Pinterest door mats

Get 30 ideas for a DIY doormat! Whether you want to make your own from wood or simply fix up an old mat, you’ll love these easy tutorials.

Who else loves doormats? I’m quite particular about mine. The whole “finding the perfect doormat” is a thing, at least for me. I’m inclined to do what I usually do for my decor, which is make the perfect doormat instead of purchasing it. With that on my mind, I started searching for ideas.

Making a Doormat

If you want to try a DIY doormat, you’re going to love this collection of projects I pulled together. It’s not surprising that most of them are perfect for beginner crafters! Making or decorating a doormat is really easy. Even the woodworking projects are perfect because they are 1) rectangular and 2) small. If you’re a newbie, these mats are going to be perfect to tackle.

What are the materials for making door mat?

Doormats are usually made from tough, long-lasting material such as coir, palmyra (palm) fibers and stalks, nylon, rubber, cloth, or metal. I prefer wood or fiber for my DIY projects personally. Most of these use a doormat base, paint, and then may involve some cutting. There are some built from scratch too if that’s what you fancy!

What kind of paint should I use?

A DIY doormat gets a lot of wear and tear so you’ll want to make sure to use outdoor rated spray paint or outdoor acrylic paint. While those paints are rated for outdoor use, I’d still always put an outdoor sealer (clear) over the top of my project – no matter what. You can use spray or brush on, but you want to make sure to seal your work for longevity.

Note: look for sealers with UV protection, especially if your doormat is going to be getting a lot of sun. Colors will fade and sealers with UV protection can slow/prevent it in a lot of cases.

Ready to see the projects and get some porch decor rolling? Scroll down to get them!

Personalized Door Mat

Learn how to make a DIY door mat with any saying you like! It's really easy to do with a stencil and some acrylic paint.

Fruit Welcome Mats

Photo Credit: Brittany Jepsen

These DIY doormats actually come from one doormat cut into two! You'll paint them to make the cutest fruits for summer.

DIY House Number Doormat

Photo Credit: Kristen Anderl

Want to confirm the address to a potential visitor? The house number doormat is the best way to do it! Very easy to do, using house numbers as a template.

Masking Tape Letters Doormat Makeover

Photo Credit: Lindsay Ponta

Makeover a worn out doormat with this unique DIY doormat tutorial. You'll need a roll of masking tape and two colors of spray paint.

Garden Hose Door Mat

Photo Credit: Mark Kintzel

What happens when you have a leaky garden hose? You definitely don't throw it away - you turn it into the coolest DIY doormat ever.

Grapefruit Slice Doormat Tutorial

Photo Credit: Pam Stultz

This super easy home decor project is the perfect way to get your feet wet in the DIY waters! You'll make this doormat with acrylic paint and sponges. It's so easy!

DIY Wooden Door Mat

Photo Credit: www.shadesofblueinteriors.com

This half circle wood doormat is made from straight wood slats, making it really easy to assemble. I love the unique pattern that the slats make when put together.

Flip-Flop Doormat Pattern

Photo Credit: www.ravelry.com

This whimsical mat is a sure way to remind folks to kick off their sandy flip-flops when coming in from the beach! Perfect if you have crochet experience.

Colorful Wooden Doormat

Photo Credit: Jill Nystul

Make this adorable wooden doormat for the outside of your entryway at a fraction of the cost of its retail counterpart.

Quote Bubble Welcome Mat

Photo Credit: Jenni Yolo

Cut a doormat using a razor blade to make the coolest speech bubble doormat ever! What messages would you paint on a doormat?

Basic Wood Slat Doormat

Photo Credit: themerrythought.com

What do I love about a basic wood doormat? It never goes out of style! Learn how to make one yourself using cedar boards.

DIY Colorful Striped Door Mat

Photo Credit: sisterswhat.com

A doormat is a fun way to greet yourself and your friends to your home. A plain door mat is very easy to customize and add a bit of color to with a little bit of spray paint. This tutorial shows you how to make the stripes.

