Trash to tile table

When the neighbor across the alley moved away, he left quite a pile in his driveway. Of course, I had to see what he had left. This table had lost the glass panels in the top. They had cut a piece of particle board and laid it on top. I wanted to use it as more counter space for Hubby’s grill area. Particle board does not stand up to outdoor conditions and, besides, it’s ugly.

The wood was very dry, so I oiled it multiple times with linseed oil before painting it. I also primed and painted the under boards, attaching them with outdoor-grade deck screws. I put corner braces on each corner for added stability.

Hubby’s dad had given us some tiles he had obtained. The yellow tiles looked better than the white ones, but I was three tiles short. I asked Hubby what I should do. He suggested that we lay the tiles in two differing checkerboard patterns. I did.

The sealer bottle said I’d only need 2-3 coats. I ended up using seven.


All I bought for this project were the deck screws, under boards, braces, adhesive and sealer. Donna loaned me the grout.

We’ll have to put this in storage over winter. We learned that from our tile-top cupboard. I intended to touch up the cupboard’s grout and found that all the tiles were loose. Winter was not kind to the tile.