Pixel Art Retro Games Rug: A Hampen Hack

Pixel Art Retro Games Rug

A pixel art retro gaming rug! This is a super simple IKEA hack that anyone with patience can do.

I went to IKEA to buy a rug and instead came home with some rug squares and an irresistible idea to add a bit of pixel art into my living room!

HAMPEN rugs

HAMPEN rugs

Step 1: Get Things and Plan Your Design

To do this project you will need…

• Hampen Rug squares – I chose these ones because they were “cut pile” which is nice and soft and shaggy
• String – I got through over 100m of this stuff….you’ve been warned!
• Needles – You only need one, but I lost a couple during the project so get a spare or two
• Stanley knife and a few sharp blades
• Nice big ruler the width of your rug squares

Pixel Art Retro Games

Pixel Art Retro Games

I made my design on Photoshop. I set up a canvas that was 19×12 pixels in size, and with the pen set as 1px simply clicked until I was happy. I went with the classic Space Invader with subtle Tetris shapes in the background and spots of green and pink to lighten it up.

Step 2: Cut Down the Rug Squares

I started by cutting the rug squares into 10cm wide strips.

Cut the pixel art squares

Cut the pixel art squares

Looking at the design I figured out where I could save myself some work by working in strips rather than individual squares (you may be able to see this as different shades in the pic).

Then it was just a case of cutting the long strips to the desired length.

Step 3: Stitch and Stitch and Stitch

Now for arduous task of stitching it together.

Stitch it together

Stitch it together

Stitch it together

No big secret here… just hours and days and weeks of sitting on the floor stitching.

Pixel Art Retro Games Rug IKEA HACK

Pixel Art Retro Games Rug IKEA HACK

TOP TIPS

  • Bend the needle so you don’t need to grip so hard.

Bend the needle

  • Sharpen the tip of the needle so it pushes through a bit easier.
  • Take your time – it’s gonna take a while so don’t burn out trying to do too much at once.

And that’s it! Drop me a follow over on Instagram to see frequent updates on what I’m messing around with.

~ by Jonny


Other pixel art hacks you may like

pixel games come to life in ALGOT shelves

Use the holes in the ALGOT shelves to create pixel art. See more here.