Monogram Wooden Doormat

Photo Credit: theinspiredworkshop.com

This is such a cool doormat! I love the wood monogram in the center. I can't believe you can DIY this beauty; it's not as hard as you think!

How to Make a Doormat with a Cricut

Photo Credit: Angie Holden

A doormat is super easy to make with a Cricut machine and these instructions. If you can cut paper with a Cricut, you'll be able to make this simple doormat.

Update Your Welcome Mat

Photo Credit: Elsie Larson

Nothing says Welcome Home like a homemade doormat! According to the post, this has been a very long lasting doormat even with the bright paint. Learn how to make it by clicking the link to get the tutorial.

Hello Wooden Door Mat

Photo Credit: www.hertoolbelt.com

This beautiful doormat was made out of pine! I love the four separate pieces strung together and the sweet little "hello" painted on the front.

DIY Donut Rug

Photo Credit: Brittany Jepsen

Do you love a good donut? Me too! I love that the sweetness of donuts is captured so well in this DIY doormat project.

Simple Tile Doormat

Photo Credit: www.anniefranceschi.com

If you enjoy a good tile smashing session, this DIY doormat is going to be right up your alley! Learn how to make it as well as grout it so you have a beautiful finished project.

DIY Tribal Wooden Doormat

Photo Credit: Jen Woodhouse

This wood doormat is way more basic than it looks - the design is painted on top! I love the tribal look and the addition of rope. So classic.

DIY Rainbow Welcome Mat

Photo Credit: Brittany Jepsen

Rainbows made just about everyone smile, and that's the great part of this DIY doormat. Even if the weather is cruddy outside, it will be bright on your front porch.

Star Wars Welcome Mat

Photo Credit: popcornerreviews.com

I have an R2-D2 statue on my front porch, and I feel like this would be a perfect doormat to add to my theme! I love this quote from The Force Awakens and this is really easy to make.

Herringbone Wood Doormat

Photo Credit: Katie Bower

You'll have to cut 157 pieces of wood to make this cute herringbone doormat, but it goes quicker than you might think. It's just a matter of drilling holes and stringing to finish the project.

DIY: Woven Rope Doormat

Photo Credit: Erin Boyle

I remember these woven doormats from my early childhood in the 80s; it's fun to see that the style is now coming back around! All you'll need is some Manilla rope and this tutorial.

Colorful Geometric Welcome Mat

Photo Credit: Rachel Mae Smith

It's the time of year when we're all spending more time outdoors than inside them. Keep the threshold separating the two cheery and functional with this geometric welcome mat!

Rainbow Wood Doormat

Photo Credit: Keri Houchin

When I first saw this project I thought about the time it must've taken to assemble before painting. But this started out as a bathtub mat . . . you'll just have to paint it!

Make Interchangeable Doormats with Fabric

Photo Credit: Karin Peters

Love the look of layered doormats but not the cost? This DIY doormat tutorial shows you how to make layered doormats with fabric covers to change out for every season…or just because it’s Tuesday!

DIY PaintedHello Doormat

Photo Credit: alexazurcher.com

Once this DIY doormat was spray painted, the word was added on with acrylic paint. I recommend using an Outdoor acrylic paint for your word to make it extra tough.

Simple Halloween Doormat

Welcome mats are so fun for the holidays! Make a simple and fun DIY Halloween doormat for your home with spray paint. Free templates provided.

Ornament-Shaped Holiday Doormat

Photo Credit: Lexy Ward

If you want to give your front porch a little holiday love, this DIY doormat shaped like a Christmas ornament is so easy to make!

If you enjoyed learning how to make a DIY doormat, I hope you’ll enjoy these other decor posts:

Here’s my top picks for the Best Outdoor Door Mats for any porch!

