Tiled Console Table

Hi everyone! Rach here with another cute DIY! In this blog post I will be showing you how I created the console table of my dreams using up-cycled and thrifted materials.

It all started when I came across these amazing pink Zellige wall tiles on Facebook Marketplace. I loved that each tile was unique with its own organic shape and charm - I just HAD to have them so I messaged the seller and picked them up ASAP.

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the inspo

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the plan:

So now that I had the tiles, It was time to figure out how I would use them on the console table. I settled on this plan: Build two chunky base legs that would be symmetrically covered in the pink tiles (with contrasting grout) and then a long rectangular piece of tempered glass for the table top - very 80’s looking!

building the base legs:

I ended up getting very lucky with second-hand finds during this upcycle - I sourced some GREAT scrap wood from Facebook Marketplace, picked it up and headed to the studio. These scrap pieces were definitely not the prettiest but since I planned to tile over them it was okay! Each piece was about 3.5 x 3.5 feet and ½ an inch thick. Then, based on the size of tiles I would be using later, I measured and cut my wood pieces to the proper dimensions, and prepped them for assembly.

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I used some Titebond wood glue to adhere all sides and top together and then with ¾ inch brad nails in my brad nailer, secured each side in place.

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tiling & grouting

*tip* you’ll notice sometimes when tiling the corner of a fixture, the grout line between the meeting tiles is quite large. My solve for this was to sand down one side of each of the tiles that would appear on the corners (with a very low grit sandpaper) to a 45 degree angle, ultimately closing most of the gap and making it more manageable! So you’ll have one straight edge, and one edge at 45 degrees.

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Now that my tiles were all prepped and ready to be used, It was time for glue. I went in with a tile glue we had laying around at the office and with my trowel, spread the adhesive evenly across the wooden base, then laid down single tiles as I went (making sure to use spacers between each tile).

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I let this sit overnight and then headed to the hardware store to buy some grout. I knew I wanted the grout to be darker and contrast the pale pink tiles so I opted to tint the original grout with ‘Burnt umber’ natural mineral pigment. I started out with 2 cups of grout powder and 1 tablespoon of the Burnt Umber pigment to test out the color. This ratio worked well so I then translated it to a big batch.

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Once the mixture was good to go I took my float tool and pushed the grout into the crevasses of the tiles.

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*note: I wanted to match the color and texture of both of the tops of the bases to the grout (since the table top is glass you’d see the tops through it) so I mixed up a few different paints and some grout we had in the office and it looks identical.

glass table top

I really wasn’t lying when I said I lucked out with Facebook Marketplace listings. I got this second hand piece of tempered glass, (originally a shelf) for a really great price, and It just happened to fit perfectly as a table top! The final step was adding four clear vinyl bumpers to each pillar so that the glass didn’t sit directly on top of the rough materials. Once I popped the glass on top, this DIY was complete!