DIY Monogram Door Mat {made in less than one hour!}

I've been looking for *the right* door mat forever. I found one the other day in Sky Mall {in a weird way, I'm addicted to browsing Sky Mall...don't ask}...but it was $149. It was in Sky Mall for crying out loud, of course it was $149.

 My quest centered around the fact that I needed a w-i-d-e mat. Not a double one for double-door entries...but an oversized one to at least span the opening of my storm door plus a little overhang {because I'm an overhang kinda girl}.

So, I realized I'd have to make one myself to spare the one-raised-eye-brow the husband would give me if Sky Mall's Sunburst Coco Mat suddenly appeared on my doorstep. Even he knows Sky Mall pricing. Ri-DONK-u-lous, people.

I've got to tell you, this was the perfect project for me...and I had not idea what it would turn out like! But, let me highlight the AWESOMENESS this was:

• I made this puppy in UNDER one hour!!
• I didn't spend a dime {take that, Sky Mall}. I had all of my materials around the house. 
• The level of difficulty was minimal. Minimal.
• This didn't need any special "equipment" to make. We are a vinyl and Cricut-free household...and this was made without those fancy schmancy machines. {Don't get me wrong, I'm totally jealous of all of you stinkers who own one of those}.

For my base of my mat, I used my leftover vinyl flooring. I know you probably don't have three boxes of plank floors sitting under your bed like I do. There's LOTS of other things you could use for a base. I found the above click & lock stuff at Ikea for less than $20 a box {and you'll only use 1/4 of a box for this}. You can also purchase vinyl plank flooring by the box at Lowe's or Home Depot...again they are between $20-$30 per box and you'll only need a quarter of the box}. The possibilities are endless. As you probably know, my vinyl planks are from Metroflor. 

These are floating floors that I have, so they just lock together with those sticky gray strips you see. They are super sticky...they're not coming apart anytime soon.

I did not stagger my seams like you normally do when using this as flooring {not matting...matting?}. I intentionally lined them up together like you'd see on a teak floor mat. I also used my box cutter to score and break off that extra grip strip running on the bottom and left side of the mat in the photo above.

I printed a large "D" just in Word on the largest number I could get it. I used contact paper that I traced and cut my D out of.

Contact Paper D

I also used the grid on the back of my contact paper to cut out strips to go around the D.

I peeled the backing off of the contact paper and adhered my monogram to the planks. I wanted a reverse paint job, so I knew I'd have to cover the rest of the mat as well.

I left a one inch border around the smaller border and attached more contact paper all over the rest of the planks to avoid overspray.

I then sprayed light coats of white spray paint. It took about three coats...and I let it dry for about 5 minutes between coats. I then went over the spray paint with the clear spray paint sealer that I found multiple cans for in the garage {weird}.

Then I peeled off all of the contact paper...it comes off so easily! 

Voila!
While this isn't a mat in the sense that you'll wipe your muddy boots on it, it still serves its purpose. We're in Texas, and let's be honest...not a lot of mud, rain or snow to wipe off around here. Plus I have a large rug in the entryway just inside my door that has more "tooth" to catch debris.

Overhang. YES! 

To see our entire front porch fix-up, click here!

{i linky party here}

and at Savvy Southern Style