Sunday, March 11, 2007

Minutes Away from Mosaic Meals

Remember when I received all of those beautiful broken spanish tiles? The goal was to mosaic our old family dinner table, and create something really unique and ours...a Knucker Hatch original. Well, finally, FINALLY, the table is almost ready to be grouted and sealed. What a job that was! When I count the hours around the table where actual work was being done, it probably will have taken Ken and I about 10-15 hours. But getting myself to work on the table after a full day of managing the motherlode, was more difficult than I anticipated. So here is what the table looks like sans grout:


The real question Ken and I keep on going back and forth on is what color to do the grout? We love the bright colors, and we don't want to overpower the piece, but because there are so many colors in the tiles, the choice is harder. I originally thought light brown, but we smeared a bit between some tiles and it just looked like concrete. So then we thought terracotta (the actual underside color of all of the tile), but now we are not so sure. Another option that might work is a pewter color...but will that look like concrete again? I hate to screw this whole project up with a poor grout choice. The pressure! Any ideas??

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd say maybe the terracotta/brown color that is in some of the tiles. But would that color take too much of the life out of the tiles? It is a beautiful table though and you have done a great job.

K. Reyes said...

First of all, magnificent work!!! I know all about the pressure of grout selection- that is my nemesis! I happened to be blessed to marry a master craftsman who makes a living off of laying tile and yet those decisions are still no easier! A little tip tho- some tile specialty stores have grout samples, actual pieces that you can lay against your tile, rather than those annoying little paper swatches. In my experience, most grouts tend to dry a little lighter than the paper swatch color, so if you went to more of a nutmeg or red clay color, that might achieve the authentic spanish tile terra cotta look you may be after. If you have any questions, let me know and I'll ask my hubby, this is really his God given talent! Make sure to seal the grout well, since it will be an eating surface.
Your work looks beautiful though- you are very inspiring!

K. Reyes said...

Oops, so I talked to my husband and I guess I was wrong about the grout samples- aparently I was confusing that with something else. Sorry for the misinformation! But he did confirm that the paper swatches or book of colors are typically one or two shades lighter in real life than they are in print, so choose the shade you love and then go the next shade darker. Good luck!

Mama Knucker Hatch said...

Thanks for all of the comments. I think what I will do is make little mini versions with spare tile and corkboard, and grout one in terracotta and one in pewter. And then we can all vote!