Bath Mat

Some of the most fashionable bathrooms these days feature wonderful bath mats made of wood. If your bath mat has passed its use-by date, just follow Rita Hill's easy step by step instructions and make a new one.

You will need

6 x 120cm lengths of pine dowel (25mm diameter) a ruler 3 metres of rope (either waterproof the rope with spray on silicon to prevent it going mouldy, or use nylon rope) sandpaper, both rough and fine a good quality sealer skid protectors a drill a saw

How to make your mat

1. Cut dowel lengths in half. You will end up with twelve 60cm lengths.
2. Measure 8cm from each end of the dowels, then drill holes big enough to fit the rope through.
3. Sand the dowels with rough sandpaper to prepare them for sealing, paying particular attention to the ends. Also sand the drill holes, leaving slight grooves. Repeat this step using fine sandpaper. Paint the dowels with sealer and leave them to dry. (Don't worry about the ends at this stage, you can seal them when the mat is assembled.)
4. Cut the rope in half. Take a piece of rope and put a double knot at one end. Wrap sticky tape round the other end to make it easier to pass through the drill holes. Repeat with the second piece of rope.
5. Insert the ropes through a piece of dowel, then knot the ropes, pushing them hard against the dowel to hold the mat together tightly. Repeat with each piece of dowel until the twelve pieces are attached. Finish with a double knot at the end.      

Finishing touches

1. To make the mat more secure, attach some skid protectors.
2. Seal the dowel ends.
3. Tidy up the rope ends.

Further information

Ready made timber bath mats range in price from $25 to $70.
The total cost of materials for our bath mat was $52.80, including $36 for the 6 pine dowels. A cheaper option would be to buy 3 lengths of timber (42mm x19mm x 2.4m) from the hardware store and cut each one into 4 x 60cm lengths. You could use pine ($4 per length) but maple ($6 per length) would be better because it has a finer grain and not as many knots.

Copyright CTC Productions 2000