How to Paint a Doormat

Summer temps are already here!  This past week I decided it was time to freshen up our front door mat.  My fall and winter doormat felt a little out of place with temps hitting 90 lately.  I still loved the layered look I had before, but wanted to do something a little larger to better fit the front door.  After testing a few out (if you follow me on Instagram I had asked for your votes in my Insta Stories) I came up empty handed.  I loved this one from Studio McGee, but the price plus shipping was more than I wanted to spend.  So, I decided to use it as inspiration and make one!

For those of you with fancy cutting machines, you can find a bunch of tutorials and templates online and this is a super quick and easy process you can have done in 10 minutes.  For the remaining three or four of us that don’t have a machine, this is for you.  Or… am I the only one without a machine??  Anywho, I’m going to show you how to paint a doormat without a machine.

What I Started With

I found this pretty grey and cream patterned rug at Target for $24.99.  It’s a 30″x48″ and I love the larger size!  Most doormats are 18″x30″, and I wanted something bigger to fit the larger rug.  I found this plain 24″x36″ coir doormat at World Market for $18 on sale.  I thought about leaving it plain like this for a while, but couldn’t do it.

What You Need

• coir doormat (I purchased this one from World Market)
• computer, printer, and printer paper
• freezer paper
• tape
• pencil
• X-acto knife
• ruler
• iron
• paint (I used this outdoor paint)
• polyurethane
• paint or stencil brushes

Step One

Create your design and print it off.  I used Picmonkey.com, it’s the same free website I use to edit all of my photos.  The font I used for this design is “Futura Medium”.  You may have to play around with the size a bit to get it where you want.  I was able to fit 2-3 letters onto each piece of paper and then taped them all together and then to the countertop so they wouldn’t slip.

Step Two

Place a single piece of freezer paper over the printed paper and start tracing the design.  You’ll want the shiny side facing down, and matte side facing up.  Use a ruler to help get crisp, straight lines.

Step Three

Remove the freezer paper and place it on a cutting surface.  Carefully cut out your design using an X-acto knife.  Make sure to save any open pieces from letters like the O and R you see here.

Step Four

Place your stencil on the center of the doormat and iron down.  This will make the freezer paper stick to the doormat.  It won’t adhere really well, but a little is all you need.  Make sure you don’t forget to add in those open pieces!

Step Five

Time to paint!  Use a stiff bristled paint brush or a stencil brush to tap the paint straight down onto the mat.  You don’t want to make sweeping motions because the paint will get underneath the stencil.  Just firm stippling motions.  Some of the stencil edges started to pull up as they got wet with paint so I used my finger to hold them in place as I went.  I did just one coat of paint here.

Step Six

Peel off your stencil!  I was actually shocked at how crisp the lines were, and how well one coat covered.  You could call it good at this point, but I did a little extra below.

I took a small craft brush and went over the letters a second time with more paint just to make sure they were good and coated, and to fill in any areas that didn’t seem very crisp.

Step Seven

I’m not sure this step is necessary, but I loved how this doormat turned out and wanted to make sure it lasted a long time.  So, while the paint was still a little wet, I went over each letter with a quick coat of polyurethane.  Once it was dry the letters were nice and firm, keeping the fibers from pulling apart and disrupting the design.

You’re Done!

I’m so thrilled with how this doormat turned out!  I hope it inspires you to create one of your own.  What would you stencil on your doormat?

Sources

Gray rug // Plain coir doormat // Light gray planter from Homegoods (similar here) // Outdoor craft paint

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