Welcome home

Painting three ways - projects from Woman's Day magazine

Make your house a home this winter with these welcoming ideas from Emily Somerville-Ryan.

1. Welcome door mat

What you’ll need:

Resene testpot paints
Plain door mat
Large paintbrush
Paper
Scissors
Circle stencil

Paint a doormat

Instructions:

Create a fun, welcoming entrance way for your family and friends with this bright and easy front door mat. On a piece of paper, draw out a handful of circles using a round stencil, like a small roll of tape. Cut them out and arrange them on the mat to create the pattern you want to make. Draw another circle in the centre of a piece of card and cut it out creating a circle stencil. Place the stencil in the same position as a paper circle, remove the paper circle and paint the exposed spot with a large paintbrush until it is entirely filled in. Repeat this until all the spots are painted and leave to dry thoroughly. The paint colours I used here are Resene Bay Leaf, Resene Rapture, Resene Oxygen, Resene Princess and Resene Tory Blue.

2. Playful placemats

What you'll need:

Resene testpot paints
Resene Aquaclear
Recycled dinner mats
Washi tape
Paintbrush

Paint geometric placemats

Instructions:

Up-cycle old placemats with a fresh coat of paint. Divide each mat into four parts in a few different ways. With Washi tape, tape along the outside of your first section and paint with two coats of paint. Once dry, peel off the tape and repeat with a different colour Resene paint, until all your sections have been painted. We have used Resene Bay Leaf, Resene Rapture, Resene Oxygen, Resene Princess and Resene Tory Blue. Once completely dry, finish your mats with two coats of Resene Aquaclear Waterborne Urethane Varnish.

3. Clever key rack

What you'll need:

Resene testpot paints
Resene Aquaclear
Small brass hooks
Driftwood
Pencil

Paint a driftwood key rack

Instructions:

Collect up a piece of driftwood roughly 40cm in length. Strip it back and sand it until it is completely smooth. Decorate your stick with various patterns and colours. I have chosen to paint even stripes along the length of mine with two coats of Resene Tory Blue, Resene Princess, Resene Rapture, Resene Bay Leaf and Resene Oxygen. Once completely dry, finish your stick with two coats of Resene Aquaclear Waterborne Urethane Varnish. Next, mark with a pencil evenly along the stick, where you would like your hooks to go. Finally, screw your brass hooks by hand, one at a time, into your pencil marks until they are firmly in place. Hang your rack to the wall just inside your doorway so you will always have a home for all your keys.