DIY

How to Paint a Doormat

September 15, 2021

Creating doormats for different seasons is so much fun. It requires a bit of patience, but the end results are usually so dang cute and pack a huge punch when it comes to decorating. Plus creating your own door mat is usually cheaper than buying a new one each season. Walmart sells plain doormats for less than $6 and Ikea has a couple options for 4.99 and 9.99. I like to buy a large jar of acrylic paint in black to keep on hand because that is what I mostly use for my mats, plus you need a good amount of paint. This is a great project because painting the mat really does not take a ton of time and it is such a fun way to customize your home for each holiday.

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How to Paint a Doormat Tutorial

Supplies:

-Blank Doormat (Walmart, and Ikea are great options)
-Permanent Vinyl (not heat transfer, just the permanent vinyl, you can buy individual sheets, or a roll in whatever color. Michael’s Roll, Michael’s Sheet, Amazon (more expensive but also like quadruple the amount of the michaels one)
-Acrylic Paint in whatever colors, I love this giant jar of black from Michael’s, or Amazon also has this one
-Paint Brushes, I use Foam, stamping, or a Stippling Brush (amazon foam, amazon stippling, amazon stamping, Michaels foam). Foam brushes are cheap and easy to find and work really well for this project
–Cutting machine, I loveee my cricut, but you could also hand cut a design out.
–Painter’s Tape

Step One: Create and Cut your Design

Create your design. I knew I just wanted it to say hey, boo which was super easy. I just measured how big I wanted, picked a cute font, and cut it with my cricut machine on my permanent vinyl.

I wanted to save space on my vinyl so I placed my phrases closer together

Step Two: Place the Vinyl

Prep your mat by placing it on a flat surface. You will want to be careful when placing your design because it may curl up or stick etc.. I like to place it on the mat and work my way from the top to the bottom pushing it into the mat. It will not stick completely, down, but it will stick enough to stay.

if it starts curling and sticking, just work from one edge to the other pushing down firmly as you go

After I place my vinyl down, I like to take washi or painters tape to tape around the design for skinny edges and to secure it more safely.

**Your design will likely not 100% stick and that is ok. Push firmly around all the edges to secure the best you can.

Step Three: Paint Your Doormat

Here comes the fun part- Paint! Pour out a decent amount of paint onto a plate. Here is the technique you need to use white painting- you will not be using strokes, you will dab the paint onto the mat. Around the edges just dab. You will want to use a good amount of paint and just push it down into the mat. Be careful around the edges

Step Four: Let Dry and Decorate

Let your mat thoroughly dry for at least 24 hours. The paint can get really far into the bristles, so allow it a lot of time to dry. After it has dried, carefully peel away the vinyl.

After you have peeled the vinyl, display your mat! You have just now learned how tot paint a door mat. You can make lots of different designs, mix colors, etc.. the ideas are limitless.