DIY Mat(ters)

Have you ever been over to Canadian House & Home’s Online TV? You really should because they showcase some fun, doable DIY projects!

Early in the month they shared a painted rug project that I HAD to try!!

So I purchased a grass outdoor door mat and set about transforming my front door… I wanted our entrance to say HELLO and WELCOME! Of course I’m talking figuratively ;-)

I’m Crazy about my red door by the way… Sundried Tomato from Benjamin Moore!

It’s a lovely entrance way… it just calling out for a little something.

 

First… I taped off the edge of the mat… then, with narrower tape and using my three fingers to measure the spacing between stripes, I applied more tape.

Now my mat is ready for the house numbers I’ll put in the middle.

I created the numbers on my computer, printing them so that they were 7” tall. The biggest challenge with this part of the project was choosing the font!! In the “B’s” alone I found a few I liked!!

        

In the end it was a toss up between Gill Sans Ultra Bold (top) and Poor Richard (bottom).

I’ve always loved Gill Sans and use it often… but it has a very distinct style that doesn’t really suit the age of our home.

So… Poor Richard was the font I chose!

 

I printed out the numbers, backed them with some painter’s tape and placed them on the mat. If you try this yourself, I recommend placing a few pebbles on the numbers to help keep them down. You see… painter’s tape doesn’t stick very well to the mat.

Next came the fun part… spray paint!!

Okay… I lied… spraying the paint wasn’t the fun part…

Removing the stencils was!!

Here’s how my front door now looks with my new mat in place…

As I mentioned above, if you do this yourself I encourage you to find a way to hold down the numbers (or letters) better… I love the new mat, but there was a little spray that migrated under my stencils.

I’m sharing this project with the readers over at Between Naps on the Porch. Susan is hosting her weekly blog party Metamorphosis Monday and Kelly and I love to participate in the fun! Be sure to make your way back to Susan’s place to see the other projects shared today.