Splat Mat

I found a brown rug @ Home Goods that was everything I needed in the kitchen.  It matched.  It was big enough to fit the toddler table + chairs.  It wasn't as rough as indoor/outdoor carpet but the pile was low enough that it's simple to keep clean.  And it didn't get in the way of the dinner table/chairs.  Plus, of course, it couldn't be expensive.  You'd be surprised how hard it's been to find a rug that would work on all those levels!  But I found it, and down it went.  Thing is, now that the kids are big into doing things like this...

...  it needed a little insurance policy.  Enter my "splat mat" on the cheap.  You can buy them, with cute designs or edging.  But they were usually on the small side and I really didn't way to pay more than a few bucks.  You can imagine my delight when I happened upon this plastic puppy on the clearance shelf @ Wal-mart for $8 a while back...

It's a really heavy plastic, nothing that will rip or puncture.  And it's plenty big.  So I'm really pleased and figure we'll get lots of mileage out of it.  (Originally, I thought I'd edge it with red duct tape to help the kids see where the out-of-bounds line was.  But it works fine as is, I just tuck the extra length in under the edge of the rug...  Now I've got to find a use for red duct tape!)