Holiday Welcome Mat

When Christmas was approaching, the Kelly family decided to do the gift exchange a little differently this year. We decided to play Dirty Santa, or Yankee Christmas if you'd rather call it that. It even goes by White Elephant in some circles. We've done this for two years now on my side of the family and it's been quite a hit. Every gift is wanted by someone and we have such a large group that there is plenty of chances to steal and pass gifts around.

I'd already done the shopping early for my family, but I needed one for Matt's family. That was hard. Every gift I thought of would have been great for my family, but I didn't think it would be wanted by anyone in Matt's family. We have lots of "foodies", cooks, entertainers, travelers, and artists on my family. But not really any in the Kelly family. I also wanted to get something that was practical and wouldn't just clutter up their house(like so many of our Christmas presents do).

Then I saw this on Young House Love blog: http://www.younghouselove.com/2010/12/a-really-simple-holiday-welcome-mat/

The Youngsters bought a cheap doormat at Ikea, taped off a design of deer antlers, then spray painted it. Here is their version in a modern Christmas green:




















And here's my version with tape on it before I painted it:



















I went with a more traditional Christmas green that would appeal to more people. I also wanted mine to look a little more realistic, so I googled images of antlers and just recreated that shape with tape. To taper the ends, I carved the tape with a knife. Another tip: if you pull up the tape to reposition it, don't reuse it. It will be covered with little bristles and won't re-stick well. This took me about 2 hours sitting on the floor in front of the TV. I just kept playing with it until it looked right.

I used Rustoleum Satin paint in Spruce Green and sprayed 3 thin coats of paint(allowing for drying time in between).




















What you'll need:
Ikea doormat
painters tape
knife
newspaper(to protect the floor you spray on)
spray paint(Make sure it's indoor/outdoor enamel paint and get the name brand stuff. Cheap paint might come off on shoes)

And here is the big reveal:




















I love how it turned out. Now I want to make one for myself. This cost less than $15 for the door mat and paint. I already had the other supplies. It's a 2'x3' mat, which is quite large, not your standard dinky ones. I think it looks kinda expensive. Maybe there is a market for them.