Creating a beautiful entrance way to your home is a sure-fire way to make your house memorable. There are a lot of ways to add to this – custom door knockers, a fresh lick of paint, even hanging baskets filled with flowers. But one simple, often overlooked solution is to find the perfect entrance mat.
Most people will already have something in place – perhaps one of the coarse, wiry brown entrance mats that are commonly sold at the cheap option (made of coir). These are great way it comes to practicality but hardly create the heart warming image you’re after.
Let’s Take a Look through the Kinds of Entrance Mats Available to you
Coir
Though coir by itself is pretty bland, it’s incredibly effective as what it does – keeping your house free from dirt that might be traipsed in on your guests boots. How to make it look nicer? Having just a plain rectangle of wiry brown material as the first thing your guests see isn’t the greatest impressions, after all.
However, many companies will sell coir in a variety of colour and patterns – including images of your choice. Though limited by the material itself, you can get flag prints, logos, picking of pets or hobbies, giving it a truly personal touch. Just be aware as to whether you want an entrance mat to go inside or outside – if it’s outside, the printed design will fade far quicker, and it’ll need to be much more heavy duty. If it’s for the inside, you’ll be able to have more options in design, since there’s less chance of it wearing away.
Rubber-Backed Fabric
These entrance mats are only really suitable for inside, as fabric can’t stand up to the elements all that well. However, they’re washable and much less coarse in appearance, so there are good reasons to choose them. Unlike coir entrance mats, where you have to print designs onto the surface, fabric mats have much more options for design choices. You definitely want to get one that’s rubber-backed though, or water will soak through onto your floor and it might slip around as your guests stand on it!
These entrance mats work best when combined with a more heavy duty one outside your door, especially if there’s a consistency in your design choices.
Stone Mats
If you want something that’ll be perfect for outdoors, look into something made of stone. Usually made up of Small River pebbles either attached by adhesive to each other or sitting on netting-style fabric, they’re great for creating a natural look.
Unlike fabric/coir entrance mats, stone mats are easy to wipe down and incredibly hard-wearing and waterproof. You just need to ensure it’s textured enough to catch any of the dirt coming from your guests shoes. Though you’re limited in patterns and design, this doesn’t mean you have to have just a plain stone mat. Glossy black river stone can add an air of class, or a mosaic-style pattern can add a classy yet rustic tone to your entrance way.
Metal
If you want to create a bit more class and a Victorian aesthetic outside, then metal entrance mats are for you. Often in the design of iron-wrought gates, they’re only suited for outside since the dirt they catch will be knocked off directly under them – so it won’t save your carpet! There is a risk of rust depending on what metal you chooses and if it’s been sealed, so some people prefer to go from rubber mats emulating the style of metal. Either way, these are a simple, unassuming way of adding style to your entrance way.
Whatever you choose, make sure you look into two aspects of it: whether it’s suitable for the location you put it in, and whether you’ve chosen one that conveys the image you want. Beyond that – there’s a whole host of entrance mats open to you!