DIY: Mosaic Tile Tray (or, DIY: Mom's Birthday Gift)

Good Morning and Happy Wednesday! Today, I have my new favorite project to share with you - my mother's birthday present! Her birthday was back in May, but I decided to make a gift for her that turned out to be a bit more time consuming than I had originally planned and so it is coming to her now as a belated birthday present. This isn't a surprise, but it is the first time that she'll be seeing it and so - Happy Birthday, Mom, I hope you like it!
  

I love home decor pieces and I'm always looking for new ways to personalize decor. When I went to IKEA one day and saw this tray (the KLACK), I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Okay, well not exactly. At first, I wanted to penny tile it, but then I decided that maybe that wouldn't look quite as good as I thought and before I ruined the tray, I wanted to try a different idea. And then, after an errand to Lowe's, it came to me - I would make my mom a mosaic tiled tray. After that, the idea took off and I never looked back.

First, I spray painted the tray a rusted bronze color, Antique Brass by Rust-Oleum. I didn't take a close-up view of the tray before I sprayed it, but this is a shot of where I do all my spray painting - in our garage by my car.





Then, I grabbed all of my supplies.



tray
scissors (I traded them in for the x-acto knife you see pictured)
mosaic tile (sheets purchased at Lowe's)
mosaic tile glue (from Michael's)
Envirotex Lite - Pour On High Gloss Finish (from Michael's)


Once the tray was inside and sprayed, I set to work with the tile, cutting it up into its smaller pieces. Afterwards, I went back was careful to remove as much of the weaving part as I could from each one. (See how it overhangs now? I removed that part.)


Then, I used some practice tiles to measure out where I would want to put them. The spacing wasn't perfect, and it creates a slight unevenness across parts of the surface, but the finisher over it at the end keeps it perfectly in place and creates an even surface - so it didn't worry me.


As soon as I knew how many would fit and that I could place them as I wanted to - I got out the mosaic tile glue and started gluing the tiles down.




This was the time consuming part. I quickly found it worked better if I only did a row at a time and then let that dry before moving on to the next and so that, coupled with a dog that started barking every time I tried to sit and work on the project (he was singing happy birthday to his grandma, I'm sure), made this part of the project take a couple of weeks.




Finally though, I got all of the pieces in place! Then, after I made sure they were set, I got the sealant ready.


The instructions say to pour equal parts of each bottle into your mixer and then stir well. It also adds that having a second container helps. So, I used the very scientific method of measuring pouring back and forth between large Solo cups and then stirred extra vigorously with chopsticks. (I told you - scientific all the way.) And then I poured it slowly and evenly over the top.



I left this to dry for the recommended 3 days (which was yesterday, because I finished this on Saturday) and it is ready for use!


Isn't she pretty? Look at her shine?

                                                    




I absolutely love how it came out - I think I may have to make one for myself! I hope you love it too, Mom! Happy belated birthday! I love you!