DIY Your Own Durable Outdoor Rug By Transforming A Regular Garden Hose

When a garden hose wears out and begins to leak, it's always frustrating. Not only do you need to buy a new one, but now you've got to worry about stuffing your bulky old hose into a garbage can. Well, don't toss the old hose just yet. Instead, try turning it into a versatile, no-slip rubber mat that can be both useful and decorative for your patio or deck.

A garden hose can last anywhere between 5 to 10 years with the right care, but most of us probably find we have to ditch our hoses much sooner than that. If you leave your hose out in the elements, and especially if you forget to store it properly during winter, you can find that many parts of a garden hose will wear out a whole lot faster. Even worse, old garden hoses should never be put in the recycle bin. Like cords and chains, hoses can seriously damage machinery and be dangerous to workers at the recycling plant.

Instead, turn that old hose into a cute little welcome mat. Or you can use the mat as a plant coaster to protect your deck from water stains from oversized planters. Water stains on decks can be just one of several costly mistakes to avoid when filling large garden planters. The garden hose rug is easy to make — all you'll need is a traditional garden hose, some heavy duty zip ties, and scissors or garden shears to make a cute and durable outdoor rug.

Making your own durable garden hose rug is easy. First of all, cut off the metal endings of the hose, so you're left with just the rubber tubular part. When making this rug, start at the end of the hose. Crimp or fold the end over on itself and then zip tie the crimped hose together. Then, push a zip tie in between the folded bits before folding the hose again. Fix the zip tie together. 

Keep going on and on, coil after coil, until you've got a perfectly round mat. When you reach the size you want, then snip off any extra hose and go back and trim the edges off the zip ties. For an added bit of color or texture, you can weave in a different color of hose at any time in this process. Try a wooden dowel or pipe to connect the two ends of different hoses together and then continue to zip tie as normal.

If you want a colorful mat without using different kinds of hoses, you can always try spray painting lengths of them in your favorite color with outdoor spray paint. And an outdoor rug isn't the only DIY project you can do with an old garden hose. If you've got hose left over from the mat project, try making your own basket with the genius DIY that transforms an old garden hose into a new outdoor staple.