Tiled Tea Trays

Pinkies up for this pretty project.

Here's the tea-- I was contemplating a DIY tile project and I was a bit daunted by the scope of the undertaking. I didn't want to invest in all the tools and potentially damage my walls, only to realize halfway through the project that I was in over my head and ultimately need to pay a professional to come remedy my renovations. I came up with the idea of a practice project, a way in which I could scale down the supply costs and try my hand at the craft in a small (and if necessary, disposable) surface-- intimidation turned creation.

The acrylic trays that are all the rage in home decor served my purpose perfectly. I made a few smart substitutions (Mussel Bound for mortar and a Manual Tile Cutter instead of a wet saw) to both make the mess more manageable and avoid a spend too steep. I wound up with a service setting that's both pretty and practical and I learned a tremendous amount about tiling throughout the process.

SUPPLY LINK LIST

• Clear Acrylic Serving Tray: It's available in multiple sizes, I like the large square 18x18 inch option, but the smaller 11x14 inch tray is also nice.

• Gold Tape: I recommend the 1/2 inch. This will hide your grout seam at the base of the acrylic tray.

• Gold Adhesive Wrapping Paper: We will put this on the bottom of the tray for a pretty touch and to hide our MusselBound from underneath.

• MusselBound: This cuts out the mess and expense of mortar. I'm a big believer in using this product in place of mortar for any tile DIY projects that aren't up against heavy water/steam exposure. The product does boast that it works great even in water exposed areas, but I just haven't ever tested it in a bathroom project yet, so I wouldn't want to speak to it's resilience in the moisture.

• Pre-Mixed Tile Grout: I buy it in "brilliant white" but you can of course select whatever color best supports your motif. This small 1qt option makes for a nice sample size.

• Frog Tape: Necessity of all DIY projects! This will prevent the grout from getting on the sides of your tray during that step of the process.

• Sponges: There are large tiling-specific sponges, but I recommend these smaller basic kitchen sponges (without a rough stain remover side--to avoid scratching the tiles) as they fit better into the small corners of the tray.

• Rubber Margin Float: I like the smaller size of this float for our tray project, if you were to do a larger tiling project I would recommend getting a bigger float, but this is cheaper and fits nicely into the small tray corners.

• Tile Spacers: I opt for 1/8in thick spacers, but you can choose whatever width matches your aesthetic best.

• Tiles! I like to get mine from The Tile Shop as I find the people there incredibly helpful and love the product offerings. They'll help you to buy a small order as well. An 18x18 tray requires roughly 18-21 tiles (depending on what size subway tiles you opt for), but that doesn't account for breakage as you learn how to cut. I recommend getting 30 tiles for this project to allow for some margin of error as you learn.

• Manual Tile Cutter: I like this $28 option, it gets the job done with no bells and whistles.

All of these supplies will cost you roughly $150 and you'll be armed with all the tools you need should you wish to tackle more future tiling projects. You'll also have a beautiful display tray to flaunt and many of the popular styles on the market currently cost over $150 anyways!

Or perhaps, you'll hate the endeavor all together (rather, it's just not your cup of tea) and come to the conclusion that hiring a professional is a better solution for your larger projects ahead--in which case, $150 is a fairly cheap way to learn that lesson. You still have a beautiful tray to display, or if it didn't turn out to your fancy, then you can simply dispose of it guilt-free, knowing you didn't suffer the pain of repairing damages to your home in your attempt to tile.

Time to tile?! If you're still with me, here are the simple steps to making basic grid tiled tea tray:

Tuck in those pinkies and put a little Mussel into it: Peel your Musselbound off the roll and place it sticky-side down into the tray (don't peel off the non-stick paper yet) and align it with all four corners as best as you can. You'll need to cut your piece of Musselbound off the roll directly and I recommend a razor instead of a scissors so you can get as exact a fit to the tray as possible. Don't stress if there is a slight gap with the Mussel Bound and the edge of the tray, there will be plenty of sticky surface area to secure your tiles. In fact, It's better if your Mussselbound is slightly smaller than bottom surface of the tray, that's better than the alternative which is Musselbound extending up onto the side of tray and showing later. You may need to use two pieces of Musselbound in opposite directions to cover the entire tray (as I did here). You can place the Musselbound down in any direction that works best.

I placed two pieces of MusselBound down in opposite directions as that was most optimal given the dimensions of my tray.

Don't Peel Off Too Early: Continue to leave the top piece of non-stick paper on the Musselbound, you'll want to leave that on while you do some measuring and before you're ready to place your tiles down. Once those tiles are stuck to the MusselBound they don't come off!

