Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Mosaic Table and Chairs



Do you remember this table?
I got it for $20.00 from Saint Vincent D'Paul's thrift store.
I wanted a table for our patio. After doing mosaic on the other little table and the mail box, when I saw this table my mind starting working...

Why Not Do Mosaic?

So I started putting dishes out on the table 
and starting planning a design.
One of the focals I planned to use.
The first design I came up with is below.
Something seemed to be missing though.
I started over.
I decided the top of the table needed a border
around the edge.
I wanted the border to go with all the focals
so I choice an off white embossed china set
for the border.
Since the table was going to be used outside,
I knew I needed to use silicone as my adhesive.
What was I going to do, however, about the china being
different thicknesses. I had not worried about this on the mailbox
since it didn't really matter if it was level or not. A dining table definitely needed to be level.
Enter
I applied Thin-Set Mortar to the thinner pieces of china to make them the same or about the same thickness of the border. The border was about the thickest pieces I was using on the table.
After I had applied the mortar, I added a layer of the silicone and then placed the piece on the table. Once I did this a few times, I sort of got a feel for how much mortar to use on each piece of china.
How did I make sure I was on track?
Enter
the leveler...
I used two lengths, a short one and a longer one.
My pieces were not always perfect. Sometimes the 
bubble was directly centered and sometimes it was as you
see above... a little off. If it was this close, I let it be.
If it was further off, I would remove the piece of china and start over...either adding or taking away mortar, whichever was needed to get that little bubble in the correct place!
This is what the table looked like when I had finished 
with the pattern for the top and it was all glued in place.
It was at this point, I decided I wanted to paint the silver rim 
and the base of the table white. I used newspaper to place over
the mosaic and I used painters tape around the border..well, technically, my husband used the tape. I had him do the taping 
off for me and the spray painting. We used Heirloom White.
I had not used canned spray paint in a long time. I am now used to using chalk paint, with a brush, or using our large paint sprayer. I was surprised at how expensive the cans of paint were... $3.89 a can I think. Of course we had to prime before we used the paint. The primer costs just as much. We were also painting four vintage
fold up chairs to go with the table so we spent some bucks on the paint. I had purchased the chairs on one of my Round Top, TX adventures.
So, next up is the reveal...
Bear with me as I have lots of pictures of the reveal...
I had quite the blister cutting all the china ... finally got smart and put on a glove  :) and I found I could only grout the way I wanted to grout by using my fingers... poor hands...
I think I am going to buy a small plastic scrapper and see if I can work with it for grouting. I have a feeling though, I will be getting my fingers into the action!
The table, painted and grouted.
A closer up view of the table with a peek at one of the chairs.

A close up of the rim of the chair.
I put mosaic on both sides...front and back.
A close up of the side border around the table.
A close up of one of the focals.
This seemed to be every one's favorite dish. I ended up using two dinner plates, and two salad plates of each of four different patterns. There are a total of eight dinner plates around the table.
Remember in my last post about Kim's storage unit I said I was the recipient of some treasures? This center of the table focal is one of those treasures. I think it just looks gorgeous and goes with all the other designs perfectly! Thank you, Miss Kim!
One last picture of the entire set.
I plan to make cushions for the chairs.
Sorry if I sound gushy but
I just love the way it turned out!

Linking up with the following parties!
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10 comments:

Sweet Sage said...

Breath~takingly BEAUTIFUL!!

Unknown said...

Great job looks fabulous

Elizabeth@ Pine Cones and Acorns said...

Hello!

First let me say that this table is beautiful! What a labor of love!

Second, thank you for coming to visit my blog! To answer your question, As I was using two small bunt cake pans I started to check the time for the cream cheese pound cake after an hour. My actual cakes took about 1 hr 15 minutes.

That said, the cake pans are about 7 inches across and I bought two in a set at TJ MAXX Homegoods for I think, $12.99.

I hope you try the recipe. Good luck!

Elizabeth

Unknown said...

So sweet! I love the look of the 'built in' place settings. Fabulous job!

Dianne said...

Gorgeous! Amazing! Wow, you are so talented. Now you have me wanting to cut up china! I love it.
Love you, Dianne

Nici @ Posed Perfection said...

Wow! That is one impressive table! Just wanted to stop by and thank you for leaving me some comment love over at Posed Perfection last week. I hope you'll get to use the tip on shredding the paper bags a lot in the future. Have a great week!
Blessings,
Nici

Be Colorful Coastal said...

Wowza! Love it and will be featuring it this week on Motivated Monday at BeColorful. Thanks so much for linking up.
pr

Salsa Mama said...

Wow, Cece this is gorgeous!!! I love it.

Unknown said...

Wow Cece you have done fantastic job you have just changed the whole look of it.
Kneeling Chairs

Ccarie said...

Did you put a sealant on top to protect the plates, or just fill in with grout?