DIY Cork Circle Rug

I was perusing the clearance aisles on a rare trip to Michael’s when I saw lots of neat stuff. Metal wheels that I don’t quite know what I will do with and cork circles. Now these circles I knew exactly what to do with because I had this idea in my head for ages BUT I couldn’t think how to get so many uniform circles. These weren’t quite as thick as I had hoped but they did just fine considering they were just over a buck a bag and I used 2!

For this project you will need:

• Cork circles
• Hemp cord
• Drill

Here are my cork bits. Again, Michael’s look through clearance. For my size rug you’ll need 2 bags. Not sure what size my rug is and I can’t really tell you but we’ll get to that in a bit… but it’s a LARGE size bath mat.

Take your circles and begin drilling holes in them. The bulk of the circles you’ll need 4 holes. For the corners you’ll need 4 circles with only two holes and for every edge piece you’ll need 3 circles.

Run the cord through two holes and place the bits side by side.

Take your hemp cord and tie two pieces together. Knot well. Trim the excess.

I ran my pieces in strips with two end pieces (with only 3 holes) with the 4 hole center pieces in between.

When you get to the end you’ll lash your long strips together but here’s a quick close up of what you’ll have in the end with the corner, edge and middle pieces made from 2, 3 and 4 holes respectively. No matter the size, you’ll have this pattern in the end.

And this is my rug. It really is massive and it soaks up water like you wouldn’t believe. It was fabulous. Wait, was?

Pretty sure that this gal here was going to tear my rug up to bits I put it across the outdoor loveseat on the back porch…

Where this guy wound up destroying it. Seriously. Cork bits everywhere. It was quite sad but I lived and he’s still dang cute so it’s all good!

While it was in use it was lovely and I loved it and I think you’ll love yours too. With the cork on sale my total investment was only about $4 but it is a bit time intensive. I think it’s worth every second of the effort though!