As I mentioned in my Spring cleaning post, our welcome mat has seen better days. When we got it three years ago it was beautiful but since then it has been really worn by the elements. We keep it in the garage in the winter to try and save it from even more damage but when I went to pull it out this year, it was so faded I was ready to purchase a new one. Then I got to thinking, “I bet I could just repaint this one and try to salvage it” so that’s what I did! It was surprisingly easy to do (I did it in less than a half hour while I was waiting in between coats of polyurethane on our new outdoor table) and it really does look just like new. My motto is always “why spend money when you don’t have to” and it’s always nice to revamp something old and give it new life (did you see my statement necklace post?) so this is a great home tip. If you don’t have a straw mat now, the dollar stores sell them so you could paint absolutely anything on one and be all ready for spring! 

I started off by having my husband drag the mat inside and putting it on an old towel. I used a hand broom and swept off all the dirt, leaves and loose straw from the top of the mat. The idea was to use the super faded lettering that was on the mat as my guide and paint fresh over it, but if you are starting with a blank mat I’d suggest using stencils! I used Martha Stewart’s Satin Acrylic Paint in “Beetle Black” (find it HERE) and a small angled paint brush. I started with the lettering first so that I wouldn’t have to reach over wet paint later. Once the lettering was done, I squirted a thick line of paint down the middle of the existing outline and used my paint brush the spread it out inside the border. Once I was done with the whole border, I just took it outside to finish drying! 

Seriously… that’s it! Such an easy way to bring new life to your old faded mats or a fun way to design your own!