Dominoes Table (who Needs Broken Tiles?)

We had a nicely constructed, found, end-table with an aging surface, and I've wanted to do a broken tile mosaic for a long time. However, finding cheap or free (broken) tiles is nearly impossible. Called tile stores looking for broken or leftover pieces. Went to Menard's; broken tiles are cataloged as right-offs. Searched online and found prebroken tiles by the pound = $$$.

I was about to give up until there was a dominoes sale at Target. Who needs tiles? Dominoes are much more fun!

Step 1: Materials and Testing Layout

Luckily, when we tested the layout to see if we had enough dominoes and what patter we would need to use, it worked out perfectly. Except you will need one half domino for the center!

NOTE: One thing you might want to consider is that once you have your layout, you might want to construct a frame around the edges of the table. (We couldn't do this "easily" because we had a slight overhang to all sides.) In the end, we were a little off in one direction and the spaces between dominoes increased on that direction as we reached the center. The frame, perhaps nailed in place, will insure that your layout is tight-fitting.

Materials:

+tube of construction adhesive (we used about half a tube): $3
+about 250 dominoes: $20
+time: 2-3 hrs

Step 2: Begin Placement

We started from the outside and moved around the edges -- wrapping towards the center.

Step 3: Finished!

As mentioned, we began to have larger and larger gaps along one axis as we reached the center -- up to an 1/8 inch. We used the construction adhesive to fill the gaps and wiped excess away with a rag.

Note: Unlike with smooth-faced tile, you can't simply spread grout to fill gaps and wipe away. Whatever is used to fill gaps can end up in the domino holes. You'll need wet Q-tips for clean-up.

You might also want to paint the table surface white. Where the adhesive doesn't fill gaps, the dominoes have rounded edges, so you'll be able to see between even the tightest fitting pieces.

If you go with a overhang, you might make it large enough to edge the table with more dominoes.

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47 Comments

sytse

13 years ago on Introduction

Great project. We ended up doing it with poker themed domino tiles and we are very happy with the result.

deedavison

13 years ago on Introduction

I also seen broken tiles at a salvage store and boxes for real cheap at auctions.

cmanasco

13 years ago on Step 3

I absolutely love it! If you were to add a thick clear coat to the top like some restaurants use, what would be good? This way clean-up would be easy and dominoes would stay fresh looking I would imagine.

chuckr44

13 years ago on Introduction

Oooh. Mahjong tiles would have been nice. But where do you get Mahjong tiles in the US? Chinatown?

Plasmana

13 years ago on Introduction

That is really cool! ^{Did you cut a domino in half to fill the center gap?}

RadBear

13 years ago on Introduction

I did something similar with broken promotional CD's. It was a lot more time consuming as there were very few straigt edges and you had to fit it as you went, but it was fun. Except when I glued my fingers to the table that sucked. And the surface was a little uneven in the end but still functional. I sealed it with clear coat to keep the images from getting scraped off the CD bits. Great job!!!