Be Kind DIY Doormat

How is everyone doing in quarantine?! Anyone else riding the ups and downs of the “Coronacoaster”? Have you seen my Quarantine Chart?! Haha, that Instagram Story Template was fun to make and also fun to see other people’s charts. If you want to make your chart, you can grab the template from my IG Highlights! Be sure to tag me @studio_xtine so I can see yours!

There are a couple things I know and do to help me feel better when I’m feeling crabby. They are playing piano, getting on a tennis court, doing a puzzle, and of course crafting!

Way before this COVID-19 pandemic, I bought a coir mat from Target on sale and have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to customize it, like my Christmas or camping-themed ones.

This time, I wanted the doormat to be colorful! Vibrant colors to cheer anyone up who sees the doormat. The key to making DIY doormats is to use outdoor acrylic paint because they’re weather-resistant. You can pick them up from Michaels or find them online like this set from FolkArt.

For this project, I following the steps from this blog post while using the “Be Kind” design by Planeta Silhouetta. I thought this sweet message was appropriate for our current times!

The only additional step I took was priming before painting with colored paint. Previously I only used black paint which contrasts well against the caramel-colored doormat. But I thought priming the design in white first would help make the colors pop better and I think that was a wise extra step taken!

TIPS:

• I primed the doormat twice in white
• I used thinner bristle brushes for the rainbow so that when I “pounced” with my paintbrush, it wouldn’t hit the next color space.
• I alternated painting the arches so that my paintbrush wouldn’t accidentally pick up neighboring wet paint. So, I started with the blue arch, then the pink arch, then green, then orange, and finally yellow.
• I painted each color twice for more color saturation and coverage.

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