Make a Merry Candy Cane Doormat

This post was originally published on DIY Network’s blog Made + Remade in December 2013.

An adorable doormat is the threshold to your home during the holiday season, and while you may be mighty tempted by the retail options available every year, did you ever consider making one yourself?

With just a few materials – basically just a blank rectangular jute doormat and paint – your creative options are endless, and you’ll find that you can customize your own doormat easily to suit the rest of your holiday decor. Stencils can be store-bought, or made at home (reference this tutorial to see how stencils can be made using painters’ tape). Follow my easy how-to to make a simple stencil out of tissue paper, and see how you can create your own candy cane design.

Step 1

Begin with your plain doormat and create a template to size. I found it easiest to use a piece of tissue paper, and for symmetry, did the left half of the design as a starting point. You’ll notice my design takes a slightly different shape between the template and painting phase.

Step 2 

Trim the template to size, and transfer the shape to the back of your doormat using a marker.

Step 3

Cut the entire template to size using a pair of scissors or a utility knife. Depending on the material your doormat is made of, expect to dull your cutting tool very fast!

Step 4

Using black craft paint, define the details of your design. This is where my final design veered a little bit from the original template. Thinner candy canes seemed to look better than ones that are fully intertwined.

Step 5

Next, add white paint into the design. You may find you need to go back and touch up the crisp border, but trust me, it’s worth it to have the black shapes as a guide. In creating your stripes, make sure that each candy cane is a little bit different so that the stripes don’t align.

Step 6

Fill in the gaps with a different color (classic red in my case), allow the craft paint to dry overnight, and set it out on display!