First impressions are lasting, so why not welcome your guests with personality & style?! This step-by-step tutorial walks you through how to do just that, by creating your very own DIY personalized doormat.
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read the full disclosure.
Let’s rewind a couple of months, back to the middle of December, when I was spending my evenings creating DIY Christmas gifts and sipping on one too many glasses of red wine. Red wine? I know, it’s not usually my thing. I prefer white.
Well, why the red then Robyn? You see… one family games night my sister-in-law told a story about her early days as a wine drinker. She went on to say how a sweet glass of white wine is the gateway. As she was telling her story, she nonjudgmentally sipped a sophisticated glass of red and beside her I sipped my entry-level glass of sweet, sweet Moscato.
Side note: I have a solid 6 years on my sister in law and there I was drinking my adult apple juice. And, enjoying every dang sip! No shame.
The following week I found myself at our local liquor store googling ‘red wine for beginners’. Yes, that’s right. I was thinking screw the rest of you white wines, I’m skipping straight to red. My google search delivered (as it always does) with a flow chart telling me exactly what variety to start with, what to try after that and so on.
That day, while in the liquor store, I picked up two different bottles of entry-level red wine (according to the flow chart that was American Zinfandel). DIYing and red wine became my evening routine over the next few weeks, as I was determined to finish my Christmas gifts on time and show up at the next family games night with a bottle of red in my hand.
As you can tell, I like a challenge and red wine (and Moscato!). Creating three doormats, three tea towels, one mug, one cookie jar and seven aprons two weeks before Christmas was one heck of a challenge that lead to a lot of late nights and a lot of red wine. Maybe next year you could remind me to start a teeny tiny bit earlier on my DIY Christmas gifts?
So, what do you say – are you ready to welcome your guests with some serious personality and style? In this tutorial, I will walk you through, step-by-step, how to create your very own DIY personalized doormat.
You may as well grab a glass of red (or white) to go with it, right? Seems fitting 😉
DIY PERSONALIZED DOORMAT
MATERIALS NEEDED:
- Doormat (I used the Ikea Trampa Doormat in the 2’0” x 2”11 size. They also make 1’4” x 2’ 0” size. And, they are super affordable.)
- Outdoor Acrylic Black Paint
- Paint Brush
- Cricut Explore (No Cricut? No Problem. – Keep Reading)
- Stencil Vinyl
- Transfer Tape
- Painter’s Tape
- Waterproofing Spray/Clear Coat
STEPS:
1. Create your design in the Cricut Design Space. Be sure to measure your doormat, decide on the design size and create accordingly.
Tip: No Cricut? No Problem. You can either create a stencil using paper or you can purchase a custom vinyl stencil on Etsy. You have options!
2. Once your design is created, double check the measurements, click “create’ and watch your Cricut Explore work it’s magic.
3. Weed out all the vinyl letters and apply transfer tape.
Tip: The vinyl will not stick to the mat, so use light grip transfer tape. Trust me. Light weight transfer tape will make the process much more enjoyable.
4. With the backing still on the stencil, lay the stencil on your mat to determine exactly where you want the design to be and mark the corners with painters tape.
5. Remove the backing and line the stencil up with painters tape.
6. Slowly remove the transfer tape. As I mentioned earlier, the vinyl does not adhere to the mat so you will need to pay close attention to any pieces of the stencil that are not attached (such as the middle of the ‘e’ and the ‘l’ in this design).
Tip: As you slowly remove the transfer tape use painters tape to help keep the stencil in place.
7. Start painting! Use your brush to firmly dab the paint down into the fibers. Even though the stencil does not adhere to the mat, you will be surprised at how the paint doesn’t bleed. It really did amaze me!
Tip: If you’re not happy with the coverage, just keep dabbin’. No need to wait for the paint to dry to do a second, third or fourth coat. Dab away until you get your desired look.
8. Carefully remove the stencil. A good amount of paint can collect on the edges of the stencil so you want to be sure those do not touch the mat when you are removing the stencil.
9. Once the paint is dry, apply a waterproofing spray/clear coat over the painted portion of the doormat.
And, there you have it – your very own DIY personalized doormat!
The question is, will you show it off as is or will you layer it? Let me know how you’d style your DIY personalized doormat in the comments below!
Oh, and be sure to pin this tutorial for later!
