DIY Tiled Patio Table

I'm so excited to share today's post!  Last week we came home from little league practice to find the wind had caused the glass top on our patio table to shatter.  What...a...mess!  There was glass everywhere--I'm still finding small shards (no backyard bare feet for us).  Instead of getting a new glass top for the table we decided we would use ceramic tile to make a "custom" top.  This project was fairly easy for my honey (I have a very handy guy) and we were able to get this beautiful table top for about $110 versus the $300-$600 a new glass top would have cost.

After stabilizing a cut of plywood to prevent warping, we were ready to layout the tile.  We used 15x15 ceramic tiles in a simple rectangle layout leaving space on the edges to add an accent tile border.

Using a portable tile saw, he cut a hole for the umbrella to go through.  Next, he used a material called thin set, which is a bonding agent, to adhere the tile to the plywood.  

After adhering the center tiles, we were ready to add the border accent tiles.  For these we used darker, smaller tiles (6x6) and cut them down to the correct size.  
 

After a few hours we had a like-new table!  I love the way it turned out and I really love sitting out  there in the evenings watching the kids play in the grass.  Thanks honey!