When we put down the deposit on our first home together I had already had my colour scheme planned for well over a year! Luckily, the apartment we live in was all magnolia and it has cream carpets throughout and black slate floors in the kitchen and bathroom so I had a blank canvas!

I had already decided the bathroom would be red. Well, I wanted the whole thing red but I was told no :-( so its a sort of pale grey colour with red accessories and pictures etc. The only problem was, finding red bath mats and towels turned out the be a difficult task. Yes, everywhere stocked burgandy and some had bright red but I only managed to find two shops that sold bath sheets in a bright red. Only one of these also sold bath mats so Asda it was! Of course, since then I have seen red towels everywhere.

I bought this bath mat in one of the special Asda Living stores that you sometimes see on large retail parks. It was a bargain price of just £4.50 so I picked one up immediately, like most people we didnt have a great deal of spare cash when moving in together so I didnt really mind if it didnt do the job as well as it could.

The mat is around a metre long and about 60cm tall. They were available in a number of colours and there were a nice variety of brighter colours too which are often hard to find. I think pedestal mats were available too but I didnt want one of these so I cant really remember.

Of course, the point of a bath mat is when you have a bath or shower. You step onto the mat to a) avoid slipping over on a wet tiled floor b) keep the floor dry by catching any drips and moisture from the bottom of your feet etc.

The bath mat isnt overly sort of fluffy, although the pile is quite long it seems to stay quite flat. It is very soft and absorbs really well, after standing on the mat for a few seconds I then usually walk to my bedroom and none of the hallway or bedroom carpet gets wet and I dont end up with drips on the bathroom floor either.

As our bathroom floor is tiled and there is no natural light in there it can get quite cold so I usually leave the mat on the floor even when its not being used. As a result of this it does seem to collect bits of dust etc. I hoover the mat and it usually comes up pretty well, if you put some effort in it will come up nicely and regain some fluffiness.

I have washed the mat 3 or 4 times, I usually wash it on a 40 or 50 with my towels and it comes out very well each time and looks brand new again, regaining much more fluffiness!

I have had this mat around 14 months now and I am very pleased with its performance. It absorbs well, it is nice and soft and it keeps its colour. When I change my colour scheme I will definitely be buying my new bathroom towels and bath mat from Asda.