So, I have a confession – I think most welcome/floor mats are ugly and I fully understand how ridiculous that sounds. Why should something intended to remove dirt be visually appealing? I can only counter with “why not?”

I scored carpet squares when I visited Zerolandfill (ZLF) Seattle’s annual event. I knew if I snagged some interesting colors, I’d find a way to cut them up and reassemble them into visually appealing designs or fun color schemes. Before diving into the deep end, I decided to make this test run using two of the duller squares.

While settling on a test design, I knew I needed to try adhering shapes of varying sizes. I was mostly curious if smaller shapes would hold their adhesive when you wipe your feet. I imagined larger pieces would be fine, so if these smaller bits didn’t hold, I’d just magnify my pattern.

Next I used sharpie to trace pattern pieces on the back of my carpet squares. I wasn’t certain I’d cut clean edges (almost splurged on a carpet knife) but my rotary cutter got the job done. Disclaimer: There was a decent amount of dust produced from this. I don’t imagine it’s safe to inhale, so I vacuumed and wiped down surfaces with a damp paper towel for a quick and dirty clean up.

From here, it was fairly straight forward. I took a piece, generously applied gorilla glue to an edge and held it against another. The gorilla glue worked as expected and before I knew it, I’d assembled the entire mat. Oh and here’s a few pro-tips from an amateur when using gorilla glue:

1. Cover any surfaces when using gorilla glue. Our kitchen counter tops wish I’d laid cardboard from the start, however, it’s nothing a razor knife can’t fix.
2. Always use gloves when working with gorilla glue.
3. If/when you inevitably skip the gloves, you can wash your hands with a skin exfoliant to help your body shed your Gorilla Glue-fused skin faster. I used Neutragena Face Wash (not a sponsor) which had tiny scrubbing bits that helped a lot. Just wear gloves.

With my mat assembled, I applied a layer of duck tape horizontally (strip-by-strip from top to bottom) and then a layer vertically (strip-by-strip from left to right). These layers of duck tape help to lock pieces in place and excess edges were trimmed so the duck tape remains invisible.

Overall, this actually turned out better than expected. The finished product functions just as well as a floor mat. We’ve used ours for about a month and it’s still holding up. I’m curious to see how it will respond to dirt, mud, or water.

I have a fun build video in mind for three more designs and color schemes in mind. Excited to use all my fun carpet squares. Stay tuned!