How to paint a foam playmat, floor mat, do it yourself, DIY, vintage restaurant sign, aged, distressed, lobster, beachy, New Orleans

Painted Play Mat

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Painted Floor Mat Tutorial

How to paint a foam playmat, floor mat, do it yourself, DIY, vintage restaurant sign, aged, distressed, lobster, beachy, New Orleans

My Inspiration: With a kitchen remodel nearly done, I’ve been looking for an accent rug for in front of the kitchen sink and stove area. I haven’t been able to find something I like but one I did spy several painted foam mats on Pinterest

Project Inspiration

painted foam playmat

please pin this image directly from Sarah.Wandering.

and knew it was a project I wanted to try. I considered a chevron pattern and even a floral one, but since the kitchen is Mr. DIY’s domain, I finally decided on a design that he would enjoy. I also wanted to incorporate red and turquoise and stumbled across this poster from Zazzle…

Style Inspiration

distressed beach poster, New Orleans gumbo sign

purchase poster here

My Painted Foam Playmat Tutorial

Materials I used:

  • 2 sets of Edushape playmat tiles (with border)
  • Gorilla Tape (or duct tape)
  • Primer
  • Base paint color (I used leftover interior latex in eggshell finish)
  • Sharpie
  • Pencil
  • Glaze (dark gray/brown watered down paint)
  • Rockler TransTint dye (as another dark glaze)
  • Craft paints watered down to create glaze (Deco Art): dark and light turquoise, red and white
  • Minwax Polycrilic

1. I started by putting together the puzzle pieces and used the dining room table as a work space (use a drop cloth to protect furniture).

puzzle playmat, painted foam mat tutorial

2. Next, I taped over the puzzle joints using Gorilla tape. This is the back side.

painted playmat tutorial, DIY kitchen mat, Gorilla tape

3. Flip and apply two coats of primer using a foam roller and allow to dry.

painted playmat tutorial, Zinsser primer, do it yourself kitchen mat

4. Roll on two coats of base color (I used gray), drying between coats.

do it yourself, painted playmat tutorial, kitchen mat

5. Using a yardstick and Sharpie, I created even “planks” (approximately 5 1/2 inches apart). If looking at the mat in a “landscape” view, planks are vertical. I randomly spaced lines for ‘cuts’. I also scribbled in the ‘craters’ in the foam to mimic knots.

painted playmat tutorial, kitchen mat, DIY, Sharpie

6. With a pencil and looking at the image I wanted to use, I drew a large lobster (correction: crawfish). No need to erase pencil marks where mistakes were made (this will be covered with ‘aging technique’).  This was the hardest/scariest part – I’m not an artist!

DIY painted playmat, tutorial, kitchen mat

7. With my acrylic craft paint, I traced my pencil marks, outlined then filled in my crawfish with red craft paint. and let it dry.

do it yourself, painted foam playmat, tutorial, painting a lobster

8. Next I used my dark glaze (watered down brown/gray paint) and working in “planked” sections, applied with a dry brush (dipping in glaze, then dabbing on paper towel/cardboard) and brushing long vertical strokes. In some places, I wiped or dabbed the glaze with a paper towel.

kitchen mat, do it yourself, painted foam mat, distressed, aged, vintage paint technique

9. Using my Silhouette, I created vinyl stencils for the words “Try Our”, “Gumbo” and “New Orleans Style”. I applied the vinyl and rubbed down for a good seal. (If you don’t have a vinyl cutter, use letter stencils, freehand or shop Etsy for custom vinyl.)

do it yourself, tutorial, painted kitchen foam mat, rustic restaurant sign

10. Using turquoise, white and red craft paints, I painted in my stenciled words, let dry then removed vinyl.

kitchen mat, do it yourself, tutorial, vintage restaurant sign, distressed, rustic, red, turquoise

do it yourself, tutorial, painted foam playmat, DIY floor mat, stencil, aged, distressed

Aging technique:

11. Next I used my TransTint dye and working in “planked” sections, applied with a dry brush (dipping in glaze, then dabbing on paper towel/cardboard) and brushing long vertical strokes. In some places, I wiped or dabbed the glaze with a paper towel.

do it yourself, vintage restaurant sign, painted foam playmat, Rockler TransTint dye

12. Next I brushed on red, light and dark turquoise and repeated step 11.

kitchen mat, do it yourself, red, turquoise, aged, distressed, DIY tutorial

13. Once that was dry, I went over a few spots with a white glaze (white craft paint + water) to create lighter and darker distressing, following with a paper towel to ‘pat’ or wipe. Let dry.

white glazing paint technique, vintage restaurant sign, painted foam playmat

14. Last step was brushing on at least two coats of Polycrilic to protect it. The first coat went on vertical and the second horizontal. Allow to dry.

vintage restaurant sign, Minwax Polycrilic, painted foam playmat tutorial, kitchen mat

*All paints/glazes and Polycrilic dried super fast.

All done! Isn’t this super cute? We love it.  It looks almost as good as the poster inspiration –  like an aged, vintage restaurant sign. Fun!

do it yourself, painted kitchen mat, kitchen area rug, vintage restaurant sign

Nice and cushy for the cook’s feet, easy to clean!

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Lots more pictures…

painted floor mat, vintage restaurant sign

do it yourself, tutorial, kitchen painted playmat, vintage restaurant sign

kitchen mat, rubber mat, playmat, painted foam mat, rustic restaurant sign

do it yourself painted playmat, rustic vintage restaurant sign, DIY, tutorial

do it yourself, kitchen foam mat, painted playmat, painted kitchen cabinets, tutorial

DIY, tutorial for painted playmat, kitchen floor mat, rustic, vintage restaurant sign

do it yourself painted floor mat

DIY, tutorial, painted floor mat

painted foam playmat, rustic vintage restaurant sign, do it yourself, tutorial painted rug

do it yourself painted foam playmat

Don’t have a floor to paint? This is a great option! Looking for an affordable HUGE canvas for some DIY art? This works! In fact, this is too cute for a kitchen floor mat, so you’ll be seeing it moved somewhere else by summer! 😉 I’d love to know what you think!

I’m linking up here too!

TaterTots & Jello



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