Paper rugs

 This would be great to try. Have to find some period paper.

The Cultivator, 1864
[Article on Papering-walls, screens and rugs, my interest is in the screens and rugs]
    Screens, &c.--By the bye, if you have any fire screens, bed canopies, or rugs, to make, it is well to do it while your hand is in. [papering] The screens or canopies must have a firm cotton cover, tacked on smoothly and tightly. The paper is then pasted on them as on a wall, and their good looks depend on the neatness with which the border and centre piece, if they have any, are put on.
    Cheap Rugs.--Very good rugs for hearths, washstands, or bed-sides, may be made by stretching a stout piece of cotton cloth, the size you desire, on a clean floor or table; paste a pretty paper on it, and a suitable border around. When dry, give it two or three coats of varnish, and bind and fringe, if you like. These rugs are quite pretty, and will last astonishingly, and may be cleaned just as oil cloth. they do very well for plain, spare chambers, and they have the recommendation of being very cheap.