How to Make a Fun Front Door Mat
Welcome guests with a fun and custom door mat for your front door! I'll show you exactly how to make it, with tips along the way.
Updated 6/2025
I married a funny guy!
Mr DIY not only loves to tease and tell jokes...
...he has an uncanny ability to find the
weirdest, strangest...sometimes humorous (depending on my mood) trivia
and other little-known factoids 🌝
For the last several months, Mr DIY has been posting #yearofthetaco stuff on
FB.
Check it out, you'll see what I mean. Some are just wrong...like the
human nacho spa treatment...others make me hungry...still other posts
are just plain weird.
Update: the hashie is still going strong, pretty soon it will need to
change to #decadeofthetaco
😄
Inspired by Mr DIY
We were standing in the middle of IKEA recently, amongst the plain coir door
mats, and Mr DIY asked if I could make him a taco door mat, just like one he'd
seen that said "YOU BETTER HAVE TACOS".
So what did I do?
What could I do...
...I made him a door mat!
Just so you know, while my sweet hubs is supportive of my passion to turn junk and roadside finds, and thrifted items into something cool - I can count on one hand the number of times HE has instigated a project! Just saying.
Our collaborative DIY tacos doormat is fun (and cute) and we always get comments on it...from the pizza delivery guy...to the UPS guy...to the door-to-door salesmen!
(although no one has actually brought us tacos yet 😕)
I'm sharing the tutorial with you today so you can make your own FUN front door mat.
What's so great about a DIY doormat?
Isn't it totally obvious? You get to be creative, and make it unique (and funny) for your family and friends to enjoy!You can totally customize your DIY doormat...pick your colors, your font, and make it say whatever you would like! Like a 'family saying' that is unique to just you and yours...stupid dad jokes and quirky humor are sure to get a response from your guests!
Plus, it's often cheaper to make your door mat! I made mine for just over $10! I think you'll find that is a significant savings over the pre-made doormats on the market!
How to make a fun front door mat
This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience. View my full
advertising disclosure
here.
Supplies
- plain coir door mat (I got mine at IKEA, but they're available at Amazon and Walmart)
- die cut machine like Silhouette or Cricut (or letter stencils)*
- spray paint or outdoor paint
- kitchen trash bags and tape (to protect surrounding area from over-spray)
- spray adhesive (not used but highly recommended!)
*Note: if you don't own a die cut machine, you can still make a fun door mat!
You can use sticker 'negatives', making sure to keep your design short and
simple! Or, you can create your design in a word processing program, print it
out and use a
craft knife
to cut the letters out (this is how I used to make all my DIY signs!)
Directions
Cut out design
Once you've come up with your saying, cut it out using one of the methods I
mentioned above. I used my Silhouette machine to cut out my saying for my door
mat.
I experimented with both vinyl (which is sticky) as well as regular card
stock. What I found was that it was very difficult to get either to
stick well, even with the use of tape!
Hot tip: I recommend using a spray adhesive to adhere your stencils or paper to get the crispest lines!
Protect surrounding area
You'll want to tape plastic bags around the edges of the mat to protect areas
from overspray. If you use paint with a brush, you won't need to worry about
this too much.
Paint design onto mat
You can see below that I ended up with some over-spray between the letters.
That's because my vinyl words would not stick well (and I didn't have any
spray adhesive on hand).
Tips for spraying: spray paint from about 6 inches away straight down onto the stencil, in a back and forth motion. This will help to keep the paint from seeping under the edges of the letters. Normally I recommend multiple light coats, but it doesn't matter too much with this project. Once your letters are sprayed, immediately remove the stencil. You can touch up any lighter areas, or areas you missed, with a brush (just spray a little paint onto a paper plate).
You can see in the above picture that I ended up with some over-spray between
the letters. That's because my vinyl words would not stick well.
Designer tip: Use outdoor paint and a stencil brush to achieve more saturated color and precise edges on your letters. Use the stencil brush in an up and down pouncing motion to really get the paint into all the grooves of the coir mat.
As far as tutorials go, this one is easy because that is it! Place your
pattern down, tape it paint it and you're done!
I was using my mat under a covered, protected porch, so I didn't seal it, but
I do recommend a protective matte sealer. This will ensure you can enjoy your
painted mat for years to come.
Don't forget!
Just make sure to give your painted doormat a few days to dry completely before you start stepping on it!
Please feel free to PIN THIS IMAGE!
I asked some blogging friends to share their DIY doormats with you, and they
didn't disappoint! Here are several more ideas to inspire you to create
something unique at your front door!
The sky is really the limit! I love how no two doormats are alike.
What would your DIY door mat say?
(used with permission)
The sky is really the limit! I love how no two doormats are alike.
What would your DIY door mat say?
Comments
Post a Comment
Your comments are like sunshine and chocolate! Thanks for taking the time to leave a nice one ;) I read all comments and love to respond. If you don't have Gmail, please leave your name!