How Repurposed Wine Corks Can Help Protect Your Wooden Flooring

Keeping your wood flooring looking like new can often present quite the challenge. Moving furniture, daily wear and tear, and cleaning with the wrong products can leave you with damage and scratches to the surface, resulting in a look that feels more dingy and worn than rich and cozy. Thankfully, however, there's a repurposing solution to help decrease this damage, and all you need is a cork from a bottle and a knife.

Rather than tossing your corks or saving them as a keepsake, consider using them as a buffer for your furniture and cabinets. Because corks are meant to seal bottles to prevent leaks while still allowing the tiniest bit of oxygen to slip through, they're made of a material that's the perfect mix of cushion and durability. With just one cork, you'll be able to protect your floors from scraping chairs, balance wobbly tables, and even decrease the noise from easy-to-slam cabinets in the kitchen or bathroom.

To do this yourself and protect your wooden flooring, you'll need to first gather your materials: a wine cork, a sharp knife, and some glue or glue dots. Use your knife to slice off thin pieces of the cork, making sure to cut them straight and as evenly as possible if you'll be applying them to multiple chair or table legs. Flip over the piece of furniture you want to prevent from scratching the floor, then glue down the slices of cork to act as a soft buffer on the bottoms of the legs.

You can also repurpose pieces of cork to balance a wobbly chair or table. While typical floor protectors are convenient, this cork hack allows you to customize the thickness of each piece you cut. For a leg that is slightly shorter than the others, cut your piece a bit thicker to make up the difference and decrease the wobble. Finally, you can also use slices of cork to cushion cabinet closures in the same way, though it's a good idea to use glue that's more easily removable if you plan to refinish or paint your kitchen cabinets in the future.