The best doormats, according to experts
Even if you have a no-shoe policy in your house, there will be times when you need to dash inside with your shoes on for one last thing, or times when a handyman or repair person needs to wear work boots indoors. For these situations – and for shoe-on houses – doormats are essential. “With a good brush and stomp, doormats can prevent debris, wet snow and dripping rainwater from entering your home,” says Lindsey Handel, a buyer for the garden and home store Terrain in Pennsylvania.
Doormats may help with a comprehensive allergy-fighting plan, too, says Stephen Kimura, a board-certified allergist in Pensacola, Florida. “If you’re going to wear your shoes in the house, at least wiping them is going to help some. We’ve got pollen season now year-round, so these measures are important.” Kimura’s family doesn’t wear shoes indoors, but they do have inexpensive washable cotton mats with rubber backings at each door to catch crud and set shoes on.
The right doormat for your house depends on whether it will be completely exposed or under a covered porch. For exposure, Handel recommends coir; for covered exposure, she says you can go for a less-durable jute-and-coir mix. The best thickness depends on whether the mat is inside or outside.
“It’s nice to have a softer and thinner rug inside and a more bristly, durable one outside,” says Joy Cho, of California design studio Oh Joy. We dug up more dirt on doormats to deliver you five options chosen by experts. Welcome home to a cleaner house.
Terrain’s Handel says that in most climates the fiber coir, made from coconut husks, is best for exterior doormats that are exposed to the weather. “The thicker and scratchier the doormat you can find, the better” for scraping off dirt, she says. She prefers a knot-patterned weave doormat for its classic look. These can be found almost everywhere, including Home Depot, which has the Entryways Knot-Ical handwoven coconut-fiber doormat ($ 38.57, homedepot. com).
In the Midwest and Northeast, doormats need to be winterproof. The Chicago-based co-founders of the Everygirl Media Group, Alaina Kaczmarski and Danielle Moss, both use coir doormats to dust off the snow. “The bristles absorb moisture and actually catch the snow as you brush your feet off,” Kaczmarski says. Coir doesn’t always last past a season, but she says it’s worth buying because coir is best at snow removal. Both Kaczmarski and Moss like coir mats from Williams-Sonoma, such as the French stripe doormat ($ 59.95, williams-sonoma. com).
For a multiseason mat that can handle whatever winter throws at it, try a lobster-rope mat, says Lisa Myers, owner of home-goods store Capers in Seattle.