Best Outdoor Door Mats

I’ve been working on a huge change outside our home this month. We’ve painted our brick home and I am loving it. It took a few days to get used to, but now I can honestly say I am so happy we made this big change.

I’ll be sharing tons of pictures of this big change outside our home soon. But first, I need to finish off some minor changes outside. And one of those is picking a new doormat that will go with our new house colors.

I’ve found so many great door mats for outside the home, guys. And most of them are really cheap too. So, I had to put together this big list of the best outdoor mats I found.

I’ve got beautiful layered doormats, natural fiber doormats, synthetic fiber doormats, and even rubber doormats that look fantastic. But first let’s go over a few important things to know before you pick out a new outside door mat for your house.

Can You Put Door Mats Outside

Yes, you can absolutely put door mats outside. In fact, you should put a door mat outside. Just be sure the door mat is actually made to be used outdoor.

A door mat will help you keep most of the dirt or water on shoes outside your home. There are actually a few important reasons you should put a door mat outside every exterior door.

• Keeps most dirt and water on shoes outside the home.
• Protects your floors from water damage.
• Helps prevent slippery floors inside.
• Reduces the amount of times you need to clean your floors.

Using an outdoor mat is an important and easy way to help you protect the floors in your home from water damage and dirt. If you have wood floors, water damage can absolutely ruin them.

Most people use an outdoor mat and an indoor mat for extra protection from dripping shoes and clothes. And, you won’t have to clean those floors as often when you’re trapping most of that dirt and water on a mat.

A good mat inside and outside your exterior doors will also help prevent slippery floors. Slippery floors can cause falls. No one likes to fall. Using a doormat can make your home safer from slippery floors.

I always recommend putting an outdoor doormat outside of every exterior door on your home. So, the average house in America will probably have 3 outdoor mats. They’ll be outside the garage door, back door, and front door.

How Do I Choose A Front Door Mat

When you’re picking the Best Outdoor Door Mats for your house there are really 4 key things to think about; the size of your door, the material used, the style of the door mat, and how easy it is to clean.

4 Keys to Choosing a Door Mat

• Size of Door
• Material Used
• Doormat Style
• Easy to Clean

Size of Door vs Size of Door Mat

You don’t want a door mat that looks too small next to your door. Generally, you should pick a door mat that is at least 80% of the width of your door. So, if your front door is 36″ wide then your mat should be at least 28.8″ wide (36 x .8 = 28.8).

Almost all of the door mats on my list are 30″ wide or larger. So, they’ll be great in front of the average 36″ wide front door.

If you have double front doors, you need to use the full width of both doors to calculate what size doormat you need. Even if you only really use 1 of those doors, to get a balanced look, the outdoor mat should sit in front of both doors.

Materials Used

It’s important to pick an outdoor mat that can actually stand up to lots of foot traffic, dirt, and water.

You should also pick an outdoor mat material that is mold and mildew resistant. Especially if your front door mat will be rained on. I love the layered door mat look.

I even have some great mats on this list that would look beautiful layered. BUT, I get so much rain on my front door that a cotton mat as the bottom layer just isn’t practical. It would trap moisture and get moldy pretty quickly.

Buy a synthetic fiber lower mat that will resist mold. OR, skip the layered look all together. Those are probably best on deep, covered porches that stay pretty dry most of the time.

And, if you’re door gets a lot of sunlight, you’ll also need a doormat that is UV resistant.

My front door gets tons of sunlight. And, in Texas, that sunlight causes tons of damage and bleaching. So, our current natural fiber door mat has started to lose color and look bad after just 2 short years.

In fact, our front door gets so much sunlight damage that I have 3 popular posts about how to restain a door without removing it, how to fix a sun damaged dry wood front door, and can you stain a door without taking it down. It’s a constant battle.

Doormat Style

Of course, an important part of picking the Best Outdoor Door Mats is gettng a look you love. Picking the right look for your doormat is really a matter of personal style. Right?!

