when going back to make your final selection)
Step 7: Go back to Photoshop and open the rug images.
You may also have to adjust the size of the rug to be smaller than 10″ x 10″ (so it will fit when you paste it), which is found in the top menu bar, under Image – Image Size.
While you are there in the same Image drop down, rotate the rug 90 degrees.
Step 8: Select the rug, copy, and paste!
Step 9: To get the rug to appear behind the room pic, go to the right side where all the layers are listed, and select Layer 2 and drag it down below Layer 1.
You can move the rug around until you get it in the right place.
Step 10: Repeat this process for all the rugs you want and do a side-by-side comparison!
I’m warning you, once you realize how simple this is, you will find yourself trying on all kinds of rugs all over your house!
It is VERY addicting!
Wanna see which rug I chose?
Come back next week for my Living Room Rug Reveal!
Leave a Reply