Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Azulejo Table Top

Mosaic table inspired in Portugal's azulejos.

I had this old table/bookshelf/printer table that I wanted to beautify. I thought I could use it as a side table on the deck but then I thought it would give me the perfect piece to go with my desk. I needed some extra surface space and I wanted to have certain books accessible and in display, not in the drawers. Because I had lots of extra yellow paint I used for my desk, I decided to paint it the same color.


For the top, I would use this amazing tiles I found one day while browsing a Goodwill store. I bought these tiles because they reminded me of Portugal's azulejos, which are all over Porto and Lisbon. When I bought these tiles, they all had a horrible price sticker on them so I soaked them in soapy water and then scrubbed the stickiness away.



After I painted the table and let it dry, I used a hammer to break my tiles (I never hit tiles directly but put a piece of cloth on them) and then I started arranging them on the table.


I knew I would be short on tiles so I started looking online (Etsy) for tiles that would match the ones I already had. I originally bought more tile from Tile Envy but, even though they were gorgeous, they didn't quite match the tiles I already had. I searched on Etsy some more and found great hand painted tiles from Tide Pool Supply.

I broke the new tiles and then filled the empty spaces, then I glued the tiles into place.



After I glued them, I let them dry for 48 hours. After they were totally dry and glued, I applied grout. For this project, I choose white grout. After 24 hours of applying the grout, I removed the haze left by it on the tiles and cleaned the entire surface. Finally, I sealed the tiles and grout. See my mosaic bench post to get more details about what kind of glue, seal and grout I used.


Now I have the perfect side table for my desk! By the way, I got that super cute bistro chair on Craigslist for only 5 dollars!!! I did spend a bit more getting the cute cushion, but it was totally worth it!


From an inexpensive and plain table/bookcase to an azulejo mini bookcase! 







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