"Am I asking for trouble? "

Possibly. If you tea dye the rug you risk staining the flooring under it.

I think you need a fiber reactive dye, and highly recommend that you call the people at Dharma Trading. They specialize in supplies and techniques for all kinds of textile dyeing, and are super super nice to work with. We use their materials at school in both art and home ec, at, art camp, and at the local art center.

Your story reminds me of our school librarian, who as a young bride moved into a house with new light gray wool wall to wall carpet, which she dyed with 32 boxes of cranberry Rit dye on her hands and knees with a sponge. She re-did it every four years for years and years until her kids were raised. She's a firecracker.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dharma Trading

I second Betty's recommendation to call Dharma Trading. I have "tea" dyed some things but quickly discovered that tea is pretty worthless for dying... Rit is a lot better... or there's a different type of dye if you have synthetic fibers, poly-whatever. Find out the fiber content of your rug before you call Dharma.

Betty, that's a real hoot about the cranberry dye! She is a very brave lady. I'd like to know her. I had my grey/beige carpet all ripped out and replaced recently. I hated it! I thought about trying something like that but wasn't brave enough.

Rdsso, please let us know what you do and how it turns out! Take good before and after pictures too, because if you pull this off you'll be (rightly so) bragging about it for years and teaching others. We all have things where we would love to change the colors from time to time.

When you say water based stain, do you mean wood stain? What were the fibers of the rugs you dyed? What sizes? What container did you use and/or how did you apply the dye? Do you have before and after pics we could see?

My rug is 100% wool the dyes Dharma take hot water so I don't know if I have to put my rug in hot water? I was hoping maybe for something that may i could kinda dry brush on - oh boy i am really wishing for alot here.

Oceanna, it was a water based wood stain mixed with water AND the GAC900 by Golden Artists Colors to keep it soft.
I used a sponge and just kept going over it until it was the color I wanted and evenly distributed.
You have to do this in a well ventilated area (I used a concrete driveway :^) I put an old tarp down to keep from staining the concrete. I'm sorry that I don't have any pictures....no camera :^( It worked very well though and has held up well. After staining the rug, I mixed the same medium with acrylic paint and did a checkerboard edge on the rug.
Oh and I forgot...the fibers of the rug....who knows, I bought it as a bound remnant at the local flea market. I'm sorry I can't help with that question.

Here is a link that might be useful: GAC900

What fiber is the rug made from? You must match the type of dye you use to the fiber content of the rug, or else the dye will just come right back out. You will have a horrible mess on your hands, with dye permanently staining the floor under the rug, if you use the wrong type of dye.

If your rug is made from polypropylene, you won't be able to dye it. Polypropylene must be dyed while it is still liquid, before it is made into thread. The upside is that polypropylene is also very hard to get dirty.

If your rug is made from cotton, you can dye it easily with fiber reactive dyes, such as the Procion dyes found in any good tie-dye kit or in the Tulip One Step Fashion dye in the local crafts store. These dyes can be used at room temperature, so there's no need to cook the rug, a major advantage if it's any size at all.

If your rug is made from wool, silk, or nylon, you can dye it with acid dyes. A huge problem is the fact that acid dyes require heating in order to bond to the fiber. Do you have a cooking pot large enough to boil your rug in the dye? It's unlikely, and if you used it for dyeing, you'd never be able to cook with that pot again, because fabric dyes will contaminate food. Dyeing a large area rug with any sort of hot water dye is completely impractical unless you're a pro who can invest in the right equipment.

If your rug is made of polyester, it requires still another type of dye. Polyester can be dyed only with a special polyester dye called disperse dye. It requires higher heat and more boiling than nylon does, so it's more of a problem to dye. Again you'd need a huge cooking pot, large enough to submerge the rug in the dye. You cannot dye polyester at any temperature below boiling; the dye will just rub off.

With all kinds of dye, you must take the rug outside and rinse it out very thoroughly after you dye it, or else excess unattached dye will permanently stain the floor under the rug, as well as your shoes.

As an alternative, you can use fabric paint to change the color of all natural and most synthetic fibers, instead of dye. (It won't stick to polypropylene.) However, fabric paint will not make a perfectly smooth solid color. In addition, fabric paint wears off quickly with heavy use, unlike dye.
Source(s):
Choosing the right dye for your fiber:
http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/aboutdyes.s�

Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers:
http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/fabricpaint