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Cost: $ $ $ $ $

Difficulty: • • • • •

Time: 2h30

diy, vintage, leather, blet, rug, mat, cheap, inexpensive

Posted by Ryan B. from Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States • Published 20th January 2010 • See Ryan B.'s 3 projects »

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Tiffany G. favorited Vintage Leather Belts Recycled Into Rug's, Mat's, Or Floor Tiles 06 Dec 01:33
suzz2253 added Vintage Leather Belts Recycled Into Rug's, Mat's, Or Floor Tiles to Rugs 21 Jan 03:27
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Step 1
Strapped for cash? Forget affordable for a minute and just imagine the curious combination of feeling aged leather beneath your feet and the look of vintage belts lining the floors of your home. Leather flooring is fairly unusual, but these upcycled belt designs are unique – each one hand-crafted and with individually-selected old belts.

OK, but the price? Over 600 dollars for the round mat shown above from BranchHome and over 70 dollars per square foot for the floor tiles from Ting shown below. If you are looking for a cheaper alternative approach, however, local vintage clothing stores may sell a belt for a few dollars. After finding a few choice samples, it is just a matter of figuring out the best way to put them together. For the do-it-yourself craft-oriented individual, part of the fun lies in the creative process – choosing the right hues of faded black, brown, red and orange like in the first (wonderfully muted-but-colorful) example.

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This project like any has it's difficulties. When doing the project you come across having the old belts not laying out flat. This is actually not an issue at all. The kinks in curls in the belts add character to your project.

Next, you may be wandering, how the heck do you get those belts to stick together? Well, there are several options.

1. Some people may chose to stitch the belts together. This method could work perfectly. It may be a bit time consuming and leather is not the easiest fabric in the world to stich.

2. The other option which I have found works best is to get a piece of backing made of reconstricted leather (or any fabric for that matter that would be stiff and heavy enough to keep the belts flat) and get a water based glue to glue the belts to the fabric. ***(This is my favorite choice)

3. Another idea I've heard which seems like it would work great is to get some cheap vinyl floor tiles and put them together and use them the same as the fabric.

Hope some of this helps. I would love to see some pictures if anyone tries to do this project and I will be posting my own very soon!

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Comments

La roquerita · Dallas, Texas, US · 12 projects 3rd August 2011

OMG this is amazing there is a thrift store here where i live full of belts 2 for $1 i'ma make this its perfect i always wanted to give a new use to my old belts =)