Some people love a colorful doormat, some love a home full of neutral colors, other people want a funny doormat. And, of course, some people have such a beautifully designed home that the doormat looks as beautiful as any picture in a catalog.

There are no wrong style choices as long as you like it. But, I have some things for you to think about when you are picking your doormat.

Will the doormat clash with your door color, house color, or patio? If your patio stonework has lots of pattern or colors, pick a door mat that won’t look bad against that busy patio.

Does the style of the doormat fit with the style of the house?? I have a very traditional looking home. It has big columns and lots of details. I pick a doormat with that in mind.

Even if I love a Boho or modern looking doormat, I probably won’t pick it for my front door. I’ll save something like that for my garage. Where I still get to enjoy it, without thinking that it’s clashing with the rest of my home.

Easy to Clean Doormats

I LOVE a doormat that can be sprayed clean with a garden hose. Low maintenance door mats are my favorite kind. Synthetic fiber doormats are the easiest to clean. And, they dry fast too. So, they won’t keep moisture trapped underneath.

If you have a wood porch or patio floor, you really want to avoid trapping moisture. So, stick with an open weave rubber or synthetic fiber that dries quickly.

I usually avoid doormats with too tight of a weave because I think that trap dirt and stains inside the weave.

OK, that’s all of my tips for picking the perfect doormat. Now, let’s get to that list of the Best Outdoor Door Mats for any house.

30 Best Outdoor Door Mats

That’s it for this list of the Best Outdoor Door Mats, guys. I hope that helped you find a great new outdoor mat for your home. 

You might also like my picks for the 17 Best Area Rugs on a Budget on Amazon.

Check out my picks of the 30 Best Amazon Coffee Tables.

Here’s How to Paint Furniture for Beginners, with everything you need to know to get started.

You can find great Fabric by the Yard on Amazon too. 

Here’s How to Clean Car Seats At Home, the easy way!!

Feeling inspired? Now that you’ve seen my picks for the Best Outdoor Door Mats, I hope that helped you find a new outdoor mat you’ll love.

Let me know if you have questions. Don’t forget to sign up for the Abbotts At Home email newsletter to get DIY, Remodeling, and Crafty ideas in your inbox.

Make a DIY personalized door mat using an inexpensive fiber mat, paint, and a stencil you can cut on your Cricut! It’s easier to make than you think, and I’ll show you the best materials and methods to use!

I have been waiting ALL winter to show you all how to make these awesome personalized door mats! Now that spring is here and our porches need some love, let’s make these cute and easy doormats using our Cricuts! They are going to go GREAT with our vertical Welcome sign porch greeters and butterfly wreaths!

First, let’s talk about the doormat itself — I am using coir (rhymes with foyer) doormats. Coir is a natural fiber made from the outer husk of a coconut. Coir mats are also water resistant and work best outside on a covered porch.

So where do you find these coir doormats? I got my coir doormats on Amazon, but you can also get coir doormats from Target, IKEA, Home Depot, Hobby Lobby, and so on when they are in stock. We went out looking a day ago for coir mats and came up short everywhere, so check stock before you head out to the store. Coir doormats range from $10-$20 each for the 2′ x 3′ rectangular ones and about $35 for this extra deluxe half-circle mat. 

The personalization on the mat itself is made by painting the door mat. But the big question is — which paint looks best and lasts the longest? You know how I love to test things, so I tested three different paints! The first is exterior house paint, the second is outdoor acrylic paint, and the third is black Flex Seal, which is actually a spray rubber. I’ll show you which one worked best in this tutorial!

Of course, we don’t want to hand paint all of this detail on — so we use a stencil! I cut my stencil out on my Cricut cutting machine, which made it so easy. I also tested three different materials for the stencil — Oramask stencil vinyl, Cricut removable vinyl, and plain old freezer paper. Can you guess which one worked best? Actually, they ALL did their job. I slightly preferred the freezer paper method because it was easier to place and position and it seemed to hold itself in place a little better once you melt the plastic on the back of it with an EasyPress or iron. But the vinyl also worked! Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each stencil material:

Now, these are doormats, and that means they usually live outside and get stepped on all the time. So I tested sealers as well. I tried out a clear coat sealer spray, spar urethane, and Flex Seal CLEAR. I’ll show you how those looked on top of the paint in this tutorial as well.

