A beaten up or bruised old tabletop or side table can be given a new look and lease on life by repurposing the table. It can become a canvas for tiles of almost any material. You can use recycled tiles, or purchase new tiles at various arts and crafts stores, or your local hardware and home improvement store. Always remember to look for a sale if you can. If you have some construction going on in the neighborhood, your local construction site, might have some unused tiles, that they would be willing to part with. The key is to have enough tiles to cover your tabletop.

You might actually be able to have tiles that will cover your entire table without having to cut, break or fracture your tile unless you want that kind of look (known as Mosaic). Measure your table carefully, remembering that depending on your tiling style, you will need to leave space between tiles for grouting.

1) Sand the tabletop and clean off the dust. (If you want to refinish or paint your table, do so before sanding). Then place your tiles in the pattern you want on the tabletop, and make any changes and adjustments you need or want. Affix tiles with tiling adhesive or white glue or a glue that is compatibly adhesive with wood and tile. (If using a glue, make sure glue is completely dry and tile is adhered to table, before grouting).

2) Proceed to grout the tiles with commercial grout, (usually found at hardware or home improvement stores and sometimes at hobby shops), which comes in many colors, (to really boost your creativity).

3) As you work grouting the tile, wipe off any excess with a damp sponge.

4) To remove any remaining grout film, wash again with water AFTER the grout has DRIED.

You will have a brand new re-purposed beautiful table.

You can also do this project with fractured (broken glass, plates and etc) materials. That process is called a mosaic. If you do a mosaic tabletop, you
will want to put a clear coat sealant on top, to complete your table.

You can see a video of this process either with Tiling or Mosaic on YouTube.

NOTE:
If you paint or stain your table, you can also waterproof seal your table, to turn your table into an outdoor all weather table. You can also waterproof seal your table without re-staining or changing the actual color of the existing table.

Enjoy and have fun with your new DIY table. 😎