DIY: How-To Spill & Stain-Proof Your In-Home Art Studio

HOW I SPILL/STAIN-PROOFED MY TIE DYE STUDIO 

Hey there! Today I’ll be sharing step-by-step exactly how I “stain/spill-proof” my in-home tie-dye studio! In hopes that this may provide ideas for others interested in protecting their own creative space from accidental catastrophe. Whether you’re a hobbyist or a handmade product business — This is an easy, effective and affordable method!

The reason for specifying the use of this method in a rental house, in particular, is because I’ve got to admit...I was pretty damn impressed with myself when at the end of the lease, the room I used as my tie-dye studio was spotless, not a stain in sight on the carpets, walls, or otherwise!

Anyway, the point of elaborating on that tidbit is to reassure anyone who may be hesitant or uncomfortable with the idea of bringing tie-dye (or any form of potentially permanently messy arts and crafts, for that matter) into your home, rental or not — This simple, preventative set-up is well worth considering!
And the best part is — you may very likely have some (or most) of the supplies you’ll need to do this around the house already! 

WHAT YOU’LL NEED — 

Tarp(s) large enough to cover the floor space of the area you plan to tie-dye-proof (you may need multiple if you plan to cover a large or multiple areas)

Thumbtacks

Multi-purpose plastic sheeting (I use 10’ x 100’, 2mil)

An area rug (or few) large enough to fit the area(s) where you’ll be placing a tarp.

STEPS — 

 1. First, lay the tarp out flat, covering the entire floor space of your arts n crafts space. Fold it to fit your space if it’s too big, like mine. 

2. Use your painters tape to seal the parts of your tarp that were folded to fit (if any). Then, also use a generous amount of painters tape to adhere the tarp to the flooring itself, to ensure it stays put long-term!  (Note: the painters tape does adhere very well to my carpeting, just requires a few seconds of pressure to get it to stick. This may not be true for all carpet textures, though). 

3. Measure out the amount of plastic you’ll need to cover the walls and cut accordingly. Next, use thumbtacks to adhere the top of your clear sheeting to the walls.

4. Before proceeding to the next step of, be sure to take into consideration any electrical outlets or light switches and cut access holes accordingly. I used Tie Dye Duck Tape to seal off the edges. 

5. Use your painter's tape (or duct tape, this part is ultimately personal preference) to attach and secure the plastic sheeting on the walls to the tarp that’s already been placed on the floor.

Safety is not the rug's only purpose, it also serves as a necessary layer of protection when it comes to the entire purpose of stain-proofin’ your space! Because now, any dye spills, splashes, or surprise squirts won’t simply roll or smear off the tarp onto the floor. But possibly most importantly, any spills severe enough to penetrate the rug still won’t stain the flooring beneath, thanks to the failsafe layer of protection the tarp is providing.  

 7. (Optional) Also, if you prefer to hang a tapestry or similar over top of the plastic on the walls, it’s probably easiest to use tacks to place the tapestry on top of the plastic sheeting (pictured below). I also cut holes out for the 3M Command Hooks (pictured above) to hang tapestries with grommets (aka curtain panels) from!

You should definitely, at the very least, tack up a tie dye tapestry or something of the sort to rid the room of the whole Dexter’s murder den vibe. Like so:

And there you go! That’s precisely how I protect my own creative space from unwanted, permanent dye stains. I’d love to know if you plan to incorporate some (or maybe even all) of the steps outlined today in your own art studio! Or, if you have an even better set-up or any suggestions, I’d love for you to share those too. Leave a comment below or tag me on Instagram @PARADISIACDYES!

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