And if you’re anything like me, the biggest question you have is, “How long will the paint on this door mat last and look good?” To test this, I made three identical doormats and each one has all three paints and all three sealers. I’m going to put these outside on my covered porch, which is not entirely exposed to the elements, and let everyone walk on these for a while. We’ll check back on them and see how they’re doing a couple of months later.

In addition to these items, you’ll also need some painter’s tape, stencil brushes (pouncers), push pins, and a board to put under your doormat to keep it flat and stable when you move it around.

I also designed a pretty flower border for my doormats that you’re welcome to use. So let me show you where to get the free design, then I’ll show you how to design a personalized doormat in Cricut Design Space!

Are you ready to make your own? Let me show you how to make a personalized door mat! This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Read my full disclosure policy.

Materials Needed to Make a DIY Personalized Door Mat

How to Paint a Personalized Door Mat

Step 1: Find or Make Your Personalized Door Mat Design

If you want to use one of my free flower patterns (Design #150), you can download the free SVG cut files from my free resource library. It’s available as both a PDF (for hand cutting) and an SVG/DXF (for machine cutting).  If you’re going to cut it out on your cutting machine, upload the file to your design software. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you’re not sure how to upload an SVG file to Cricut Design Space, or you’re having issues (such as getting a message that says Tip: If you’re not sure how to upload an SVG cut file to Cricut Design Space, watch this helpful video training series I made. If you’re on an iPhone or iPad, here’s how to download and upload SVG files to the Cricut Design Space app.

Here’s what my rectangular flower design file looks like uploaded to Cricut Design Space. 

Note that the proper size of this file is 29.59″ wide by 18.03″ high, but it might import smaller when you upload it — be sure to resize it to the proper size for your doormat.

You can use the “welcome” design I’ve included or replace it with your family name or other words. I used the “Michelle” font from FontBundles.net for this lettering. Here’s what it might look like with a family name:

Tip: If you use a cursive font as I have, try to have your letters touching for the best visual effect. You can do this by decreasing the Letter Space, which you can do at the top of the toolbar in Cricut Design Space.

Step 2: Cut Out Your Design on Stencil Material

I tried freezer paper, removable vinyl, and Oramask stencil vinyl. They ALL worked and you can use the one you want, but I preferred the freezer paper because I thought it was easier to cut and position. Plus, it was really inexpensive, so I wasn’t worried about wasting it. That said, the removable vinyl produced the sharpest result, though you have to look REALLY close to notice it, honestly.

So I recommend you use freezer paper cut shiny side down. If you use your Cricut cutting machine to cut the freezer paper stencil, I found the best setting to be “Copy Paper” with the pressure set to “More.” I also tried Washi Paper and Wax Paper, but they did not work as well.

Step 3: Apply Your Stencil Material to your Door Mat

Watch my video to see how to apply the stencil material to your DIY door mat.

Step 4: Paint Your Door Mat

Watch my video to see how to paint and personalize your door mat.

Step 5: Seal Your Door Mat

Sealer will help your painted door mat last longer. How much longer it’s going to be protected is going to depend on which paint and sealer combination you use, and how exposed your door mat is to the elements and foot traffic. I’ve tried three different sealers — a UV clear spray, Flex Seal clear, and spar urethane. I made three identical door mats with these sealers — one is now on my deck (no protection from the elements), one is on my covered porch (some protection from the elements), and one is inside my house (complete protection form the elements … but not from dogs!).

Regardless of what you use as a sealer, I recommend you do seal.

