Do it yourself – tiling!

The urge to get out into the garden is strong, and it already feels as though summer has begun. High time to head outside and dust off the patio! I noticed that it was missing a little cosiness, convenience and colour. The garden furniture was quickly assembled, but I couldn’t face another season without a table. So I made a side table with the colourful Azule cement tiles.

Using the floor planner on designtegels.nl I selected the pattern I wanted, then found the necessary laying and treatment products and got to work. In the meantime, my boyfriend had assembled two pallets on top of each other and given them a coat of white stain and some castors. He had also made the frame for the tiles, so all that remained was to lay them.



We had a bag of adhesive that needed to be mixed with water. However, as a beginner DIYer, I didn’t have the right materials, so you have to get creative... After all, the adhesive can easily be mixed with a hand mixer! (Just clean it thoroughly straight after use so that the cupcakes don’t acquire a strange flavour.)

The adhesive then needs to be spread evenly with a notched trowel. That’s right, the notched trowel... Oops, we didn’t have one of those either. Once again, we got creative and the adhesive was easily spread with a leaf rake!

To keep the gaps between the tiles even, use tile spacers. Our table was just a little longer and wider, though, so we used wooden strips.



Once the adhesive had dried, I treated the tiles with Azule Vlekstop. Most of the tiles only needed two coats, but I added an extra coat to some of them.

The grout was also mixed with the hand mixer and applied with a small garden trowel, then spread with a squeegee (yes, we did have one of those :D). After grouting, I cleaned the tiles and finished by applying tile oil.

For treating the tiles, I used the impregnating pad from Designtegels – what a handy thing! It distributed the treatment product evenly, and you don’t waste any, as you might with a paint roller. A roller absorbs the treatment product and releases far less of it than the impregnating pad does.

I’d read that cement tiles can be susceptible to staining, so I was rather careful with drinks in glasses. However, if the tiles are properly treated, they can withstand quite a lot. The coffee stains came off with ease!

All that remains is to stain the strips along the sides, and then we can enjoy a wonderfully cheerful side table this summer!