A few weeks ago, I toured a model home whose contents were enviably tasteful, homey and sleek. Among the items I coveted was a bath mat made of polished river rock.
My first thought was "Those probably run about fifty bucks a pop." (I was right). My very next thought was "I could make one of those for far less money."
Finding suitable stones seems easy enough. Most big-box retailers which sell items for the home sell bags of polished stones as vase fillers. IKEA has them for about a dollar a bag. Granted, I may have to buy loads of them to find compatibly-shaped rocks.
Adhesive and backing are another matter. The backing has to be absorbant, but able to dry quickly (mildew on my river rocks would not add to the "natural" feel in a particularly positive way). The adhesive has to be very strong, and able to withstand direct moisture and humidity. I'm guessing hot glue is right out. Maybe I need some kind of epoxy?
While it might be simpler and safer to simply pony up the dough and buy the bathmat, I just can't do it. Fifty-eight dollars for a bath mat?
4 comments:
Do you have a way to polish the stones? Because I have 20 tons of river rock in my yard that you could pick through, and those would be free. :) It would be worth it to know that you had the most kick-ass bath mat the world has ever known.
Oooo, thanks for the offer. I may just take you up on that. I would gladly pay you for your yard-rock in beer and nachos. :) Lacking a rock tumbler or sufficient time and patience to hand-polish each stone, I may forgo that step.
wow... yeah... hand-polishing stones for a bath mat (of all things!) sounds a bit too manic for me. But we could still have some beer and nachos sometime. Perhaps Euro 2008 will be involved? Perhaps a giant flaming car will not?
Although this post is over a year old, I hope you don't mind my contribution. If you haven't gotten/made a river rock bath mat, try your local TJ Maxx. The one I work at (in Mid-Michigan), just received some for $30. They're really nice.
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