After waiting at least a day for your paint to dry, or however long it takes for it to dry completely, it’s time to seal your paint. If you left your stencil in place from the previous step, perfect. If not, put the stencil back onto the mat, carefully lining up the design underneath it (if necessary, use pins to keep it in place on the mat). Now seal your paint with a spray sealer, Flex Seal clear spray, or spar urethane.

Here’s what they look like with the sealer on (all of these photos show the Valspar Storm Coat Exterior house paint):

UV Resistant Clear Coat Spray:

Flex Seal Clear Spray:

Spar Urethane Sealer:

Compare those to what it looks like with no sealer

July 2019 update: My smaller mats are still looking great. No changes, in fact. But my big mat, the half-circle one, is looking decidedly worse for wear. It’s not that the paint has worn off — it’s that the mat is shedding fibers like a crazy woman!

Get my free doormat flower border cut files for the DIY Personalized Door Mats

If you make this personalized door mat, please share a photo in my helpful Cricut Facebook group or tag me on social media with #jennifermaker.

Want to remember this? Save the DIY Personalized Door Mat Tutorial to your favorite Pinterest board!

This DIY personalized door mat makes a perfect entry to your home, and it’s a great way to spruce up your outdoor space on budget.

Alright look, I know how to spell, so don’t yap at me in the comments that it’s “doormat” and not “door mat,” okay?

It’s just that according to Google, four times as many people search for “personalized door mat” than they do for “personalized doormat.”

Who knew?

So if the world wants to call it a door mat, who am I to tell them it’s actually “doormat?”

I’ve learned to pick my battles, madam, and I’m sure as heck not going to pick one with Google!

So, welcome to The Navage Patch! Allow me to roll out a personalized door mat for you!

Anyway, Handan’s been wanting to spruce up our front door area with a personalized door mat since we moved in last year. Unlike our Fortress of Solitude in Connecticut where ravens and eagles outnumbered humans, here in Georgia, we’ve got neighbors a-plenty, and they’re all awesome and social. My babes wanted something a little more welcoming than a bland old foot-wipe, so we set out to make our own DIY personalized door mat with stencils. It’s a fun and easy project, and if you get your doormat (take that, Google!) at IKEA, it’s an inexpensive upgrade for your front door and entry.

DIY Personalized Door Mat

Before we get to the tutorial, we need to discuss a few things.

Let’s talk door mats…

There are a lot of different door mats out there, but we like coconut fiber door mats the best. You may also know them as coir doormats. Coconut fiber is a strong natural fiber that is perfect for door mats – it is durable, it doesn’t absorb water, and the rough fibers are perfect for wiping crud from your shoes.

The best deal we’ve seen on a coir door mat is IKEA’s TRAMPA.

For $7.99, you get a full-sized coir mat at 1/2 to 1/3 the price of most other places. If you don’t live near an IKEA, and you don’t want to deal with ordering online from them, you can find coconut fiber door mats almost anywhere, from Amazon to Walmart.

About that paint…

We’re not using any. Yeah, that’s right, we’re stencilling without paint! We’re nuts like that!

Why?

Because we found something better! These personalized door mats are going to be outside in the sun, snow and rain, and they’ll be trampled on a daily basis, so we’re going to want something a little more robust than paint!

How about rubber?

Yep, rubber it is! What a wonderful world we live in where you can get sprayable rubber in a can!

Do I hear Cricuts?

Yep, we used our Cricut to make these stencils, and if you want to make the same ones, you’ll need one, too. But we’re aware that a Cricut cutting machine is not in everyone’s budget, so don’t despair, because you can still make awesome personalized door mats using the technique we’ll be showing you with any stencil you can buy online (as long as it’s not too intricate). As much as we want to spread the good word about Cricut, we know the reality out there right now.

About the stencils…

We’re giving you six free stencil SVGs for your personalized door mat. If you’d like to add your name to the “Welcome” SVG, like we did, you can simply add it in Design Space.

