I can’t speak for the rest of them, but at least relative to the other states where I’ve lived (California and Massachusetts), Oregonians have a lot of love for their state. It’s a wonderful place to live, and to show our love we like to emblazon its outline on everything. So after we bought a plain doormat, I decided to liven it up a bit with some state pride. It would make a perfect weekend project. Here’s how I did it:

Materials:
Plain coir doormat (like this one)
Spray paint
Spray adhesive (I used Elmer’s multi-purpose spray adhesive)
Printer
Paper
Scissors
Tape
Measuring tape

Steps:
1. If you’re not making an Oregon mat, or yours is a different size than mine (18×30 inches), you’ll need to make a state template. Measure your rug and decide how big your state template should be based on those measurements. At the very least, I gave myself an inch border on each side, but the exact way you’ll orient your stencil will depend on the state.
I downloaded a map from here, and then blew it up to the size I wanted. The design was too big to fit on one sheet of paper, so I divided it up into four overlapping sections: top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right

2. Print your our state template, and tape the pieces together. Make sure to cover the joins completely with tape.

3. Cut out the state template, flip it over, and coat the back with spray adhesive. Pay particular attention to the edges. Follow the directions on your adhesive for a temporary bond. Mine said to wait a minute or two between spraying and adhering.

4. Place your mat on the surface you plan to do your spraypainting (one where you won’t mine getting some overspray) and carefully adhere the state stencil. Press the edges down really well.

5. Spray away! Try to spray downward, to minimize the chances of getting paint until the template. It took a lot of spraying to get a level of coverage I was happy with. Just keep doing light coats until you get a solid color.

6. Let the paint dry, then peel off your stencil. (Keep it in case you want to do touch-ups later.)

Other variations:

• Cut out a heart in the middle of the stencil, or at the location of your hometown
• Cut out words (your state motto? just “hello,” etc.)
• Use the reverse of the cutout and paint the negative
• Add color(s)