One of the easiest ways to add a little personality to your porch is with a custom-painted doormat. “Custom-painted” makes it sound harder than it really is, though. It’s actually quite easy to customize a plain doormat; you just need a stencil and some outdoor paint! I’ve customized a few doormats, but this one is one of my favorites! I decided to do a heart eye emoji on this onebecause who doesn’t love the heart eye emoji? And if you’re not a heart eye emoji kind of person, you can use the steps outlined in this tutorial to paint any design onto a doormat.

Supplies

Black and rose goldoutdoor paintPlain doormatPrinter and scissorsCardstock and markerDisposablechip brushesDuct TapeOptional: Rotary Cutter

Instructions:

1.Make the stencils. You’ll need a stencil for the eyes and mouth, as well as a stencil for the face.

First, copy and paste a heart eye emojifrom anywhere on the Internet into any computerprogram you can print from. Stretch it so that it’s as big as it can be; this size will depend on how big your paper is. It’s okay if it gets pixelated…you just need an outline to trace.After you print it, cut it out, including the mouth and eyes. You can use scissors, but I also had a rotary cutter that was very helpful.Next, trace it onto your cardstock and cut that out.

You now have the stencil for the eyes and the mouth, but you need to make a separate stencil for the face. To do this, put the eyes and mouth stencil on another piece of cardstock and trace a circle around it. Then cut out that circle to make your second stencil for the face (pictured below in step 2).

2. Paint the face. Use the duct tape to tape the face stencil in the center of the doormat. Then, paint it in using the black paint. Using a chip brush instead of a regular stencil brush is helpful because you can use the stiff bristles to poke the paint down into the doormat. It takes quite a bit of paint to saturate the doormat material.

3.Paint the eyes and mouth.After the face is completely dry, tape the eyes and mouth stencil over top of the black circle. Then use the Rose Goldto paint in the eyes and mouth the same way you painted the face.

When you’re done, carefully remove the stencil. Since you’re using outdoor paint, you don’t need to spray any sort of protective coating over it. Just let your new doormat cure for no less than 24–48 hours before using it…and enjoy!