Dining Room Storage Table with Granite Tile

As we had some leftover tile from tiling the kitchen floor, we decided to use the same technique as we did with the coffee table and use the granite for a nice table top. Since our kitchen isn't that large and we need any storage and counterspace we can get, we decided to make a piece which could go in the dining room. So, since we were using our left over black granite, we thought it would be neat to paint the table antique white to match the kitchen and the dining table.

We basically used the same construction as the coffee table (using six 12 inch square tiles, thus ending up with a table 2 x 3 feet), however we added three slatted shelves for extra storage space as opposed to one. So the table would be higher than the coffee table: more like a counter height table. Here we're painting on a primer before painting on the antique white. And boy do those slatted shelves soak up a lot of paint, and take a long time to do!

Once we were done painting, we put on a plywood shelf and got ready to tile.

After tiling the sofa table we realized that some of the adhesive can seep up through the tile while putting them down. This was not a problem when we used marble (since the white adhesive isn't really visible where it seeped through), however as we were using black granite for this table we wanted to make sure we didn't get white lines in between the granite. So after putting down the adhesive, we used a paint stirrer and scraped out about one inch lines just where the tile would be meeting up.

Putting down the granite tile with silicone caulk in between each tile creates a waterproof seal since we didn't want to do any grouting. After doing this step we let the tile set, then we put on moulding trim around the whole table and painted everything again.

The final result (yes, we haven't installed the threshold yet) in the dining room. It's great because it provides us with some extra storage space as well as counterspace which is perfect for....

Providing a permanent spot for our matching mixer!