BORN IN A BALL JAR: Wine cork bath mats

The bathroom is one of the most important, but sometimes overlooked, rooms in the house. It can be hard to decorate in a room where function is paramount to form. One of the best ways to add style without interrupting your morning routine is with a wine cork bathmat. While the piece is an investment, costing between $40 - $70 (because of the corks), it is a one-of-a-kind piece to add to your bathroom experience.

Materials:

Disclaimer: I made this mat for the first time a few years ago after seeing it on the blog Craftynest. It fell apart after a few months, though, due to shoddy craftsmanship on my part. So this is take two, with some changes being made.

2 Saw your wine corks in half lengthwise. For mine, I used half of an electric knife blade, but any serrated knife would work. Go slow and don't cut yourself. They are not going to be perfectly symmetrical all the time, but try your best to saw right through the center.

3 Lay your non-slip rug liner (found this one at a discount store for $1.99 in a color that matched my flooring) on a protective surface, like paper or a tarp. You really need to do this because the liner has holes in it, so the glue will go through it. The liner I got was a two by three feet, but I cut some off it to fit better into my bathroom. Also, the smaller the rug, the fewer corks you have to buy.

4 To glue a cork onto the liner, cover the flat edge in glue, then press it to the liner. I would use a heavy duty glue as opposed to hot glue. Start by making a border around the edge of the liner, one cork deep on each side. Try and get things packed as solid as you can. If you have a variety of corks like I did, they will not all be the same size. You might have gaps, but just let them be — we will address them at the end.

5 Keep filling in the border. Again, because the corks are not the same size, you're going to have some spaces where the corks don't meet.

6 Let the glue dry, preferably overnight. Using your knife, cut any remaining corks in pieces to fit into the holes. Glue them into place the same way you did the others. Let them dry.

7 Carefully peel off the mat from the work area. If any pieces fall off, glue them back on.

8 You can seal your mat if you like. I didn't seal mine, and, while they got a little dingy over time, they didn't deteriorate or anything. Someone on the blog from which I got this idea expressed concern about mold, but as long as it's not in standing water, I wouldn't worry about it. To clean it, I take a soapy cleaning brush to it, then rinse it out in the shower.