How To Decide Where To Place A Welcome Mat?

Answer 1

Stomping your snow-covered boots on a welcome mat is a task we usually do without even thinking twice. Welcome mats are an invitation to one's home. They're usually placed right behind the front door. But what if your home has two front doors? And a back door? And a side door? And a garage entranceway?

How to decide where to place a welcome mat in a home like the aforementioned can be a most interesting problem. Should you buy four mats if you have four different entrances? Which entrance should all your guests mainly enter through? Whether your mat is used to have invitees dust the dirt off their sneakers, brush their rained-on pant legs, or kick away a lodged piece of small stone, or all of the above, you can rest easy that most quality welcome mats will do the job at hand.

The first aspect to consider in locating the best places for your protective mats is to decide which areas of your home gather the highest traffic, both coming in and going out. If your garage entrance bears the burden of most of your shuffling feet, even if you have several other entrances, then the garage should indeed be the first location to place a mat. If you have a kitchen entrance from the back yard or a deck entrance that attracts lots of heavy traffic then it would be wise to also put extra mats in those places.

Next, you need to ponder what furnitue is located very close to each mat. If you have an expensive marble table or ivory chest right next to an entrance mat what's going to happen to the table or chest when dirt, mud, snow and rain are kicked off right beside it? You might want to consider moving a particularly cherished piece if you inttend to invite people through a certain welcome passageway.

The type of mat is also an issue. Is your mat made of wool? Straw? Rubber? Wood? You have to realize that certain surfaces catch debris better than others: rubber is better for rain and snow while slotted wood is best for heavy dirt.

And what are you going to plunk down ahead of the mat? Not all the debris that's tracked in is fully caught by mats. Some of it will certainly still spread out on your carpets of hardwood floor from sliding footsteps. You might want to try a plastic runner next to one of your mats. If the runner and mat match vis-a-vis design or logo (e.g., Welcome) then you could show off both at the main entrance.

Follow your instinct and enjoy your mats.