I am a few years late to the layered doormat party but I figure if I missed it given how much time I spend (waste) reading design blogs, you might have too. Our office addition renovation has started and as they say, you have to break a few eggs to make a cake. What this means is that our courtyard area by the front door is a mess. I hope that adding a nice doormat/rug combination will help distract me from the situation for a few (likely 5!) months until we can work on replanting the landscaping.
Besides providing a place for people to wipe their feet, a doormat provides a welcoming experience right at the front door. Given the current Covid situation, the only people besides our family who will really be on our porch are the package delivery people but they definitely deserve a big shoutout this year and something nice to look at.
As I was looking at doormats, I realized how small a traditional 18”x30” or 2’x3’ sized doormat was going to look on the front porch. I began by narrowing the selection down to runner-sized doormats, but the selection is somewhat limited here. Somewhere along the way, I was stopped in my tracks by an image of a smaller mat layered over a slightly larger outdoor rug – this was exactly the solution that I did not know I needed which opened up so many possibilities because most doormats are smaller in size and there are so many great outdoor rugs. Some people like to switch out the bottom rug out seasonally but for cost and storage reasons, I think I will stick to one combination.
There really are only 3 quick tips then on to the shopping fun:
- Size. The underneath rug should be slightly larger than the top rug but not so large that the top rug gets lost. I recommend no less than 6” nor more than 2’ clearance on all sides.
- Material. The rug underneath should be an outdoor rug generally made of polypropylene so that you can easily hose it off as needed. I like coir (coconut husks) for the top rug which is a renewable resource and also provides a great texture for wiping feet.
- Mix and Match. You generally want to pick one rug to be the star with more color and pattern with the other rug being more simple playing the part of the backup dancer.
As a side note, the lanterns are from Target and were an amazing deal given that most I looked at were over $100 for the larger size and many nearly $200 even on Wayfair. Here are a few fun pairings followed by many other choices all of which would look great together. Which are your favorites?
Top Doormats – if you see something you like click on it more details
Bottom Doormats – if you see something you like click on it more details