DIY Fall Door Mat

Fall is just around the corner, and I don’t know about you, but my Pinterest page is full of fun door mats that celebrate everything PSL, pumpkins, and fall y’all. I have always been interested in having a fun and personalized mat but, honestly I haven’t wanted to spend the money. They’re pricey, but trust me those people earn it. One afternoon I did a one stop shop at Target and grabbed all the materials to make my own door mat. Of course, there are better options for all the things I bought, I’ll link those too. However, if you have an itch to switch, this is for you.

Warning: this is an advanced project that needs a steady hand and lots of patience to succeed. If this is a bit too intense for you, scroll all the way down. I have linked all the amazing rugs I found inspiration from that are only one click away from your doorstep!

Materials

All items with *, can be purchased in store at Target 🙂 I also had most of these items below, already in my craft room.

23×35 mat* $19, 24 x 35 mat $10,
Acrylic paint in coal* $2, Outdoor acrylic paint in black $4
Brush variety pack* $3
Oramask Stencil vinyl $17, Cricut stencil vinyl $7 OR poster board*
If using stencil vinyl you will need transfer paper or I use contact paper*
Painter tape or packing tape
Scissors
Weeding tools
Ruler or measuring tape
Pins

I did the mat stencil two different ways to see which I liked best. I’ll explain pros and cons in a second. Whether using Cricut or Silhouette, it is important that you measure out your space and then create an object of the same dimensions in your program. This helps you ensure that the file is the correct size in real life. Cut file and weed the letters out making sure to keep the insides of the hollow letters like “p” and “o” and parts of “k” that are necessary to make the letter.

Transfer Stencil

Place transfer paper or contact paper on top of weeded out words and trim
Peel up transfer paper or contact paper carefully ensuring that all the stencil pieces, including inside of the letters, come up
Place transfer paper or contact paper with letters onto mat. Use the dimensions from your cutting program to figure out which letter falls in the center and start there. For this mat the “T’ in there needed to be right at 17.5 which is the middle and the top of the “T” needed to be 4 inches away from the top of the mat.
Place everything else without transferring to ensure that it looks right.

Poster Board

Place piece of poster board and inside of letters onto mat. Organize and center.
Tape down all the edges, pin down center of letters or place in correct spot

Continue For Both

With thicker paint brush dab inside the letters with paint. Hold down edges to avoid bleeding lines. Carefully ensure the center of letters like “o” stay hollow by holding down the center and dabbing the edges of that section first before continuing.
Once an entire word or section of a word is marked remove stencil
With smaller flat brush darken the outlines of each letter by dabbing down into the coir rug
Continue filling in letters by dabbing in. If there are thinner sections, use smallest brush and dab sections in. The more paint you have the easier it is to saturate the coir
Finish each word section and continue with next until finished filling in
Let dry and fill in parts of the word that did not fully saturate or edge well
Allow rug to dry a full 24 hours and the acrylic becomes water resistant

Pros and Cons

This is an interesting project for many reasons. It isn’t your regular run of the mill: cut, weed, place. The sizing piece is very important, and because the mat is bigger than any cricut mat you will need to play with sizing and slicing a bit. Also, the painting part is a bit complex. You have to be comfortable painting within lines and potentially correcting them by just looking. Overall it was a fun project that the end result definitely outweighs the means.

Stencil Vinyl

Pros: Easy to cut and weed. Sticks onto mat for easier painting. Simple to remove

Cons: Not as easy to transfer onto mat. Sticks but not wonderfully. Expensive in the sense you have to buy both the stencil vinyl and transfer paper if you don’t already have it.

Poster Board

Pros: Inexpensive and easy to find anywhere. Cuts easily and weeds easily.

Cons: Doesn’t stick to mat. You have to tape down and hold down while dabbing and tracing.