Align Before You Dine: Determine which direction you'd like your subway tiles to go within the tray and then mark the center point of your tray. A dry erase marker works great or you can make a small pencil mark or even use a piece of your frog tape on the external side of the tray. Then also measure and mark the center on one of your tiles.

Don't get yourself in a sticky jam : Peel off the non-stick paper from the Musselbound, but just enough so that you can place down one row of tiles. I like to either fold back the non-stick paper to the width of the single row of tiles, or rip it off completely so that it is out of the way entirely. I prefer leaving the remaining nonstick-paper on until I am ready to do the second row of tiles, primarily because I never know when a toddler distraction might occur and it allows me to put the project to the side until I'm free to re-engage. You can now stick down your first tile as you make sure that you align the center mark on your tile with the center mark on your tray. It may feel counterintuitive to start tiling in the center of the tray and working your way outwards, but this will make for a more aesthetic tile design as your center tiles will be whole and your side row of tiles will be the ones we cut down smaller to fit into the tray. Try to place the tile down so that the edge of the tile is exactly flush with the edge of the tray, creating no gap between the two-- and note we don't use tile spacers at the tray edges.

Measure to cut: Now you'll need to measure where to cut each tile that will go on either side of your center tile. This measurement will be the remaining width of the tray less 1/8in (or whatever the width of your tile spacer).

For example, say your tray is oriented with the tiles to be 11in length x 14in width and your tiles are 6 inches wide. Your center tile will be whole (5 inches), and your two side tiles will each need to be divided by the remaining width (11 inches - 6 inches= 5 inches) while also accounting for tile spacers on either side of the center tile so (5 inches - (1/8 inch)). Each side tile will therefore be 4 and 7/8 inches horizontally.

Worth noting that only your very last bottom row of tiles will need to be cut to accommodate the length of the tray, all other rows of tiles will be whole in length.

Now while measuring with a ruler should suffice, I also like to align each tile within the tray itself and make a hand-measure to double check my ruler measurements before I actually cut any tile. This can prove slightly tricky given that the Musselbound stickiness is exposed, so it's helpful to keep the tile that you are measuring a level below your center tile (ie, keep it on the non-stick paper) while you measure. Again, be sure to account for the tile spacer as you do your measurements-- you can even go ahead and stick two spacers directly to the side of your center tile as you measure. Press the tile that you are measuring flush against the side of the tray and make a dry-erase mark where the tile meets the outward edge of the tile spacer. Does this measurement align with the ruler measurement? It should, but if there is a slight discrepancy I'd actually opt for your hand measure as it likely means that you didn't stick your center tile on at its exact center. The beauty of tiling for this project is that slight mistakes in your tile measurements will be negated by the grout process, as the grout visually smooths out any slight discrepancies to the eye.

Time to cut: Before you begin cutting, make sure your tile cutter doesn't slide away from you during the process, I like to put a non-slip mat under my tile cutter to be careful. Now place your tile on your manual cutter and align the scoring wheel exactly on your measurement line. You want to be sure your tile is pressed securely against the upper edge of the tile-cutter so the tile is level and you cut a straight line. . I then use my right hand to start running the scoring wheel up and down along the measurement line while my left hand secures the tile itself. You want to be sure to apply plenty of pressure so that the scoring wheel isn't just gliding across the surface of the tile, rather it's really creating a noticeable etch mark into the top of the tile. That said, don't press so hard that you crack the tile, but in my experience I always need to push harder to create an etch and rarely do I over-push the scoring wheel and crack the tile. Also, it's better to run the scoring wheel just a few times with ample pressure than it is to run it up and down along the tile a bunch of times with minimal pressure.

If you have created a nice etch into the surface of the tile, it's time to see if it is ready to *snap*! Place the breaker directly center on top of your etched mark and gently apply pressure to the handle. Your tile should break clean along the etch line, but if it doesn't it likely means you didn't score the tile sufficiently and you need to go back over it again with your scoring wheel before you try to break the tile again. If you did get a clean break, you now know the fun satisfaction of cutting your first tile! Don't be deterred if it takes a few tries to learn this skill, that's why we allowed for extra tiles in our order and you'll quickly find you get the "feel" for the tool if you stay patient.

Fits to a 'T'?!: Remember to have your spacers in place before you test the fit and try to check the fit without actually pressing the tile down to avoid making contact with the MusselBound until you are sure it's a good measurement. If for some reason it's slightly off, keep that tile off to the side as there's a chance the tile will fit elsewhere in the project. Again, tiling isn't an exact measurement science, particularly with a manual cutter, so you'll need to play with the pieces a bit if you have any slightly-off measurements. If it fits well, then go ahead and press the tile firmly down and move onto measuring the tile that will go on the other side of your center tile piece.

