DIY Wine Cork Bathmat Craftynest

If you are a wine drinker who saves your corks for projects but is tired of homemade trivets and trays, then this DIY wine cork bathmat might be an appealing way to reuse all those corks. Crafter Monica Ewing took her inspiration from a CB2 cork bathmat that was too large for her small bathroom, and used her stash of wine corks to create a unique mat custom designed to fit her space.

Monica collected the necessary 175 corks thanks to wine tastings at Sunset Magazine; if you don't have a built in source like that, try contacting local restaurants or vineyards (if there are any in your area) and asking them for assistance. Collecting the corks looks to be the most complicated part of the project which basically involves gluing the halved corks onto non-stick shelf liner.

If you would like to see the complete instructions, check out the Monica's original post over on Craftynest and the follow up where she addresses the question of sealing the cork.

Comments (17)

I like the look and the creativity a lot. I'm not sure how I'd feel about never being able to clean my bathmat, though.

i collect wine corks in a pretty jar and display it in my living room. it actually looks pretty nice.

There's an HTML fail on the first Craftynest link.

Hey I've been saving and displaying my corks in a jar, but I think when I feel industrious, I might try this!

Ooooo...I like this. I've saved zillions of corks thinking that I'd do something with them someday. This is a very real possibility.

@surfjack - regarding cleaning, maybe if it it had a couple coats of poly it could be gently washed in the tub with some soap and a soft brush. Cork is so absorbent, though, that a couple of coats of poly might not be adequate. Advice anyone?

This might be my favorite cork idea.

I wonder if it would be slightly cleaner by not gluing the corks to a backing. Could you string them and then knot the strings together?

Thanks greatkate- it should be fixed now!

cashba, your idea makes sense--then the mat could be easily rinsed and left in the sun to dry, and no fear of cork becoming unglued.

But what can I do with all the wine screw caps I've saved?

;)

What a great idea. We have special corks saved with dates and occasion of the bottle - they are on display in a favorite vase. But we have an even bigger collection of "plain" ones. I like the idea of cashba with stringing the corks together.
Could you use a small drill bit and put a small hole in the middle of each? Then string them together?

Think of all the wine I could drink to make that mat. I would tell my husband that I am making my own bath mats and I am being thrifty and saving him money!

@dakini123: Hahahaha!!

@cashba: I like that idea of stringing them together, but I wonder if then you'd have to use whole corks and not halves because I wonder if half a cork would allow for enough wood around the string so the mat wouldn't pull apart. If so, that just means drinking more wine! ;o)

Any thoughts as to what sort of stringing medium you'd use? Fishing line? Heavy twine? And I wonder what one could use to core holes through the corks lengthwise. I've never tried, so I'm wondering how to make holes without shredding the corks. Thoughts?

I've got a 5 gallon jar full of corks! I've been wanting to do something with them, but the whole trivet/wreath thing just isn't my style. THIS is something I could do! I've got enough to try stringing them at first. I'll see how it goes.

Corks make nice mulch. I'm not being a jerk--run them through a wood chipper, and the result is a nice colored mulch.

so timely! i've been looking for a cork bathmat, and started thinking the other day that i could make one out of wine corks! i was thinking stringing, rather than gluing, and was also thinking of doing it with a weaving process, where the corks are all standing on end..... let the experiments begin!

@surfjack & @KayinKCMO, cork is naturally antibacterial, and so long as you don't leave it soaking wet all the time to mold, it shoudn't really need any special cleaning or coating.

I collect wine corks too. My site: http://www.mtcork.nm.ru. If anybody has interest to exchange corks or information – please contact me: belzizz@yandex.ru or mtcork@nm.ru. Serg

I love this look - but my favorite part has to be the plant next to the tub! I wonder if she put it there just for the photo, or if it's there all the time. Great idea.