Welcome To Our Home! - A Custom Made Welcome Mat

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I've been trying to find an inexpensive welcome mat for sometime.  I tried cheap five dollar ones from your normal box stores, but they hardly kept any dirt from coming into the house.  Plus, they were boring, and I wanted something that reflected our family.  Then, on one of my almost weekly trips to Ikea, I found a large mat at Ikea for $6.  Then I searched for a tutorial on painting a outdoor mat, and found this great tutorial. 

To start my mat, I thought awhile about what should be on it.  Maybe something in Spanish?  Something witty or clever?  Then I had it!  Three words that reflect our family: Pray, Love, and Laugh.

As a stay at home mommy, the next big task was to find time to do my project.  The mat and paint sat in my laundry room for about a month.  I finally found some time while my oldest was at school and the baby was napping.  So I got to work!

Here was my list of supplies:

• Rustoleum High Performance Enamel
• Foam Paint Brush
• Plain Outdoor Mat
• Painters Tape
• Yard Stick or Measuring Tape
• 4" Stencils

 

The first thing I did was determine how far apart vertically I wanted the words.  Using painter's tape, I made lines so the words would be straight

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Next I made a vertical line with the tape to make sure the words all started at the same place.

 

  

Now I was all set up.  All I had to do was place the letters for each word right next to each other.  I placed the bottom of each stencil under the tape so the stencil wouldn't move while I was painting. 

Once a word was finished, I removed the line of tape, and moved onto the next row.  I left the stencils in place until the paint was dry.  Here's a picture of "Pray" and "Love".

 

 

 

After pulling off the tape and stencils, here's what my new welcome mat looks like!  I painted a cross and heart to the end of Pray and Love because the engineer in me needed symmetry. 

 

 



 I was worried about the durability of the paint, but it holds up really well.  I guess if its good enough for industrial applications, its good enough for my front porch.  Here is a picture a month later!