Cow hide rugs are so ubiquitous these days, that we’ve gotten pretty tired of seeing them in interiors. That is, UNTIL we saw one speckled with gold. It seems that painted, spattered, striped, embellished hides have become something of a trend.

Apartment34 has a great DIY that gives the gist (and there are lots of others online). She created the subtle beauty, below, on a gray, brindled hide using gold paint.

If you don’t have a hide, you’ll find a trove of hide rugs on Amazon from light brindle to graphic dark brown and white. We’ve also found beauties at leather stores in the garment district where you can choose exactly the hide you want. We’ve found furless ones in various colors; they drape like fabric that hold lots of possibilities.

We were thrilled to discover Design Master gold spray paint, which comes in 24-Carat gold. (It would make some pretty awesome graffiti…)

Then the steps are pretty straightforward. (We would test them out on a scrap of cloth or cardboard to get the handle of it). 

Spray the paint into the cap which becomes your pouring vessel…

Then start dripping and drizzling the paint…

We’re wondering what actually SPRAYING the fur with gold would look like. And we’re also thinking that could be done on the REVERSE suede side that usually has various markings and signage on it.  It might be worth testing a patch to see how the paint takes.

Other paint colors offer endless possibilities. This white hide splattered with black for a salt-and-pepper effect is pretty swell.

Of course there’s nothing to stop you from splatter painting ANY rug, or the floor for that matter.