In order to amass the 800 (!) wine corks that it took for a DIY tile installer in Saint Louis to tile her kitchen back splash with wine corks, she needed to find a lot of wine corks. If you want to do a project involving wine corks, make friends with a few local bartenders and ask them to save their wine corks for you. Do you know a waitress at an upscale restaurant? Ask her to save the wine corks from the bottles that she serves. If you need to cheat, you can actually buy wine corks in bulk, although that takes some of the "Look what I am reusing!" fun out of these projects. The following seven wine cork projects will add a down-to-earth flair to any room.

DIY wine cork backsplash: Making a back splash out of wine corks is not necessarily easier than tiling the back splash (it is actually very labor intensive), but it looks fantastic. It's also removable, as the corks are glued to a piece of plywood that is screwed into the wall, rather than being stuck to the drywall. The result of splitting and gluing 800 (which would be 1600 halves) wine corks to the plywood is striking: the wine cork back splash really brings a country kitchen flavor to a fairly modern kitchen.

DIY wine cork bath mat: Give your bathroom a spa-upgrade with a DIY wine cork bathmat. You know those wooden bath mats that they have at fancy saunas and spas? This DIY wine cork bathmat look kind of like those, except you make it yourself out of garbage. Cool.

Quick wobbly table fix: Maybe you already know this, but it deserves another mention. If you have a table (or a floor) that's uneven, level off the table by placing a slice of a wine cork under the leg that does not quite reach the floor.

Wine cork key chain: The best thing about a wine cork key chain is that it floats. If you go out boating a lot, affixing your keys to some corks could save you from having to take a dive in the murky depths. It (obviously) takes more corks to keep more keys afloat. Test it in your bath tub before casting a whole ring of keys suspended by one measly wine cork into the lake.

Wine cork and old window bulletin board: Cork boards are so handy as home "command centers". Why not make a super-stylish cork board out of actual corks? You don't need to be a professional carpenter to implant a bunch of corks in an old window frame. The project will take a few hours to complete, but its high style will be worth it.

Wine cork placecard holders: Gussy up a place card table with DIY wine cork place card holders. Glue two wine corks together (just the bottom halves) and secure with a ribbon. Stick the place card in between the two corks (in the top half). It's simultaneously classy and sassy.

Wine cork wreath: If you want a wreath for your door that will not wilt or wither, build one out of wine corks. Since cork is water-resistant, wine cork wreaths can withstand winter weather for years. They look really nice on Colonial, Craftsman, and Victorian houses.

Chaya Kurtz writes for Networx.com.