Okay, enough of my blathering, let’s get to it!

DIY Personalized Door Mat Supplies

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine [unless they are mine! – Handan].

Personalized Door Mat 1 – Welcome

Step 1 – Cut, Weed, and Tape

The “Welcome” design needs to be made on two pieces of outdoor vinyl, each about 17 1/2 inches long. We tried making personalized door mats with both Cricut outdoor vinyl and Oramask stencil vinyl and found the outdoor vinyl to be the better option. Now lest you think I’m just shilling for Cricut, when it comes to transfer tape, we’re going to recommend against Cricut’s product. I may be a lot of things, but a mindless fanboy shill just ain’t one of them!

Peeling back the mat to release the stencil…

Weeding this design is a cinch. I just removed the outer border…

And then the big letters within.

Here are the two halves, ready to be joined.

I first cut off some of the excess – the design overlaps a bit to make it easier to match up later.

Here you can see the little bit of overlap.

I lined up the design, paying careful attention to the top and bottom border, as well as the letter “C.”

When I had it lined up perfectly, I asked my babes to slap on some scotch tape to hold it all together.

Step 2 – Prepare the door mat

Coir mats usually have a whole bunch of loose coconut hair on them. The easiest way to remove it is with a vacuum.

If you have a lint roller on hand, you can also make a few passes with it.

You could probably do this forever and each time come away with stray fibers. Don’t get too hung up on it. A simple vacuuming should be sufficient.

To transport the mat outside for painting without disturbing the stencil, I highly recommend placing it on a piece of scrap plywood, or even on or two pieces of foam board (you can get it at Dollar Tree). The stencil does not stick very well to the coconut fibers, so you want to disturb it as little as possible after applying it.

To make placement of the stencil easier, I ran some Dollar Tree duck tape (yes, they call this kind “duck” tape, not “duct” tape) along the bottom edge. For the tape on the sides, I measured in 1.75 inches from each side and placed the edge of the duck tape there. The mat is 35.25 inches wide and the stencil is 31.75 inches wide. 35.25 – 31.75 = 3.5. Divide that by two, and you get 1.75 inches of space on each side.

Once I had my tape frame in place, I turned my attention to the stencil.

Step 3 – Transfer the stencil

We tried two different transfer tapes for our personalized door mats – Cricut transfer tape (regular grip) and ConTact shelf liner from Dollar Tree. Normally you’d think Cricut would win this competition hands down. It’s Cricut vs Dollar Store fer cryin’ out loud!

But you’d be wrong. Sometimes a product can be too well designed for a particular purpose, and Cricut’s transfer tape is just too strong (even the regular grip) when trying to place a stencil onto a coconut fiber door mat.

Dollar Tree shelf liner on the other hand?

Goldilocks.

Not too sticky. Not too…not sticky. Just perfect!

I laid the shelf liner on my outdoor vinyl stencil.

Even though the shelf liner has far less grip, transferring the stencil was no problem.

Transferred and ready to go!

I lined up the white edges of the stencil with my duck tape border.

And then I peeled off the shelf liner. I’ll talk about it more later, but this was sooooo much easier than when we used Cricut’s transfer tape. As I said before, the stencil will not stick well to the coir mat, so you want that transfer sheet to come off easy!

To make it even easier, once I had an edge transferred, I locked it in place with some duck tape.

When we used the other transfer tape, it took full effort from both Handan and me. With the Dollar Tree shelf liner, I could do it easily myself.

Here is the stencil, transferred onto the mat. I used some generic bulk transfer tape to mask off the rest of the mat.

Step 4 – Spraying the mat

We carried it to the garage (rain was threatening) and set it on a box on some cardboard.

I started in with the Flex Seal, making sure to spray straight down, so the spray wouldn’t sneak in under the stencil.

I started each pass either above or below the stencil since Flex Seal has a tendency to spit out globs of liquid rubber each time the nozzle is first depressed.

