Easy DIY Custom Door Mat

DIY Custom Door Mat Collage

Today I want to share with you how I took this super drab, worn out welcome mat and turned it into something fabulous! The poor little welcome mat had seen much better days. So I freshened it up with some spray paint. Lets just say that I had to learn some things and maybe redo this mat more than once…. Ahem. As a crafter you are always learning something new!

before and after diy mat Collage

Materials:

  • Old rubber mat- Use the back of the rubber mat if the front still has fuzz on it like mine did
  • Outdoor spray paint (I chose Valspar Spring Sprout as the base color)
  • Paper
  • Painter’s tape
  • Printer
  • Exacto knife
  • Sharpie marker
  • Acrylic outdoor craft paint

Directions: Clean off the back  of the mat with soap and water and allow to air dry. In a well ventilated area, spray paint entire mat the base color. Make sure to protect the surrounding area with a tarp. Since the mat was black, it needed around 4 coats of paint. Luckily the Valspar paint I used says to only wait 5 minutes between coats.

While waiting for the mat to dry, I created a custom saying on Picmonkey.com, saved it as a picture, put the picture into a word document so I could make it as big as possible, and printed it. Get PDF here

diy door mat 2

With an Exacto knife, I cut out the letters. Make sure to put something behind the paper so you don’t cut into anything you don’t want to. Then I taped down the paper onto the mat and traced the letters using a Sharpie marker.

Next I painted the letters in using a small paintbrush and outdoor acrylic craft paint. I applied 2 coats of black paint. To make the arrows Draw a straight line using a ruler and a black Sharpie marker. To make the triangles I used a cookie cutter, traced it with a sharpie, and then painted it in with craft paint. For extra protection from the elements, spray with a outdoor sealer. That’s all there is to it! Not to shabby if I don’t say so myself!

diy custom door mat

This project was super fun and easy to make! The best part is the possibilities are endless. You could put your last name, initials, use fun stencils, or just funny quotes! What do you think? How would you customize your door mat?

This post was originally shared over at Smart School House!