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Hi this is Coreen from Capn America Projects.
and today I want to show you
one of my favorite projects thus far.
and that is converting an old beat up table
in to a nice mosaic gardening table.
This project has given me new found respect
for the kind of work that my husband does.
Because I've found that tiling is not quite so easy
as I thought. But anyways as you can see
the original table was used as a sewing table.
and then I looked at the top surface
and saw that it was all beat up
and warped. So I can't just paint it I needed to tile it.
So that's what I did and I think that it turned out to be something pretty cool.
Removing the back slab from the desk by unscrewing it
Then I painted it a light green.
I didn't have to worry about sanding it before painting
as it was already pretty roughed up.
And I always like to keep my brushes in plastic bags so they don't dry out.
This is the fun part, deciding which tiles to use.
these are the tiles that I found in our back shed.
Just a nice little assortment. I think that I will use that piece as the center.
So here I am deciding on a design.
Different tile patterns and deciding what I will end up with.
and this is what I decided on
I needed to remove the tiles to put the glue on
So I just set up the same design on a piece of cardboard.
that comes in handy
and there is a lot of gaps that need to be filled in.
I
put a tile in a bag.
and broke it up with a hammer.
And then I had the pieces that I needed to fill in the gaps.
Here is the ceramic tile glue.
and a float to put it on with.
You only have about 30 minutes to put on the glue and then set the tiles.
So you want to work as quickly as you can.
that's why it's a good idea to have the design already laid out.
And then I thought I'd
stick on the back and then I can screw it on later.
That way it would be very secure.
SO now it is ready to
have some grout put on it.
I did wait 24 hours before I put the grout on.
I made a little pile of grout about what I thought I'd need.
and added some water.
You can make a bowl
out of the grout powder and then add the water in the middle and mix it that way.
I didn't a little bit the hard way
anyway you wait 10-minutes after mixing
and you use a blade to go ahead and slop it on.
and smooth it out.
Then I took some paper towels and
a damp sponge and wiped off the excess
grout
After it sat for 24 hours, I took a
brush and brushed off the excess grout.
Since I have a lot of surface of grout
exposed
I put a layer of varnish on the grout.
and then I painted the back
the same light green color
and painted on the sides there
to cover up all that icky grout
So there is the finished table
and as you see I'm going to use it as a pretty little gardening table.