When Real Simple asked us to create a DIY holiday gift idea for their site, Sherry celebrated with an enthusiastic little dance and we put together a short tutorial for making a seasonal welcome mat you can slide under someone’s Christmas tree — then later slide under their front door.
The full how-to is available over on Real Simple, but the project itself is simple: start with an inexpensive Ikea doormat, use painter’s tape to create a stencil, apply outdoor-rated (or enamel) spray paint, and spend about ten minutes on the assembly. The result is an attractive, affordable mat anyone would be happy to receive.
Once the spray paint haze clears, you’ll be left with a finished mat like this:
If you use a quality indoor/outdoor spray paint, the design will be fixed once dry — these paints are formulated to withstand rain and snow, so painted footprints inside won’t be a concern. Many commercially sold decorative mats are created using spray paint, so this method is consistent with standard manufacturing. Enamel spray paint tends to provide the most durable finish, but outdoor-approved sprays without the enamel label can also hold up very well. We used an outdoor-approved spray and our mats, made a few months ago, have stayed in great shape.
We actually made a second version as a backup, so we can share that alternate design here. It uses the same basic technique as the reindeer-antler mat but requires less taping and a little more painting. For this version we chose a large round Ikea mat and aimed for a snowglobe effect: white snowflakes on an icy blue background.
To make it, we sprayed the entire mat with a couple of coats of white paint and let it dry completely. Then we cut painter’s tape into various asterisk shapes to represent snowflakes and pressed them firmly onto the white surface. The shapes are intentionally simple — clean, bold graphics read well on a doormat and suit the “keep it simple” aesthetic.
With the tape securely in place, we applied a couple of coats of blue spray paint over the whole mat, let it dry, and peeled up the tape to reveal crisp white snowflake shapes on the blue field:
We didn’t get a perfectly even blue coat on our sample because we stopped one coat early after noticing some tape edges lifting. That can lead to softer edges around the snowflakes. In our case the issue came from repositioning the tape several times while taking photos, which reduced its stickiness. You can avoid that by applying each tape asterisk once and leaving it in place, or by replacing a piece of tape if it’s been restuck too many times. If you’re unhappy with the result, it’s easy to repaint the mat white, let it dry, and try the asterisk layout again — a fresh start works well for this forgiving project.
We enjoyed the doormat project because it makes a thoughtful, practical gift. It might seem odd at first, but most people have a front door and a porch, and a personalized welcome mat is a small, useful gesture. It’s also fun to surprise someone by placing the mat on their porch with a short note identifying the giver. If you’ve tackled a doormat project before, you know how easy and rewarding it can be — and if you haven’t, this is a great place to start.
Update: We’ve also gathered a selection of favorite holiday decor items and budget-friendly finds in one place for easy gift and decorating ideas.