Roar… my super neon, super silly, darn cool doormat DIY

Up until the end of February, there was a deer doormat outside our door. More specifically, a reindeer doormat.

Now I knew we needed a new doormat. Knew it but still couldn’t bring myself to actually buy one.

Then I had an idea. I would make myself a doormat instead.

So far, so vaguely rational…

And it would say ‘ROAR’ on it.

Rationale: it’s an acronym for Right of Admission Reserved.

Real reason: I just like saying ‘roar’.

It’s become of those words I use which basically means being brave or forcing yourself to be brave.

I blame ‘cats let nothing darken their roar‘ for this.

So task one, I got myself a plain doormat from B&Q. (Which cost around 5 quid I think.) Crazy socks were optional.

Then some acrylic paint, which you can get from most art supply stores. Again, crazy socks optional.

Macarons. Broken. Yes, totally optional. But they helped greatly when faced with the next bit of the DIY task…

The printer. Oh my, how I loathe our printer. It’s a mechanical piece of evil. The Fox-Owl-Cat’s haunted expression only confirms this theory…

Anyhow, I printed out my letters, using this font – one on each A4 sheet. I won’t tell you how long it took our printer to print 4 sheets of paper. Bad words were said.

Then placed the printed sheets on the mat to see how it would look… not too bad I thought!

I’d originally planned to make the templates in cardboard but instead I just cut out the letters and taped round them. Not entirely sure if that is easier but it felt so at the time!

Then it was a case of holding down the template and dabbing (not brushing) the paint onto the mat. Once the letters were on, I went over them twice just to give them some more staying power.

After leaving the mat to dry for a bit, it was time for the great unveiling… or placing… or something like that.

On the way, I passed the tiger print in our hall… the one we see every day when we come through the door and suddenly wondered if that’s really where the idea for a ‘roar’ doormat came from. Hmmm…

And here he is… my super neon, super silly, darn cool doormat outside our very yellow door.

Rather cheerful huh? I’m betting even the postman can’t help but smile when he sees this… or at least wonder how crazy the people are who live at our address!

Answer being very of course. Roar!