Mid-century Tile Top Tables Restoration
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I recently helped a family member clean out a house and as a thank you, he let me take two vintage side tables. He wasn't sure they were much of a gift since they were dirty and missing quite a bit of grout, but all I saw was potential!
They are original, mid-century pieces and just needed a little love! The love started with a bath using my pressure washer. As a side note, I LOVE my Sun Joe electric pressure washer. It is so easy to use compared to our old gas model. I actually enjoy pressure washing all the things! (Also, they did not compensate me in any way for this praise. They have no idea who I am! Moving on...)
Removing all of the old grout would have been almost impossible, but it was dingy and missing in spots, so it needed some sort of fix. I decided to try and do a thin grout wash over the table to freshen it up and fill in the gaps.
I coated the whole table and left it to set up a little.
Once it had dried a little bit, I used a sponge to carefully wipe away the excess. Be extremely gentle when you do this since it is just a skimming of grout. If you scrub too hard, it will all come off! I suggest going over the surface several times, very lightly, allowing it to dry some before each sponging. It's also best to wipe diagonally, so you minimize the chance of wiping the entire grout line away.
Next, I needed to freshen up the wooden parts. My original plan was to use these tables in my sunroom that is exposed to some elements and lots of water from all the plants, so I chose Outdoor Living paint. It covered great and I only had to do two coats.
Once I finished, they worked perfectly in my rec room. At least I have the versatility now to use them outside and the paint color was perfect.
I love how the tables match and don't match, all at once. They have the same tile and color, but one has a shelf at the bottom, and the other just has decorative cross pieces.
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