Here’s a little video of how I sprayed.

You only need to apply one good coat of Flex Seal – just make sure you spray enough to completely cover the fibers and get a nice, deep black color. The problem with two coats is that the stencil will start to curl a little bit once the first coat has dried, and you risk getting a blurry image from spray-under.

Later in the post, we’ll show you a failed attempt using Plasti Dip spray applied in two coats. Yeesh, not recommended!

Step 5 – Seal the doormat

Okay, so Flex Seal is rubber – it’s not like it really needs much protection from the rain. But sunlight is another thing, so a sealant with UV protection is a good choice to keep your personalized mat looking good for a longer time. Sun, feet, ice, dirt and rain will eventually destroy anything, but we can at least delay its eventual demise with a UV sealant.

I chose Rustoleum’s matte sealant.

The more coats, the better protection. Three or four thin coats should be good enough. Just don’t glop it on!

Step 6 – Peel & Reveal

Here are  a few pics of our beautiful personalized door mat! The lettering is so crisp and bold!

Personalized Door Mat 2 – Three Pumpkins

Since it’s never too late to start Halloween projects, we wanted to include an SVG for a Halloween/Fall doormat.

I cut each pumpkin head separately. The only reason for the black and white stencils is that we ran out of outdoor white vinyl, and I had to switch to black.

I did my measurements, added my duck tape and placed the stencils.

It was easier to line up the outer pumpkins first…

…And then add the middle one in.

Here’s a video of the full Flex Seal spray.

After a few hours, I sealed the pumpkins, just like I did before. Several light coats are better than one heavy coat (unlike with the Flex Seal).

So far so good!

Even before removing all the masking, these guys look awesome!

And the reveal!

Here are a few pics before we put this one away until fall.

This pumpkin head doormat will be laid back down in October!

Personalized Door Mat 3 – The Failure

Everybody loves a good failure, so we’ll show you ours.

We decided to try making a doormat with Plasti Dip spray. It’s another spray-rubber-in-a-can deal, but it’s nothing like Flex Seal!

First of all, this is the mat for which we tried using Cricut’s transfer tape. As I mentioned earlier, it was just too grippy for the mat, and it made the transfer from tape to mat a long and painful one. Then came spraying.

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but certainly my expectations involved a lot more “black” than I actually got. This Plasti Dip was weak sauce.

After one coat, the fibers were barely black. I left it to dry so I could spray a second coat. This was a mistake.

When I came back, much of the stencil had curled upward when the Plasti Dip dried.

To avert a total failure before even finishing the project, I figured I could pin down the errant flaps of stencil.

It took a lot of pins.

I sprayed a second coat on a wing and a prayer.

The reveal confirmed my fears and suspicions.

It’s not the worst thing on planet Earth, but it’s certainly not good enough for our front door. The black is not sufficiently black, and the letters are hazy and indistinct from spray-under. All in all, I don’t recommend Plasti Dip when making personalized door mats.

Handan and I hope you enjoyed our tutorial and our little videos. This was a really fun project once we figured out the right combination of materials (Cricut outdoor vinyl, Dollar Tree shelf liner, and Flex Seal). We will absolutely be making more personalized door mats in the future!

FREE Personalized Door Mat SVG Files

We created today’s FREE personalized door mat SVG designs as PNG and SVG files which are resizable and compatible with Cricut and all other cutting machines.

Now go ahead and click on the button below to download today’s freebies – they are all in the “SVGs – Stencils” and “Home Decor” section of The VIP Patch.

If you’re not a Navage Patch VIP, you won’t be able to access our Freebies Library. But that can be easily fixed! Subscribe for free on the form below and become a Navage Patch VIP. Once you subscribe, a password will be sent to you in our Welcome email, and that will give you access to The VIP Patch [Freebies Library]. If you didn’t receive our Welcome email, can’t find the password or have any other questions on this process or on our free printables, please check our Printables FAQ page.

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