Let the Party Begin!: Now that you've got the hang of the process, continue with the next row as the steps will be exactly the same, however, remember that you'll need to now put tile spaces along all edges of the tiles-- ie to separate both rows and columns of tiles.

Peel back the Musselbound non-stick paper to allow for another row of tiles and again begin by placing the center tile down. You won't need to measure the counterpoint of each center tile as it's quite easy to just eyeball the center tile to align it with the tile above it. However, I would still continue to measure the tile on either side of the center tile and repeat until you reach the final row of tiles. The final row of tiles will require you cut the tile both lengthwise and width wise.

remember your tile spacers on either side of the tile edges!

If you need to take a break, simply place the non-stick paper of the MusselBound down to any exposed areas and return to the project later

Final Cuts: The good news is you have now had a lot of practice as you prepare for the toughest cuts of the project. For the final row of tiles in the tray you will need to cut your tiles both width and length. The cutting process is the exact same, but I do recommend you make your longer length-wise cuts before doing your shorter width cuts. The tile is more likely to break on the longer cuts, so better than you lessen the heartbreak of a tile snapping that you already had achieved a perfect width cut on. You're sure to break a tile (or two) on this final row, but again stay patient, etch deeply, and you will get it!

Tape with your Tea: Before we move on to the fun process of grouting the tile, you'll need to first unscrew the handles of the tray and set them aside so that you don't get grout to get stuck in the screws of the handles, or on the handles themselves. You can also go ahead and remove all your tile spacers now that the tiles are pressed firmly down on the MusselBound and all measuring is complete. Next, use your frog tape to cover the entire surface of the tray. I learned the hard way that while an acrylic tray looks like an easy to clean surface, it's in fact quite microporous and stray grout can get trapped and leave the clear tray murky in appearance.

A large dollop of grout, please! : I like to be close to a sink for this stage of the process or have a large bucket of water at the ready. You'll also need your sponges, rubber margin float, and grout at the ready. Use your margin float to scoop out a large dollop of grout and drop it right into the center of your tray. Hold your float at a bit of an angle as you work the grout into the seams along the tiles and along the edges of the tray. Continue this process until all gaps are generously filled. Next, while the grout is freshly applied (don't let it dry!) use a wet sponge to start removing the excess grout that is on the tile surfaces. It helps to work in a bit of a circular motion to remove the excess grout-- and if you have quite a lot of excess on your tray I recommend getting a trash back to scoop it into with your sponge (save your sink drain the strain!). You'll need to rinse your sponge multiple times throughout this cleaning process as you get all your tiles sparkly clean. Remember though, you're trying not to remove the grout that is in the crevices between the tile, you're really trying to just get the grout off of the tile surface itself. It takes a bit of finesse, but again it's a quick learning curve!

Excuse the frog from the party: Once you are done grouting entirely, remove the tape. You don't want to wait for the grout to dry entirely, as the tape then might stick and rip when you try to remove it. Set the tray aside to dry overnight before you move to the next steps-- you don't want to risk getting wet grout on your tray in these final simple parts of the process, you've worked to hard to ruin the tray at the easy parts!

Gold-Rimmed: Once the tray is fully dry, we can put on the final touches of gold to hide our DIY! Screw your gold handles back onto the tray and get both your gold tape and your gold adhesive wrapping paper at the ready. This part of the process is quite simple, but again takes a bit of a patient touch. You'll first stick the gold tape along the bottom external edge of the tray. This will hide your tile and grout work and add a nice golden aesthetic touch along the bottom rim of your tray. I line the tape up directly with the bottom edge of the tray, and simply start working my way around the entire tray and then cut the tape when I return to my starting point. Ready for the final step?! While it's not likely that anyone will be inspecting your tray closely enough to examine the bottom, the perfectionist in me likes to cover my bases (quite literally). Use the gold adhesive wrapping paper to cover the bottom of your tray so that you don't have a boring MusselBound bottom. It can be a bit tricky to avoid air bubbles in this part of the process, but I found by starting at one edge of the tray and pulling the wrapping paper tightly by the roll itself yielded the best results. Ie, I did not pre-measure and cut the wrapping paper, but rather I peeled it gradually as I placed it down and cut it with a razor once it was completely pressed flush on the entire bottom surface. I used my razor directly against the edge of the tray to get a nice clean and even cut. In the case of trays that are larger/wider than your wrapping paper, I simply did this step twice to cover the entire tray bottom. You're sure to have a bubble or two, but keep in mind this is the bottom of the tray and if you ask me-- a few bubbles are better than tea any day!

It's time for service and you're now a pro in a new DIY skill. We would love to see your work and hear about your experiences-- you'd join us for tea @nestledinnewcanaan .

All Photos are the Property of Maggie Bentley Designs