We’ve lived in our house for 2.5 years and the front step has never been much of a thought for me. Until now I had one of those hideous tire link doormats (shudder) gracing the entrance to our beloved abode. Terrible I know. Finally I got tired of starting at that ugly thing and decided it needed to go. Not happy with the local selection, and not willing to spend a crazy amount on a doormat plus shipping, I decided to DIY my own and share the how to and stencils I created for any of you who might also be wiping their feet on sad recycled tire, or something equally as pathetic.

This will be made a lot easier if you have a cutting machine – especially for the ‘hello’. If you happen to have a silhouette machine you are welcome to use my stencils. If not, I’m afraid I can’t make a ‘hello’ stencil for you because cutting that out by hand would be nothing short of a nightmare. I have however created the scallops for you to print and cut out using an exacto knife and sharp scissors. Mind you if you want to do something completely different with your doormat, say make some polka dot stencils, then go for it!

Materials

• A doormat
• Acrylic paint
• Paint brush
• Cardstock
• Templates (download below or create your own)
• Pins

Steps

1 Download and cut out the templates (link below) either using your silhouette machine or an exacto knife and scissors. Pin the template onto your doormat. You want to make sure it’s pinned near the edge, especially the small point where the scallop swoops up.
2 Paint acrylic paint onto the doormat. Either a sponge or bristle brush will work (I preferred the latter as it soaked up less paint). When painting along the paper edge, press the paper down with one hand while painting. I like to do this just to make sure I get a clean edge. Take note that this requires A LOT of paint as the coir soaks in a ton. You can paint with a bit of water to spread the pigment and get a little more coverage.
3 Remove the stencil and let the paint dry before repeating steps 1 and 2 all the way across the top of your doormat. When laying the next stencil, make sure the edge lines up with the painted scallops. Now heads up, this is how I painted the mat, and because of the drying time it took ages. Another option is to cut out several stencils and pin them all at once going across your doormat. You’ll just have to make sure to cut the stencil further so there’s no edges on the side, and line up all the scallops so they continue in a straight line.

4 Download (below) and cut out the ‘hello’ stencil for your silhouette. Keep the bits of paper in the loops of the calligraphy. Carefully cut around each letter
5 (bottom photo) Place the letters on your doormat how you want them arranged before pinning them down. Make sure to connect the letters like in calligraphy – to do this you will have to cut out parts of the stencil where the letters connect. Pin the stencils and the pieces in the loops. You can use the above photo as a guide.
6 (top right photo) Carefully paint the stencil using the guidelines in step 2. When done, remove the stencil and let dry completely before using.

If you have a silhouette, then download the .svg file (first button). If not then download and print the pdf (second button), and use an exacto knife and sharp scissors to cut out the black scallops.

I still have a lot of work to do to make our front step charming (aka a major paint job….or maybe just a new door) but this is a little step in the right direction. At least (I hope) it’ll bring a little smile to someone’s face when they ring our old fashioned doorbell! (It looks like this, is very cool, and only 7/10 people actually know what it is when they come to the door).

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