Cheap Ugly Furniture, Part III

When we last visited the saga of the cheap, ugly furniture, we were debating how best to solve the problem of the tiles being too big to fit into the inset where the fake leather used to be.

My suggestion was for Morley to use the router to widen the inset, a solution I considered to be fast, easy and good entertainment (for me). Morley's proposed solution was to slowly and methodically reduce the size of each tile with tile nippers, a solution I considered to be slow, methodical and painful (for me).

In the end, we chose a third solution: more power tools. Meet our new wet tile saw:

I'll grant you this saw really did make the job easier but it also added $125 to the cost of the project. And this is exactly why I try to keep Morley at least a half mile away from all home improvement stores at all times.

After a quick ten minute session with our nifty new wet saw, the tiles fit perfectly into their nice, cozy bed of thin set mortar:

And then we moseyed off to visit neighbors for an hour to two until the mortar set up, and then we commenced to add grout:

And then I disguised the tell-tale 1970's style legs with some sissal that reminded me of seagrass and the beach. But then almost anything reminds me of seagrass and the beach:

And then we performed a solemn engineering ritual (OCD much?): insure everything is absolutely, flawlessly level and even:

Yup, it's level. And so I present to you the finished guest room TV table:

A recap of the final cost of refinishing this cheap, ugly piece of furniture:

• Cheap, ugly furniture purchased at yard sale: $ 18.01


• Paint, polyurethene, rope trim: $ 45.00


• Tiles, grout, quick set mortar, misc tools for working with tiles and mortar $120.00*


• Wet saw for reducing size of tiles by a smidgeon $125.00*


• Sisal, hot glue sticks for covering legs $ 3.00
  
  TOTAL COST: $311.01

* Indicates Morley present during trip to home improvement store. See earlier notes regarding acceptable distance between Morley and local home improvement stores.

Anyway, the (formerly) cheap and (formerly) ugly furniture is now sitting in the guestroom looking fabulous and holding the television just so for your viewing pleasure.

We are ready for your next visit.