It’s almost springtime, and that means it’s time to start beautifying our outdoor spaces. But, of course, the first thing anyone sees when they come over to your house is your front porch. This tutorial will show you how to make an adorable DIY doormat that’s sure to make the right first impression.
If you love a good DIY as I do, this one is easy to follow, and it will add a little pizzazz to your entrance. Custom welcome mats are such a cute touch because they bring fun to your outdoor space just as your guests are about to enter your home.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of paint do you use on a Coir doormat?
To paint my coir doormat, I used permanent acrylic craft paint.
Can you paint a coir mat?
Yes, you can. All you need is a bristled paintbrush, permanent acrylic craft paint, and your mat. Because of the texture, you will have to do several coats.
Can you use acrylic paint on a coir doormat?
Yes, you absolutely can. I used acrylic craft paint to complete my custom doormat, and it looks fantastic!
Why DIY doormats?
Making a custom doormat is a great way to add your personality to your outdoor space. Your personalized doormat will also stand out as a fun to greet your guests when they arrive.
Materials
- Coir doormat
- Cricut Design Space App
- Brayer Tool
- Everyday Iron-On Vinyl
- Weeding Tool
- Anita’s All Purpose Acryllic Craft Paint, Colors: True Red and Black
- Cricut Easypress 2
How To Make a DIY Doormat With Cricut
Designing Your Doormat with Cricut Design Space
First, we will create our doormat design, so open your Cricut Design Space App. I purchased a blank 18” X 30” coir doormat from Target, so you will want to make a template that matches that size.
Click on the word shapes on the left-hand side of the screen. Then, click on the square and then unlock it. Next, drag the form out until it matches the size of the doormat that you purchased.
I changed the color of my rectangle to orange to closely resemble the doormat, but that part is optional.
Click on the word “Text,” then type in the word “Love.” Then, you’re going to choose the font that you want. If you have seen any of my previous tutorials, you know that I’m always using the same font that I downloaded from dafont.com, but you can choose whatever font you’d like.
I dragged the word out until it was almost 9 inches tall and 17 inches wide. But, of course, you want to keep your word under 11 by 11 inches so that it fits on your mat if you have a 12 X 12 doormat.
How To Seperate Your Word When It's Larger Than Your Cricut Mat
Unfortunately, my word was almost 17 inches wide, so I had to take extra steps to work around that. First, I clicked ungroup to separate all the letters. I still wanted the “O” and the “V” to be connected since they were touching each other, so I selected both, then right-clicked and selected “Weld” so they would cut out in one piece. However, if you have a longer Cricut mat or a third-generation cricket machine, you may not need to do all these steps.
Click on “Text.” Type “Lives” in all caps and change the font to whatever you’d like. I went with Bernard MT Condensed.
Copy the word “lives” and drag it to the side. Then change the letters to spell out the word “here.” Copying the word helps ensure that both words are the same size. Also, if you’re working with a 12 by 12 mat like I am, you’ll want to make sure that neither one of your words is wider than 11 inches.
Click on images again to find the heart you want and then select “Add to Canvas.” Place the heart where you want it and drag it until it’s this size that you like. Then, copy the heart and pull it to the other side of the template, ensuring it’s even with the first heart.
Delete the rectangle you made to represent the doormat and click the “Make It” button.
Cutting the Heat Transfer Vinyl
Go to each page and space the images out a little bit. We will use them as stencils, so we don’t want them to be too close together.
Because we’re working with heat transfer vinyl, you will need to mirror the images on every page.
Spread your Everyday Iron-On Vinyl out on your mat with the shiny side facing down. You can use your Brayer Tool to smooth your vinyl out completely.
I know it’s uncommon for people to use HTV on a doormat, but I was inspired to try this method after watching an Official Cricut video.
Turn the dial on your Cricut machine to iron-on. Slide your Cricut mat into the machine, press the load/unload button and the go button, and let your cricket machine do its thing.
Weeding the Vinyl
Once you finish cutting all the pages, use your weeding tool to remove all unwanted pieces. Because we will use our vinyl as a stencil, we’ll be removing all the letters.
Cut around each stencil, leaving a 1-inch border.
Placing Your Vinyl Stencil on the Doormat
Place your stencil or stencils on your doormat exactly where you want them so you can get a feel of how everything is going to look when it all comes together.
Heating Your HTV Stencil with Your EasyPress
Heat your Easypress to a low temperature. For example, I set my EasyPress at 330 degrees for 30 seconds. I use parchment paper to avoid my easy press touching my doormat and messing my easy press up or possibly messing up my doormat.
If you notice after the vinyl cools that some parts are still not sticking to the doormat, reheat the vinyl with your easy press as many times as it takes.
After placing the vinyl on the doormat, I noticed that the letters were just a little bit slanted, so I peeled the vinyl off once it cooled and reapplied it.
I had to reheat certain parts of the vinyl at least four times before it would stick, so that part was kind of tedious.
Removing the Plastic Lining from the HTV stencil
Once the vinyl is cooled off and stuck to the mat, you can slowly pull the plastic liner away from the vinyl. You have to be very careful with this part because the vinyl sometimes still wanted to come up with the plastic. I use my hand to hold the vinyl down to the doormat and separate it from the plastic. You also have to go very slow when separating them because you don’t want to tear the vinyl or stretch it. This part was nerve-wracking.
When I finished pulling the plastic liner off the “E,” I realized that some parts still weren’t stuck to the mat. So I put the parchment paper on top without the liner and reheated the “E,” and that seemed to do the trick.
According to Cricut, it’s better to use heat transfer vinyl than permanent vinyl because your paint lines are much crisper and sharper when removing the stencil. I would agree.
Painting Your Coir Doormat
Now, it’s time to paint the doormat. First, I took some permanent black acrylic craft paint and poured it directly onto the mat to the doormat. Next, I dabbed the paint onto the doormat using a small paintbrush. Because the doormat has so much texture, it took several coats before I was happy with the color.
After finishing the black paint, I grabbed my permanent red acrylic craft paint to paint the hearts. Again, you have to do several coats, and you want to make sure you get down into the fibers to get an even and consistent coat.
Removing the Stencil
I let the paint dry for several hours, and then I slowly and carefully peeled off the vinyl for the big reveal.
When there were pieces of vinyl that wouldn’t come off quickly, I was able to remove them with my wedding tool, tweezers, or small scissors.
Do You Want to Check Out More HTV tutorials? No Worries.
Don't Be a Stranger
There you have it! Now we have an adorable custom doormat that is easy to make.
Until the next time, I hope that you continue to add a little creativity to the world. Thanks so much for hanging out with me, and keep coming back because you never know what I’ll be creating next!
